02.24.11 : Idea Entry : Membrane

Membrane
1. any thin pliable sheet of material
2. a pliable sheetlike usually fibrous tissue that covers, lines, or connects plant and animal organs or cells
3. biology a double layer of lipid, containing some proteins, that surrounds biological cells and some of their internal structures

A membrane can be a layer of material which serves as a selective barrier between two phases and remains impermeable to specific particles, molecules, or substances when exposed to the action of a driving force. Some components are allowed passage by the membrane into a permeate stream, whereas others are retained by it and accumulate in the retentate stream.

K Office

"The flow of the curves is alternated with iron openings in the translucent membrane and large moveable panels in black coloured wood. Reducing to essentiality the variety of the surfaces and materials, glass, iron, wood, resin the formal rigour continues from the offices into the inside space to the conference rooms where the opal surface lets in natural light expanding the whole. Architecture inside architecture: a translucent glass dimension as solid as it is transparent." - Lapo Ruffi Architetto

Translucent membrane
Uršula Berlot

"[Berlot] simply allows the paint to drip through the membrane - she often uses two simultaneous layers. The paintings are always completed (coagulated) very quickly as the crystallization and polymerization of the compounds takes place in only a few hours. Because of her use of these special compounds which dry very quickly, she must have a systematic plan before she begins working, though she also allows for accident and chance. For this reason, the individual shapes created in the transparent membrane are ceaselessly emerging and the artist allows the transparent compounds to run into the colored compounds as they flow over the plexiglass surface where they become part of the whole." - Tatjana Pregl Kobe

I was thinking about membrane in relation to my project. In my images the glass or fence that stands between myself and and animal is not impenetrable. Though glass can not easily be passed through or broken, it still doesn't prevent us from interacting and reacting to one another. Fences can be more persuasive when referring to these barriers and cages as membranes. A human being can easily put his or her hands or fingers through the cage to interact the the animal, which is more membrane related. Even so, I think the membrane between species is like an unspoken barrier that only certain events and action can accrue between the two.

Video Instillation