The Machine Stops: The Allegorical Architectural Project
Alice Charles
May Myo Min
Thomas Jackson
Rory Patterson
Ryan Western
William Du Toit
Hamish Beattie-Craven
Nicholas Wilkey
Jonathan Morrish
Travis Hinchliff
An exhibition of architectural drawings curated by Daniel K. Brown
19 November 2021 – 27 March 2022
The Machine Stops featured a selection of drawings and models by thirteen graduate students and alumni of Te Kura Waihanga Wellington School of Architecture at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. These were all generated through the ‘Narrative Architecture’ stream of the Master of Architecture programme initiated by Daniel K. Brown, Professor of Design Studio. Brown set his students the challenge of developing architectural representations that are generated by bringing narratives from oral, visual and literary traditions together with actual and imagined sites to produce what he calls an ‘allegorical architecture’.
The Allegorical Architectural Project drew on environmental, societal and cultural tales by a range of artists and authors – from E.M. Forster to Italo Calvino, Haruki Murakami, Māori cultural narratives, Burmese superstitions, and more – to connect with and represent aspects of the natural and built heritage of Aotearoa. These drawings and models invited us to consider how tragic stories and scarred sites can be remembered as important lessons for future generations. As Brown put it:
Tales of environmental devastation are visible to all of us. Cataclysmic events from centuries ago remain as permanent scars upon the landscape; culverted streams remain forever visible as open wounds upon the land. As James Joyce wrote in the margins of his novel Ulysses, ‘places remember events’. A tree branch cracking in the wind, fragments of stone tumbling down a hillside – the natural environment calls out its tale in whispers and whimpering groans, its unique form of storytelling audible to us all. We have only to pause and listen.
The resulting architectural representations are a form of temporal and spatial imagining. They address issues of cultural loss and environmental degradation at the same time proposing speculative means of rejuvenation and remembrance. Demonstrating great inventiveness and remarkable technical skill, The Machine Stops proves the power and utility of visual story-telling as we grapple with the detrimental effects of environmental devastation and envisage new ways of living in this place.
In August 2021, Brown’s Allegorical Architecture Project featuring seven of his students’ work was selected for a special edition of AD [Architectural Design]: Emerging Talents/Training Architects. Edited by Neil Spiller, the publication set out to explore new initiatives in architectural education, including pedagogical strategies that mix the virtual and the actual. Student work from twelve ‘forward-looking architecture schools worldwide’ was identified and introduced by their teachers and applauded by AD for ‘pushing the envelope of architecture in extraordinary ways’.
Daniel K. Brown is Professor of Design Studio in the Wellington School of Architecture Te Kura Waihanga at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. He completed a Master of Architecture degree at Yale University in 1982 and thereafter embarked on a 14-year professional career as a registered architect, culminating in his role as Vice-President of leading New York architectural firm Emilio Ambasz and Associates. He took up an academic position at Victoria University of Wellington in 1998 where he plays a full and active role in academic life. Brown has received 12 teaching awards and ten research fellowships including the American Fulbright Fellowship. In 2010 a five year retrospective of his architectural research was presented at the Venice Architecture Biennale.
The Machine Stops was generously supported by the Faculties of Science, Health, Engineering, Architect and Design Innovation, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington.
This exhibition was staged concurrently with Listening Stones Jumping Rocks.
Installation view, The Machine Stops: The Allegorical Architectural Project, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, 2021. Photo: Ted Whitaker
Installation view, The Machine Stops: The Allegorical Architectural Project, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, 2021. Photo: Ted Whitaker
Installation view, The Machine Stops: The Allegorical Architectural Project, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, 2021. Photo: Ted Whitaker
Alice Charles, Vessel for a Codex,2021, digital collage: historic map, digital architectural model, heritage photograph, notation marks, text; An Artefact of Time, 2021, graphite on paper, digitally collaged; and Unveiling an Artefact of Time,2021, graphite on paper, digitally collaged. Installation view, The Machine Stops: The Allegorical Architectural Project, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, 2021. Photo: Ted Whitaker
May Myo Min, Inside the Game, 2020, digital collage: digital model, photograph of physical model, shadows, notation marks, text. Installation view, The Machine Stops: The Allegorical Architectural Project, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, 2021. Photo: Ted Whitaker
Thomas Jackson, Atlas Shrugged, 2021, printed muslin fabric, ink on tracing paper, white card, Indian ink, laser-cut fibreboard, weathered pallet timber, steel, acrylic paint, artificial rust mixture, paper receipts, 3D printed ABS filament; Michael Weir, The Sorcerer and the Artisan, 2021, gold foam, fibreboard, plaster, 3D printed ABS filament, artist’s mull, gesso, plaster, wire, acrylic paint; and Adam Clark (Ngāti Maniapoto and Ngāti Hauā), Te Whare Atapō: The House Before Dawn, 2021, digital collage, fibreboard, canvas, unprocessed muka flax, wool, translucent paper, rimu, metal pegs, acrylic paint. Installation view, The Machine Stops: The Allegorical Architectural Project, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, 2021. Photo: Ted Whitaker
Rory Patterson, Stalker, 2021, laser-cut gold foam, fibreboard, acrylic paint, remnants of digital recording devices. Installation view, The Machine Stops: The Allegorical Architectural Project, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, 2021. Photo: Ted Whitaker
Ryan Western, The Engraver’s Craft,2020, digital collage: digital model renders, physical model photograph, topographic map, notation marks, text; and The Engraver’s Landscape,2020, digital collage: physical model photograph, site photographs, topographic map, notation marks, text. Installation view, The Machine Stops: The Allegorical Architectural Project, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, 2021. Photo: Ted Whitaker
William Du Toit, The Architectural Ruins,2021, digital collage: ink on paper, digital model and textures; The Mineshaft, 2021, digital collage: ink on paper, digital sluicing; and The Aerial Cableway,2021, digital collage: ink on paper, digital weaving. Installation view, The Machine Stops: The Allegorical Architectural Project, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, 2021. Photo: Ted Whitaker
William Du Toit, The Stamper Battery,2021, digital collage: ink on paper, digital amalgamation. Installation view, The Machine Stops: The Allegorical Architectural Project, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, 2021. Photo: Ted Whitaker
William Du Toit, The Water Race,2021, digital collage: ink on paper, digital excavation; The Schist Tailings, 2021, digital collage: ink on paper, digital dripping; Lamentations, 2021, digital collage: ink on paper, digital model and textures. Installation view, The Machine Stops: The Allegorical Architectural Project, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, 2021. Photo: Ted Whitaker
Hamish Beattie-Craven, In the Generative Cell,2015, digital model, colour and textures digitally collaged onto an inverted painting by Laura Hathaway; and Construction of a Ruined Temple,2015, digital collage: digital model, digital colour and textures. Installation view, The Machine Stops: The Allegorical Architectural Project, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, 2021. Photo: Ted Whitaker
Nicholas Wilkey, Installation view of The Repository of Shadows series, 2020. Installation view, The Machine Stops: The Allegorical Architectural Project, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, 2021. Photo: Ted Whitaker
Nicholas Wilkey, Inside the Repository of Shadows,2020, pen and ink on paper, digitally collaged; Gateway into the Repository of Shadows,2021, pen and ink on paper, digitally collaged; and The Shadow Grounds,2020, pen and ink on paper, digitally collaged. Installation view, The Machine Stops: The Allegorical Architectural Project, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, 2021. Photo: Ted Whitaker
Nicholas Wilkey, The Shadow Grounds,2020, pen and ink on paper, digitally collaged; and The Gateway and the Gatehouse, 2020, pen and ink on paper, digitally collaged. Installation view, The Machine Stops: The Allegorical Architectural Project, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, 2021. Photo: Ted Whitaker
Jonathan Morrish (Ngāti Ruanui), Haeata | Beam of Light, Sunrise, 2021, digital collage, pen and ink on paper, digital colour and textures; and Poutūmārō | The Pinnacle, Midday,2021, digital collage, pen and ink on paper, digital architectural render, digital colour and textures. Installation view, The Machine Stops: The Allegorical Architectural Project, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, 2021. Photo: Ted Whitaker
Travis Hinchliff, The Hero’s Journey: Crossing Thresholds,2021, digital collage; and Connor Aislabie, We Are Nō. One, 2021, digital collage. Installation view, The Machine Stops: The Allegorical Architectural Project, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, 2021. Photo: Ted Whitaker
Installation view, The Machine Stops: The Allegorical Architectural Project, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, 2021. Photo: Ted Whitaker