The Armchair Traveller: Littoral Zones and the Domestic Environment Deb

The Armchair Traveller: Littoral Zones and the Domestic Environment Deb Mansfield Master of Fine Arts Research Documentation School of Media Arts The College of Fine Arts The University of New South Wales March 2013 1 ORIGINALITY STATEMENT ‘I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project's design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged.’ Signed …………………………………………….............. Date ……………………………………………................. COPYRIGHT STATEMENT ‘I hereby grant the University of New South Wales or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I retain all proprietary rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. I also authorise University Microfilms to use the 350 word abstract of my thesis in Dissertation Abstract International (this is applicable to doctoral theses only). I have either used no substantial portions of copyright material in my thesis or I have obtained permission to use copyright material; where permission has not been granted I have applied/will apply for a partial restriction of the digital copy of my thesis or dissertation.' Signed ……………………………………………........................... Date …………………………………………….............................. AUTHENTICITY STATEMENT ‘I certify that the Library deposit digital copy is a direct equivalent of the final officially approved version of my thesis. No emendation of content has occurred and if there are any minor variations in formatting, they are the result of the conversion to digital format.’ Signed ……………………………………………........................... Date ……………………………………………........................... 2 ABSTRACT Littoral zones are geographies of constant movement between land and sea. The armchair traveller sits in the domestic space day-dreaming about places elsewhere. Both littoral zones and the armchair traveller share an amorphous position of moving between the loci of here and there. They operate as unformed, fluctuating spaces that reflect what academic Elisabeth Grosz terms as the space of in-between. While Grosz discusses the space of in-between in relation to architecture, her idiom is used in this paper to examine other forms as well (forms being any manner of identities). As such, this research paper argues that engaging with littoral zones – either physically, or as a daydreaming armchair traveller – not only signifies the in-between – but also encourages external perspectives upon forms. Subsequently, things that had seemed fixed or resolved, such as roles in the domestic environment, can be modified from a space external to them. The difference between popular and unpopular littoral geographies is discussed, reasoning that atypical littoral zones are more adaptable to notions of unformed spaces. Several littoral narratives are also examined; 19th century French scenic wallpaper, the island-journey and the littoral-dominated films of John Sayles. Specific works of artist Simon Starling are used to illustrate a process of modifying and redirecting forms. The backyard will also be discussed as both a site of in-between and as a backdrop for photographic constructions. It is the aim of this writer to use the abovementioned histories as a framework from which to consider the research and artworks supporting The MFA research. Ultimately, the aim of this paper is to argue that time spent imagining and engaging with atypical littoral geographies, is not to only gain an unfamiliar perspective, but to also to push upon and redirect things that had otherwise seemed resolved. 3 CONTENTS ABSTRACT 3 INTRODUCTION 5 CHAPTER ONE - FRAMEWORKS FOR MAPPING 8 LITTORAL GEOGRAPHIES AND THE ARMCHAIR TRAVELLER 8 SCENIC WALLPAPER AS AN ESCAPE 9 ELIZABETH GROSZ AND THE SPACE OF IN-BETWEEN 15 BEACHES ON THE OUTSIDE OR THE ATYPICAL LITTORAL 16 CHAPTER TWO – MOVING AND MAKING 19 ISLANDS AT THE WORLD’S END: TASMANIA AND NEWFOUNDLAND 19 OVERLAPPING FORMS AND SPACES 22 CHAPTER THREE – CONSTRUCTION AND NARRATIVE 29 THE BACKYARD 29 PASSION FISH AND LIMBO 31 CONCLUSION 35 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 36 BIBLIOGRAPHY 39 APPENDIX #1 43 APPENDIX #2 50 APPENDIX #3 74 4 INTRODUCTION This research paper investigates the place where land meets sea or water, which is commonly referred to as a littoral zone. Littoral zones are not singularly aligned to either of the land or sea identities, they are binary, and for this reason they are discussed within the research paper as a representation of the space of in-between, as defined by Elizabeth Grosz.1 In ‘Architecture from the Outside’, Grosz notes that the in-between “has become a celebrated and prolific metaphor for many feminist and post modernist discourses (…) the very site for the contestation of the many binaries and dualisms that dominate Western knowledge.”2 In a book, which specifically refers to architectural forms, it is helpful to think of Grosz’s theorising from the point of view of an ‘outsider to the field of architecture’ to consider not only man- made forms, but those in nature as well.3 The space of in-between is a fluctuating space that “lacks a fundamental identity, lacks a form, a giveness, a nature.”4 It is a formless space that exists in-between, and on the peripheral, of things that are resolute. Things or what is termed by Grosz as ‘forms’, can be understood as identities held by a fixed nature of understanding e.g. histories, materialities, objects and so on.5 The slippage between forms then, is a somewhat radical space that incites external, non-prescriptive perspectives. This concept strikes a significant parallel to this writer’s thoughts, that commonplace roles within the domestic environment can be negated through encountering – physically and imaginatively – remote littoral zones. The space of in-between will also be discussed in relation to the mindset of the armchair traveller, “who travels in their imagination only”, daydreaming about places that are between a real and imagined place.6 The armchair traveller possesses a fundamental desire to 1 Elizabeth Grosz is an Australian academic who “has written widely on the body, sexuality, space, time, and materiality.” (Switala, K 1999, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg VA, viewed 27 June 2012, <http://www.cddc.vt.edu/feminism/Grosz.html>). 2 Grosz, E 2001, Architecture from the Outside: Essays on Virtual and Real Space, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, U.S.A., p.93. 3 “The space of the in-between is the locus for social, cultural, and natural transformations.” (Ibid., p. 92 & vii). 4 Ibid., p.91. 5 Ibid., p.91. 6 Siefring, J (ed) 2004, The Oxford Dictionary of Idioms 2nd Edition, Oxford University Press, United States p.9. 5 escape the everyday, a longing to physically travel elsewhere but never actually having the opportunity, or possibly the gumption, to do so. Their day-to-day existence is anchored in the schedules of work and domesticity, all the while imagining elsewhere. Being neither entirely present in the real (nor actually physically experiencing their reverie) the armchair traveller oscillates between the binaries of here and there. The mindset of the armchair traveller and the tidal movement of littoral zones share a process of oscillation. Yet, whereas one can physically access a littoral zone and encounter a geographical-space in flux, the armchair traveller exists outside the ‘encounter’, anticipating it nonetheless. This difference between the physical and the cerebral is not a quandary, but rather two different illustrations of slippage between forms: between land and sea, and between the real and the imagined. As such, this space of in-between becomes an unstructured vantage-point from which to observe the binaries it exists between and around. This could mean looking back at land or alternatively, reconsidering the routine of day-to-day. This research paper argues that such perspectives can provoke new ways to approach what had previously seemed determined – or at the very least, meditate on an alternative becoming. Chapter One: A Framework for Mapping, establishes definitions for a littoral zone and an armchair traveller, outlining similarities between the two. Examples of 19th century French scenic wallpaper are used to elucidate the nexus for armchair travelling to the littoral brink. As such, this writer queries whether it is important to physically engage with littoral zones, or if armchair travelling to these geographies is sufficient. This research paper suggests that it is through a combination of both imagining and encountering littoral zones, that an unstructured and progressive space can be met. From this junction littoral zones are further discussed in relation to the commonplace ritual of journeying to coastlines

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