Self- described 'trans-architect', Marcos Novak, explores the idea of liquid architecture, in his article Liquid Architectures in Cyberspace. He describes liquid architecture as a totally fluid environment contained only by cyberspace that reacts and changes to interaction and time. In his work, science and art merge without any restrictions and without abiding the rules of nature. Novak explores this theme in his digital work that portrays architecture and design in a completely cyber environment. He incorporates time into his pieces making them truly four-dimensional.
In his words the definition of liquid architecture:
"I mean involving the total but rigorous variability and the idea that form can be driven by both data and presence, both when we are immersed in information and when information is everted on to the physical world."- Marcos Novak
Novak extends his definition to include art that is dynamic and changeable by both time and audience interaction or art that is variable and based on an algorithmic system. He bases his idea of liquid architecture on three pillars: reference, delineation and modulation. His idea of reference means that liquid architecture is only defined by artist created boundaries. The extent to which the environment is artificial is defined by its modulation. Delineation the most interesting pillar is defined by audience particpation. Novak suggests that a space that can be observed by the audience is sculpture, a space that can be inhabited by the audience is architecture and a space that can affected by the audience is liquid architecture.
Liquid Architecture In His Work:
His still images demonstrate building with new and innovative forms that are not constrained by the physical limitations of our world. The only constraints on his structures are those of cyberspace. He explores the idea of structure and form in time with video works. His website disclaims that the videos have no music, because you are able to "see" the music in the movement of the forms.
This concept of "seeing music" emanates in Vibeke Sorensens's work, particularly Temple. Sorenson explores the idea of data driven visuals. Her animations were created via the inputting of data, in the form of sound waves through an analog computer. They explore the connection between form, space, time, and music incorporating Novak's notion of new dimensions.
Vibeke Sorensen also explores the ideas of limitless architecture in works like Diamantia. Her work shows architectural forms and movements in a totally fluid environment not confined by the laws of nature.
One point that Novak emphasized in his essay was the idea that liquid architecture has an evolving definition that changes with the advancement in technology used to create it. Sorenson pushes the boundaries of the definition of liquid architecture to include the idea of sharing culture and personal interaction across distances through the use of telematics. She references the Global Visual Music Jam Project as a manifestation of liquid architecture through the interaction of music, visuals, and media arts. She discusses the idea of a human element that is the driving force behind interactive art and experiences that are unique. She also discusses her work, Morocco Memory II as a work that incorporates a cultural aspect to the idea of liquid architecture. She defines the cultural element as a person's identity and thoughts in a specific moment in time.
Leo Villareal's work exemplifies the theory of liquid architecture on its spontaneity and mathematical randomness. His work Multiverse incorporates Novak's idea of algorithmic driven art that includes movement and space. The lights contained with this art work together in order to form shapes and patterns unique to the point and time and angle at which they are viewed, allowing us to observe this idea of a fluid environment.
His other work like Field shows Villareal's acute interpretation of liquid architecture and its ability to work with frozen architecture. His works show a keen and delicate sense of light, movement and color and an understanding of how they affect the audience.
The idea of liquid architecture can be found not only in the work of artists like Sorenson and Villareal, but in the media that surrounds our everyday lives. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, facing serious budgets deficits, decided to integrate advertising into the unique architecture of their metro system. They installed a series of 139 back lit still inside the tunnels. As the train moved past the stills, they created a flipbook effect. The backlit pictures merge into an animation that is dependent on the unique architecture of the space.
This innovative advertising system incorporates the themes of liquid architecture including movement, light, fluid environments and the idea of an interpretation being specific to a point in time and a movement.
The underlying theme with all these works is the idea of incorporating four dimensions, height, width, depth and time into structure and art. These pieces combine art, science, math and technology into a form of art that is only contained by the limitations of cyberspace. In the instances of Leo Villareal's work and the DC Metro advertisements, the art that incorporates liquid architecture works symbiotically with the frozen architecture of its surroundings. These ideas culminate into pieces of art that demonstrate color, form, movement, and music in fluid manner manipulated by both time and interaction.
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