PNS -building Polymer nanostructures
"perspective in surface" (2021) by Jasmin Schmidt
Wall design in the foyer of the research building Polymer and Nanostructures, University Bayreuth
The wall design perspective in surface establishes connections between chemistry and art through abstract observation and clarification of commonalities. Fundamental is the realization that both artistic and chemical research are characterized by finding, observing, and then experimentally changing structures. Through the reorganization of structures aimed at by the respective research, a modeling of surfaces always takes place at the same time. Thus, surfaces in art and in chemistry can be understood as complex explorable realities that express the underlying meanings. perspective in surface illustrates that chemistry and art have in common the creation of perspectives by means of surfaces. Here, perspective is to be understood both as the optical point of view of an observation and as a future-oriented, content-related moment.
For this purpose, a basic structure was created based on the words NA-NO (gr. nános 'dwarf') and POLY (gr. polýs 'much'), drawn in a regular geometric font. This refers to polymers through the repetitive concatenation. As a curved form, this structure extends over all three levels of the building and interacts playfully with them. perspective in surface continuously emphasizes the existing architecture and its own form through refractions, gaps, reflections, repetitions and transparencies. With each movement of the viewer through the building, the wall design invites a constant change of perspective.
Following the idea of perspective in surface, the design does without space-consuming objects and orients itself to the surface. It is deliberately kept flat, but through a small distance to the wall, the structure becomes an object that can be examined. Within this object, minimal gradations in 3mm steps simultaneously emphasize the common surface as well as the possibility of looking at it more closely in terms of its structure. In this way, the viewer's gaze is guided to the materiality: perspective in surface consists of two plastics in dialogue on a total of 135 surface pieces. On the one hand, polycarbonate sheets (6mm) painted by hand with acrylic paints from the reverse side, which show brushwork and in transparent areas deliberately allow the wall in the background to shine through. By painting the back of the plates, the surface retains its reflective plastic character and changes its appearance with the incidence of light. On the other hand, solid surface panels with 30% recycled colorful acrylic glass in the basic shades of black, white and light gray, imitating terrazzo.
The choice of materials and the painterly treatment not only take up the color concept dictated by the interior design and enrich it with a pastel color gradient in triadic contrast. They also integrate themselves into the overall concept. The unpainted recycled plastics deal, similar to painting, with imitation and quotations of reality and thus refer to the short history of plastics, which has now already led globally to irreversible sedimentation. This development happened synchronously with the culturalization of the late-modern lifestyle, which is oriented towards the creative-artistic person. A new way of thinking about ecological requirements that counteracts this must therefore be inscribed in contemporary artistic and chemical research. perspective in surface shows that research into structure and surface enables both disciplines to find new solutions and to develop in a future-oriented manner through joint interaction.
