Lindsey Dieter

Worksop with Jonah Bokaer at Domaine de Boisbuchet

Located in the south western region of France, Domaine de Boisbuchet provides 170 acres of land for designers and artists to experiment and create.

The architectural park pairs an 18th Century chateau with pavilions by Shigeru Ban, Markus Heinsdorff  and a plethora of workshop inspired installations.  

"What aspects of design choreography the body?"

"How does movement inform the construction of space?"

"How do groups inhabit space to form a community?"

This workshop had me at motion...

Jonah Bokaer - workshop leader and choreographer

Stavros Gasparatos - created an original composition using recordings from the building, our bodies and text

My primary interest is in the intersection between physical movement and the built environment.

My thesis work will examine how the built environment may encourage / inhibit physical movement as well as the capacity for the intuitive body to inform spatial design.

Our workshop was situated in the Chinese Pavilion, designed by German architect, Markus Heinsdorff.

Bamboo construction and a semi-permeable facade membrane create an acoustically charged, dynamic environment that shifted in personality from day to night.

Participants selected human scale objects and furniture to workshop and explore.

Mirrored glass, red rope, white chair.

To understand the complex relationship between the physical body and the built environment, daily movement was essential.

Each day began with a solo study series. 3 rounds of 2 minute improvisation work.

My work explored the perception of spatial boundaries, constraints of furniture and experiential impact of light on movement.

Light unified the exploration of space and motion through the creation of a visual medium that was accessible to an external viewer.

I was grateful for the opportunity to design the lighting in collaboration with Jonah Bokaer.

The iterative process, executed at lighting speed.

Fluorescent tubes

Halogen Spot Lights (recovered from an airport in Germany, circa 1980)

We wired and taped until 2am. At 2:05am, light levels were tested and the wires were taped in place.

Paper was used to wrap the body, rendering our movement as both an instrument and light reflector.

The "Triple Echo Sketch" was presented to 50+ viewers in the historic barn at Boisbuchet.

Photographs by Ivy Tzai

Photographs by Ivy Tzai

Photographs by Ivy Tzai

Photographs by Ivy Tzai