Joint
Explorations: Architecture, Dance, and Physics
Rebecca
Williamson, Assistant Professor of Architecture
Linda
Lehovec, Assistant Professor of Dance
George Gollin,
Professor of Physics
Julius Rascheff, Associate Professor
of Art and Design
Are the boundaries
between the static and the dynamic...
...firmly drawn, inflexible, unchanging?
Are the arts and sciences
profoundly disconnected, without a common language?
Students in
Architecture
372: "Construction and Movement; an
Interdisciplinary Studio"
are actively investigating these issues
under the supervision of faculty members Rebecca
Williamson (Architecture) and
Linda Lehovec (Dance), with participation by
George Gollin (Physics) and Julius Rascheff (Art and Design).
A charette
concerning architecture, dance, and matter-antimatter annihilation:
Representations of collisions between high energy electrons and
positrons (anti-electrons)
were used by
Arch 372 students as a
starting point in an investigation of space,
movement, and scales of size.
The physics...
Modern physics is stranger than one can possibly imagine: take a look at
George
Gollin's presentation at the start of the charette.
CLEO
is an elementary particle physics experiment taking place at Cornell University's
CESR
electron-positron collider. The collaboration includes a group
from the Department of Physics
here at UIUC. The CLEO experiment studies the physics of high energies
and small distances; we hope to better understand the origins of matter,
and the interplay between matter and energy, through our research.
We make our own antimatter. Positrons are anti-electrons: we make several
trillion of them, and steer (and focus) them into a particle beam moving
at nearly the speed of light. The beam orbits inside a vacuum pipe which
is bent into a circle 800 feet in diameter. We inject a beam of electrons
into the same vacuum pipe, but traveling in the opposite direction. Thousands
of times per second, an electron in one beam is annihilated by a positron
in the other beam in a brief, violent, head-on collision. The collision
is so violent that objects as massive as ten protons can emerge from this
flash of matter-antimatter annihilation. As the quarks, antiquarks, photons,
neutrinos,... emerge from the explosion, they yank other quarks and antiquarks
into existence, turning their own kinetic energy into new matter. By the
time the newly formed plasma of stuff is the size of a proton, it has jelled
into particles which may live for picoseconds, nanoseconds, or microseconds,
(or for billions of trillions of trillions of years) before decaying. Usually,
nearly everything leaving the annihilation is traveling close to the speed
of light. A tenth of a billionth of a second later, the debris from the
collision (a variety of stable and unstable particles) has passed through
the walls of the vacuum pipe, entering the CLEO detector. Instrumentation
registers the ionization trails left by charged particles as they travel
through the magnetic field of the apparatus. A few billionths of a second
later, particles leave (or are stopped in) the detector. Information, recorded
on tape, is processed later to learn the identities and kinematic properties
of the objects produced in the collisions. By studying the relative rates
at which different interactions are found to occur, we can test our understanding
of the dynamics of physics at very small distances.
... the images...
Some CLEO "zoo events" to be interpreted by Architecture 372 students:
... and interpretations.
Groups comprising one dancer and several architects realized interpretations
of CLEO event pictures. Here are some photos of students at work (typically
30kb):
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Rebecca
briefs the class
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Working with the event pictures:
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9
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Interpretations:
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10,
11,
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13,
14,
15,
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Discussion at the end of the charette:
1,
2,
3,
4
April, 2000 Loomis Laboratory of Physics Installation and Event:
An Architecture 372 installation in the highly functional,
thoroughly ordinary, Loomis Laboratory of Physics
will make users of Physics Department facilities
more aware of the bulding spaces they use every day.
(Pictures are JPEG's, typically 165 kbytes each.)
Discussions with Greg Larson, Physics Department Facilities Manager...
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At Loomis, 3/24/00...
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more...
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still more...
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even still more...
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it's lucky that digital pictures are free...
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and still more...
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Trying out some ideas for the installation...
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In front of Loomis, 3/24/00...
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Discussing lighting with Michael Williams,
Lighting Designer for the Krannert Center; 3/31/00.
3,
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... and more...
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... and still more...
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... and even still more...
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... and still even more...
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The projects:
-
interruption: R. Knecht, M. Bonick, R. Spese, A. Krumpolz,
and J. Swoyer.
Imagine being able to experience a place in a way you never thought possible...
- Interruption photos:
1,
2,
3,
4,
5.
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chain of light: E. Campbell, M. Chuang, J. Dousset, A. Will, D. Wright.
This project is an exploration of light in the walnut corridor.
- chain of light photos:
1,
2,
3.
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revelation: K. Duggan, E. Guede, K. Johnson,
K. Leatherman, N. Smith, K. Matzen.
For this piece, we wanted people to recognize fully the efficiency
of the curve. We obstructed the normal flow of traffic through floating, planar
objects, forcing people to walk through (or around)
our installation, rather than around the curve.
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parallax: R. McCluckie, C. MacDonald, C. Haskett,
T. Schultz, A. Mayfield.
par-al-lax (pærelæks) n. the apparent change
of position, or the difference in apparent direction,
of an object when viewed from
two or more positions not in line with the object.
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paraSITE: C. Grider, J. Molloy, S. Reinhold,
E. Wang, A. Sloan.
A fusion of architecture, dance, and music...
The proposal of paraSITE, at the south west
corner of Loomis Laboratory at Goodwin
and Green Streets is an intervention that
challenges the status quo, and alters the
everyday banality of a modern piece of architecture.
The concept: the parasite, the parasitic,
the creature that leeches upon the building
with the intent to feed upon the energy of
this entry point of the building and alter, or
morph, the surface of the building.
- paraSITE photos:
1,
2,
3,
4,
5.
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Julius at work.
April 8 performance at Loomis:
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Poster announcing event
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Event program:
page 1,
page 2,
page 3,
page 4.
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interruption:
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6.
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chain of light:
1,
2,
3,
4.
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revelation:
1,
2,
3.
4,
5,
6,
7.
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parallax:
1,
2,
3.
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10,
11,
12,
13.
14,
15,
16,
17,
18.
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paraSITE:
1,
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12.
Our 15 minutes of fame:
More as it happens...
send
us email: Rebecca Williamson,
Linda Lehovec, George
Gollin,
Julius Rascheff
