Austin Voll

octagonal cement columns cast in CDX plywood molds

coal has been ground from large chunks and sifted to a light particulate

Modes of organization– the group, bundle, pile, stack, tangle, dam, accumulations are seen as less of a true organization and more of a consolidation of space, but this consolidation is not a end all framework for making objects function in a space– it is personal. The studio is a prime example there is no set way that a studio can be laid out so that a drawing can be accomplished In other words, ideal vison of organization does not exist. Space is specifically consolidated. There are two types of function, which pertain to this work– structural function and conceptual function. The concrete object, which is a form of a support, such as for a bridge or highway, conceptually functions differently to its structure. What are we left with when a structure is not fully built? The piece, the support, is able to support weight, but its structural function is negated by it not supporting anything but its own form. The process of creating a support is important to the structural concept, but not to the conceptual function.

The functioning of the coal and cement together is seen as a type of gap filling. When two separate outside processes come together to form a whole there is room for complication and problems because of the inherent nature of saying– I want this and this to fit together and function either structurally or conceptually. The coal, the second outside process, literally fills the gap between two columns of cement, which is the physical act of covering something up (the reason molding is put in a house–to cover the seams where two surfaces meet) but this covering also functions conceptually as what it is to fill a gap.