An inter-story is ‘a tactic to bring interior and history together…to foster experimentation’ on what makes an interior space.1 The practice of interiorization tells an inter-story with connections to history, which ignites ones imagination.
This weeks sight visit exemplified techniques of interiorization and cemented the idea of an inter-story. Interiorization being the process of controlling space which is to "limit and restrain it" 2 The contrasting spaces of the library tell a narrative through controlling forces such as noise into silence and darkness into light in order to create different atmospheres for their specific purposes. When on the ground floor, you are oblivious to the immensity of the dome above. The reading room is completely quiet in contrast to the bustling foyer, and the use of the glass dome gives another atmosphere for the gallery space. As you travel through the building you reach different interiors inside of the whole. The books on display together tell a story of history and time, as well as being a form of inspiration for the new. A book is a good metaphor for expanding ones idea of interior. We can now see interior as something that tells a story or excites imagination. A book captures the past in a similar way an interior can; by telling a story, recording facts whilst being removed from the reality of exterior experience. A book encloses you in a new world, shelters you from reality, so is a form of an interior and is an inter-story.
The exhibitions name ‘Mirror to the world” is another way to explaining the concept of inter-story. A mirror reflects exterior and history but is only a construct. I have been inspired by these precedents to create something new.
My work ‘inside out’ contrasts exterior with interior in order to see interior in context. It seeks to exemplify a process of interiorization where ‘interior opens itself up to the outside’ and ‘exterior exerts itself into the interior like a glove’2 I liked the idea presented of an interior being anything that has been constructed in order to ideally control the exterior. The use of the mirror is a link to the interior as an ideal reflection of exterior, as well as a way of controlling the ‘force’ of light as in the globe theatre. Walter Benjamin examines the ‘window mirror’ as attempting ‘to pull exterior wholly inside itself’. In my work, the wood of the walls come from the exterior trees, the green carpet; an idealised reflection of grass, the use of light and reflection is an idealised view of exterior. The contrast of exterior with interior portrays Christine Mccarthys view of an ‘inside’ being ‘able to sustain exteriority, (towards a definition of interiority)
I feel we do this instinctively but to acknowledge this process is important in interiorization and creating inter-story.
1 Suzie Attiwill, 'Practices of interiorization - an inter-story' in Tiiu Poldma (ed) Meanings of Design. Social, Cultural and Philosophical Essays about people, spaces and interior environment, (fairchils Books: forthecoming, 2013).
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