Cement
Sculptures
An interest in the design and morphology of the human hand stuck with us throughout the development of our working practice. In the beginning we had come up with several concepts for workshops that would highlight its unique biological structure; with a particular emphasis on how they function, as well as how we choose to use them.
As we began to focus our investigation on offensive gestures we became very motivated by the thought of creating a series of objects that would echo the movement and shape that hands could create. We visualised them as artworks that audience members would be able to touch and interact with freely. Initially seeing them as abstract sculptures that a hand would be able to fit in, but only if its shape adapted. For example if the object was a solid glove the hand is forced into position and the nature of the gesture is immediately revealed to the person holding the sculpture. These basic ideas quickly developed after our first few sessions of observational drawings. We increasingly wanted to find a way of capturing what we saw, to somehow set these cursory hand-movements in stone. After debating how we would go about doing so I decided to experiment with various mould-making materials, in order to gain some perspective on how these interactive objects could potentially be produced.
Emma's trials
Given that neither of us had much experience when it came to mould-making or casts, we conducted some primary research on mixtures and substances that could be adapted to our needs. I spoke with a few peers who had previously worked with certain processes, asking them for recommendations. A good friend of mine with a lot of know how on the subject, gave me some invaluable advice and agreed to teach me some techniques she had mastered over the years. She proposed that we organise a session, during which we could experiment freely with different materials, such as mod-roc and alginate, in order to produce several different kinds of moulds. This would help us get a clearer sense of what we wanted to achieve, as well as allow us to become more familiar with various procedures.
"it didn’t remain in its original shape for very long, and would start to fall apart after a few days"
Having acquired all the necessary materials I tried out multiple methods to make gesture-shaped moulds. I learnt how to make an incredibly detailed cast of a human hand using mod-roc and some plaster of paris, after which we did a trial run with alginate. As opposed to most substances used in mould-making, such as silicones, resins or plaster, alginate doesn’t become highly chemically active during the drying process, therefore isn’t harmful when in direct contact with the skin. Despite the fact that it seemed like a material with which we could easily produce a series of accurate moulds, I soon discovered that it didn’t remain in its original shape for very long, and would start to fall apart after a few days. It also wasn’t particularly agreeable to touch, which made me realise how important finding the right texture was going to be if we wanted to create inviting, interactive objects.
Amanda's trials
During the time Emma had been trialling plasters, and alginate I had been experimenting with various types of cement and concrete mixes. From our observational drawings and workshops it was becoming very clear to me that offensive gestures were often brief moments of expression that were short lived but held a great deal of emotion. We had found that environmental context was vital in exploring the meaning of a gesture, and in contrast to the fleeting gestural moments, the buildings are everlasting. It was significant to me to find a material which would echo this permanence. Therefore I looked towards building materials, to be specific, cement mixes.
"offensive gestures were often brief moments of expression that were short lived but held a great deal of emotion"
Having never used cement or concrete mixes before I began researching the substance, asking friends I knew had experience and watching many youtube tutorials. The priority seemed to be getting the water content right, to enable the mix to be utilised in the way I wanted. I tested some smaller, finger sized moulds as well as a larger hand sized tray to see how the substance would react to the surface, as well as for my sculpting requirements.
In this quantity the pure cement seemed much easier to use and created a clean, sharp outcome. As expected, as the water evaporated from the mix, the sculpture itself shrank slightly - something to take into consideration when altering scale. Once the product was fully dry it was firm, and is now strong enough to be sanded, scored and engraved.
The pure cement mix had a recognisable soft grey colouring, whereas the concrete readymix had sand and aggregate in, and therefore dried an unwelcoming orange tone. The readymix also had a rough and flaky texture; completely unappealing and too vibrant for our requirements.
The list
Within the mould making we have decided to use the defined gestures we had spoken with others about in the research workshop. Listening to the recordings Emma noted there were silent parts where the gestures were being made during the conversation. Initially she was thinking about drawing the offensive movements in a way that would sit with the transcript or recording. But after talking it through we became more aware that they may still get lost within this dense block of information. In my mind it is important to let the gestures take precedence here, and achieve this by placing importance on the momentary movements.
Can we illustrate the concept of an offensive gesture as aggressive expression without being contextually heavy?
We want to explore to see if we can find a method of making the movements harsh yet truthful and essentially relatable to the viewer. And we believe the best way for this is through sculptures, which will ultimately be an illustrative outcome from the research workshop.
Development
After familiarising ourselves with various substances and techniques we were able to develop our ideas on capturing gestures further, especially in regards to how we would demonstrate this to an audience. We wanted to avoid an oversimplified display of hands and aspired to a final sculpture that provokes the notion of fleeting offensive gestures whilst remaining abstract. Equally important was the intention that spectators would be free to interact with the objects and draw their own conclusions. We wanted to suggest the nature of our subject and at this time this meant making sure that the materials we used would invite people to interact with the artwork. We also debated whether or not we should just create one substantial large sculpture out of a single material, in which we could cast a multitude of gestures. Particularly attracted to this idea we attempted to figure out how this could be achieved, but quickly realised that it would be extremely difficult to do with little access to suitable equipment. However, we did conclude that all of our moulds should have continuity and therefore be made with the same substance, as well as an equal size and shape.
Looking back at the materials we had experimented with, plaster was one of the most pleasant to touch and visually uniform in colour. I decided to conduct further trial-runs in order to see whether or not it could be used to produce our final moulds. After a brief amount of planning, a system was set up which allowed me to achieve a satisfying result. Because plaster is a substance that shouldn’t be in contact with human skin for the time it takes to dry, a mod-roc cast of a gesture had be produced prior to the actual mould-making. It also had to be covered with at least two coats of glaze or varnish, as well as heavily layered with vaseline in order to avoid it sticking to the plaster as is sets. After securely placing it in a sizable container, I spread another layer of vaseline on every surface the liquid would come into contact with. Once the plaster had dried, the container had to be taken apart to finally retrieve the mould.
Although this trial was ultimately successful, we concluded that making our objects out of plaster of paris would require a huge amount of preparation. That being said, the end result proved to fit the criteria we had established at this point; agreeable to touch and homogenous in its appearance.
Plaster
Cement
Emma and I got together and discussed our findings from the initial experiments. She was optimistic by her plaster moulds and I was encouraged by the cement mix. At this point neither of us were willing to narrow it down to one material, so we compromised and decided to both try new tests at a greater size as we knew we wanted the outcomes to be large enough to hold a movement, not just a display of hands.
One thing that we had been sure about was the interactive element to the sculpture, we wanted people to engage with the work. So I explored having a layer of fimo over the cement, in the area the audience member would be touching. In order to do this I had to create a modroc cast of a hand with an outer layer of fimo, to then bake and set it to the correct shape. I then took the mod rock layered with fimo and placed this within the cement shape. As I feared as the fimo set it shrunk slightly generating some hairline cracks. Luckily as the cement mix is fairly thick, it did not leak through too much.
The fimo layer was effective in creating a skin friendly coating, however it was a bright contrasting white which felt as though it took away a lot of the reasoning of using cement; you could not recognise the colour, feel it’s attributes as building material and a lot of the shape of the gesture was lost.
I began questioning the importance of the work as an interactive piece, and this question was raised in a group tutorial. Do we need the work to be skin friendly? Would people still feel inclined to come in contact with the work? After speaking with a few different people, with examples of both with or without the layer, the consensus was the tests without the fimo were in fact more enticing. The textures created by the cement appealed to them, and at least two people were handling just the cement moulds before we had even discussed the question with them. We realised that we had second guessed the interactive element and got it wrong, in actual fact the rougher consistency achieved the outcome we wanted.
Olafur Eliasson
Eliasson's work was produced by surrounding a glacial block with cement and over a long period of time letting the ice melt. It is a physical representation of the absence of the ice. It is the space that's missing and the pattern that's left behind which represents the subject, much like in our cement sculptures.
'A physical representation of absence'
Design for final outcome
Our main decision was whether we should use plaster or cement for the material, as an overall piece we had already decided it had to be all in one medium to create a bold uniformed outcome. We had many discussions over the practicalities of each substance, as well as meanings for each style. It appeared clear to me that plaster was going to be expensive and time consuming, as we would have to make mod roc moulds for every cube and allow days for each one to dry completely. Whereas Emma was opposed to the weight of the cement, as we would need to travel with the cubes from home to uni and back again.
I really pushed my reasons for using cement; it is a recognisable, sturdy form that represents such a quiet moment of gesture within the interviews. There is a relationship between the cement as a powerful material and the strong offensive gesture. And a beauty in taking something so fleeting and recreating it through an impactful, permanent substance.
After a little convincing Emma agreed and saw the potential in the cement mix, we had a few tests so she could see the ease of use of the pure cement mix and it was decided that we would use cement to create the outcome.
Previously Emma had wanted to create one large shape, with the gestures inlaid, but we quickly realised this would cause many issues; including the fact we do not know the size or shape of space we will have within the degree show. As our lasercut pages are square, and so is the zine, it seemed obvious to me to make the shapes cubes. This would make them easier to make, deal with and would allow us to show them in many different setups. After brainstorming the best ways of exhibiting them, we came to the conclusion a metre by metre table would be perfect. If each cube was 250mm then we can fit sixteen in total, a perfect amount for the number of gestures we have from the workshop chats. It will also create a sense of importance and grandeur to the piece, expressing our belief in the subjects importance.
"it is a recognisable, sturdy form that represents such a quiet moment of gesture"
Trial cube
Knowing the cement mix does not stick to many substances, I spent time looking for just the right mould to create the cubes and came across a perfect sized four sided acrylic box. Unfortunately i’d bought the wrong mix, as we had to get a much larger bag we had to change brands and our first cube trial was with a concrete mix. The flakiness and colouring here were an issue again, and so after much more research we bought some which was ‘pure’ cement and would hopefully give us the look we wanted.
Process
First cement cube
This time the cube came out exactly how we had hoped. The substance was near perfect form, and the hand inlay was effective in representing the gesture rather than the hand itself. After a fair amount of sanding the cube was looking exactly how we had wanted.
Degree Show Setup
By the degree show we will have sixteen cubes in total, creating a striking square within our exhibition space.
The cement sculptures are our exploration into the use of a gesture combined with language and how often this can create a significant effect on how the situation is remembered by the recipient.
From the conversations we had a list of many forceful offensive gestures that had been used or received. All of which were accompanied by words or phrases which made the situation considerably memorable. We wanted to take something as fleeting as a gesture and recreate it in a striking, permanent substance to emphasise its weight within co-verbal communication.
We are using cement as a recognisable material seen daily but often under noticed, much as the gestures themselves. There is also a relationship between the cement as a strong material and the powerful offensive gesture. We hope to show the extent an offensive gesture can have on creating a negative experience, and how memorable and affecting these moments can be.
There is a massive amount of cement mix needed per cube, so it took both of us to mix and pour. It is a case of getting the right ‘cake mix’ texture so the cement is usable but dries strong, not crumbly. Then carefully pouring the cement into the perfect cube, attempting to get rid of any air bubbles that may creep in along the way. Two and a half to three hours later one of us comes back imprints the gesture and the cement is set enough it holds the shape instantly. From there it takes at least twenty four hours to dry before we take the mould off.
