'Ashes to ashes , dust to dust'

CONFINE

PROTECT

PRESERVE

An Interactive process for a new Architecture of death exploring the discourse between life and death, providing closure and preserving memories.

Mini Concept One

The New Age Urn

After Visiting the V&A, we were all equally drawn to the Tobacco boxes that were used in Asia and decided to look at ways to recreate them in modern materials. This then evolved into creating the Tobacco box and keeping the persons ashes inside as a keepsake and memory. After discovering that such had already been designed, we looked into creating the tobacco box and glazing it using the ashes of the deceased and engraving it to create a memory, a new age urn. 

Through researching into what materials were able to be made from human ashes and finding that glass was the most sustainable, we decided to look into creating a glass music box and snow globe, a new age Urn, where instead of preserving the ashes within a container, they became the container. These ornaments could be kept and passed down through the generations as family heirlooms. 

Mini Concept Two

Fruits of Life

With the overcrowding of cemeteries becoming an issue, and space for burial ground becoming sparse, We decided to look into a new 'architecture for death'. After Visiting Brompton cemetery, It was apparent that the majority of people that were there were not in fact grieving the loss of their loved ones, but were using the area as a recreational ground. This took us into researching into modern day burial grounds and how we could incorporate such aspects into a more ecologically and people friendly space. We started to then think of the concept of a 'Garden of Memories' where the bodies would be buried into the ground and flowers/ trees were grown onto with a plaque instead of a tomb stone. This would be a place where people would be able to go to remember loved ones, get away from their metropolis lifestyles and socialise. 

We concluded into taking the idea of a new burial ground further by designing an area where people were given their own 'family plot', where the ashes of the deceased could be scattered or buried and they were then able to grow produce on top, similar to an Allotment.

Mini Concept Three

Lighting The Skies

Still thinking about the over crowding of cemeteries and the lack of space, we began to think of other eco- friendly ways . The idea of putting ones ashes into a firework was an idea we chose to take further. A new style 'burial' would take place every fortnight or month by a special community. Those that has deceased within that time would be placed into a firework  and all set into the sky together. The families and friends of those deceased would be able to celebrate the past ones life and provide each other with closure in a modern style wake.

Mini Concept Four

Memories materialised

With looking at the human bodies and the elements that it is created from, we began to wonder whether one was able to extract from these elements to create material things. This lead us into researching into what had already been established, such as a persons ashes being mixed with paint and turned into a painting. This concluded with us deciding to look at creating dyes and pigments with elements from the deceased and in-coporating them into a quilt which could be passed down the family and added to. An alternative to this was to create a piece of art using dyed material, such as a wall hanging, to preserve the memory of the deceased. 

BIO_ DEGRADABLE HUMAN

Working around the concept of a 'bio degradable', resourceful human being, In the sense that when we pass away are bodies are disposed of in an eco friendly manner or used to produce something substantial, being it energy or a memory.

In this day and age, many people in the western world are looking towards new and ecologically friendly   ways to cope with the death of a human, predominantly due to the lack of space for burial grounds. One company called My Living Reef (http://mylivingreef.com/) have set up a scientifically engineered reef so that cremated people may be at rest under the sea. Woodland burials are also becoming more popular, Breach Farm (http://www.breachfarmwoodlandburialground.co.uk/) in Andover provide a a plot of land where one is to be buried and a tree is planted instead of a gravestone. These Woodland parks allow and encourage people to conjugate, play music and talk about past memories of their loved ones, eliminating the somber feel of traditional graveyards.

This began a reel of thought stemming towards whether or not our bodies could provide materials that could be used in everyday life, and if so how could they be used in order to create a memory? providing a sense of closure to our loved ones. What are the elements in the human body, how would they be extracted and how could they be used? Whether or not it is possible to use the substances to create new compounds.

Interview with a funeral director

I had a good conversation with a funeral director today where I learnt some very interesting facts.
As we would have guessed, the majority of funerals these days are cremations, this is largely due to the cost, burials are more expensive, but also because in already overcrowded cemeteries, you have to have a pre-bought  plot. A family would buy a plot in the cemetery and intend future generations of their family to be buried in it, one on top of the other, or in a vault if you were very rich.
Another myth that I had dispelled was the quantity of ashes. I had always thought that there would be much more ash produced from the cremation than what was given to you in the Urn. Not so... The tiny amount , equivalent to a bag of sugar is the entire quantity produced from the cremation. All metals that are left in the ashes, fillings, jewelery, steel pins, nails, screws, staples are taken out by a magnet and buried secretly within the grounds of the crematorium. They are not allowed to recycle these items.
Humanist funerals are becoming more popular now but moreso among people under 60. Older generations are still sticking to more traditional and religious ceremonies. Younger generations tend to be moving away from religious ceremonies are more into conservation and want biodegradable coffins and woodland or meadow sites.
He dosen't see his job changing too much in the very near future, he thinks he will see change happening slowly over the next 20 years or so regarding the eco friendly aspects of funerals, but thinks that religion will still play a rolein funerals for many people.

The Growing Memory Box

Threads

Based on the conversations we have had together about this brief, we all have very different  ideas and interests. I don't know how to tie these ideas together so I thought I would put down in brief what I make of it so far.

• I'm very interested in texture and colour and have been experimenting with different visual styles. I'm conscious of trying to work in a different way than I would normally, although I have to draw to begin with otherwise I have no language. I decided to draw using fabrics to see where that would take me. Looking at Quilters and textile artists who use their craft as a way of telling a story and recording history aswell as an art form, I've started to experiment with needle felting and trying to use that as a form of drawing. 
• I am hoping to speak to a funeral director next week to ask questions about what preferences people have for death rituals and if he can see a shift in the style of funerals in the future. In the west, we live in an increasingly athiest society. Has this led to new forms of ritual and closure to death. Humanist funerals are becoming popular, where woodland burials replace the traditional cemetery.  He'll never be out of a job, but how will his job be in the future.What happens to all the ashes from cremations? are they composted, used in glazes for pottery, used in micro technology?  
• We were talking when we were in Brompton Rd about using Audio to tell us something about the person buried. This led me on to researching 'Tyne Cot' cemetery in Belgium which is the First world war grave commemorating the Battle of Passchendale. Along the driveway entering the cemetery are underground speakers which recite on a continous loop the names of every soldier buried  in the cemetery. I know someone who has visited this cemetery and described the audio as a moving and chilling reminder of all the men who died there.
• Joon's research into the tobacco boxes I thought could be related to a new design for a coffin. How would each of us four design our own coffin and what kind of ritual or passage for closure would we like to have performed. Buried in the ground, cremated, made into a synthetic diamond, made into a computer chip, glazed on to a pot, shot up into the sky in a firework???
•  I was interested in May's research  about the body as chemical compounds and again looking into the world of fabric, starting looking at techniques of dyeing. Would we use our bodies, reduced into separate chemical compounds to dye a piece of fabric that we could then make into a quilt or garment and wear as a memorial to our loved one.
•  Do we make too much of death as ritual?

In this excert from T. S. Elliot's poem The Waste Land, he is talking about the fact that it is by the unknowable things that we define ourselves, but they are private to us - and not revealed in paraphernalia and memorials of death.

Datta: What have we given?
My friend, blood shaking from my heart
The awful daring of a moments's surrender
Which an age of prudence can never retract
By this, and this only, we have existed
Which is not to found on our obituaries
Or in memories draped by the beneficent spider
Or under seals broken by the lean solicitor
In our empty rooms.

• The Emilene Pankhurst material is very interesting, but I don't know if we can tie that into the 'New Architecture for Death' path that we seem to be on. 

So, to conclude, I can begin to see how some of these threads may come together as a presentation. We just need to get our act together and do it...

Mini concepts 1

Who's who in the cemetery?

This stone first attracted me because of the Art

 Deco style. It stands out as most of the tombs and 

statues in the rest of the cemetery are from the 

Victorian era.

Then as I looked more closely, I realised that this 

gravestone was that of Emilene Pankhurst....leader of the Suffragette movement, without whom I wouldn't be sitting here writing this as part of my MA studies.

What would she think of her achievements today and how would she exist in todays society? This subject is so vast that I could go off into a femist rant and write a thesis on it, which wouldn't be fulfilling the 'Process' brief. 

One thing I feel compelled to say is that I was very surprised, shocked even when a female member of my group didn't know who she was.

I feel Ms Pankhurst would be wondering if all the deaths and force feeding of hunger strikers was worth it?

What now?

Indeed... I come out of the tutorial or group sessions that we have feeling like I know what we're talking about, but then as soon as I get home, I think.... What am I supposed to be doing again?
I'm finding it really difficult to get my head around this brief. The thing I'm finding most difficult is working with a group of people from different disciplines. I'm used to working on my own and  working to a specific end result. I am also not used to working so conceptually, coming from a very practical background, and I'm finding that a little intimidating. 
I am getting the 'process' aspect and see the value of it, I could get really carried away and go off on tangents all over the place, but we still have to come up with something to present on the 1st Nov and it worries me that we'll have an incoherent body of work.
I'm not entirely sure where to go with the work I have done so far, but I feel I should go where it's taking me which seems to be focusing on colours and textures. I'm not sure how to tie in the felt shrouds that I researched, but I'm really interested in them and will pursue that further.   

Different condition in different space(Indoor or out door)

Thoughts and images from Brompton rd

The contrast between the living plant entwining around the dead stone is what interested me here.

I like the way the ivy is engulfing this lovely lady as if it were a cloak

The vibrant red of the Virginia Creeper made a stark contrast with the grey of the stone. Thoughts of 'blood of Christ'.

Are these beautiful characterful victorian cemeteries being used more for film and pop video sets than for actual burials these days.

I love the way the ivy is completely reclaiming this statue, as if everything comes back to the earth eventually.

The Michaelangelo sculptures at the V& A are quite homo erotic. Scupltures in cemeteries are not too disimilar in their eroticsm. Almost like the sculptures of the cemetery are quite sexy, but virginal and 'out of reach' at the same time.

4. Landscape

5. Specific situation

6. Superstitious

Patterns on INRO were just patterns,

but when users imbues INRO with special significance,

they become special. 

INRO

Kimono in Japan doesn't have any pocket on it,
so in ancient Japan, people hung their INRO
on a string to their belt to carry medicine, tobacco, etc.
Here we assort INRO with its decoration on its surface.

1. Japanese character

2. Animals

3. Plants

Images From Brompton Cemetery

Just Visiting...

From visiting the cemetery it was apparent that the people there were not visiting relatives but using the space as a recreational ground. There was an array of dog walkers, cyclists and runners going about their business as if not surrounded by death. They seemed to not be phased by the morbid connotations that were, in the past, associated with a cemetery. Could It be that cemeteries are to be used as social areas due to over population? 


Textures...

A few interesting textures found in the graveyard. 


Gravestones...