Stepping tiles and trembling vectors

In this last workshop of the Plotterstation series, Camille Vierin and François Zajéga invited us to Green Fabric. We wanted to make a connection between the research of OSP and the plotterstation and the shared practice of Camille and François. In earlier work Camille and François built an installation in which a CNC machine redrew vectorised children's drawings in multiple at once. The repetition, or tiling was achieved through a custom toolholder holding multiple pens, each repeating a single machine gesture. In current research they are exploring modular tiles based on constraints.

The workshop was aimed at a broad audience and explored conditioned drawing through a series of exercises. With these exercises we (almost) became plotters ourselves: our movements constrained to horizontal or vertical movement, a limited set of gestures defined by tiles as restrictive templates, or by executing instructions of others. The limitations were both set to be broken and served as a new vocabulary to think through when drawing. Much like the limited commands a electronic pen plotter understands.

Our intention was to demistify the technology by imitating it. By discovering its limitations and accepting them as an invitation to discover new methods of drawing.

The participants were divided in two groups, both received and an A1 sized worksheet used for the (collective) exercises. In a final step we collaborated with the plotter through vectorisation tools developed by François and Camille. The goal was to see how the vectorisation acted on our trembling lines, how the plotter interpreted and copied our movements limited by its own instruction set.

Follow the research by Camille and François on mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@tessela_is

Agenda

Documentation

Top view photo of three white people drawing with colored felt-tip pens on the same sheet.

Close up photo of four white hands, three of them are drawing squigly lines with differently colored felt-tip pens on the same sheet. Due to the angle and position of the hands it's clear that these hands belong to three different people.

Participants executing the first exercise; freehand drawing with on limitation: the line needs to start and end on the side of a grid cell.

Close up photo of five white hands belonging to three people. Three hands are holding a felt-tip pen. The pens are drawing on a sheet using a square stencils with a simple shape cut out.

Top view photo of a sheet of paper, used as a worksheet during the workshops. On the sheet lines in different colors. On top of the lie white squares with slits. The slits have the same shape as some of the lines on the sheet.

Wide shot top view photo of a table with a big sheet of paper on it. The hands of three white people around the table are visible. They are drawing on the sheet using small stencils and felt-tip pens.

Exercise 3: using the tiles to draw. The tiles can be positioned freely on the sheet.

Top view photo of three white people drawing on a sheet. Each person holds one or two strings. The strings are attached to a white square with a pen affixed to it.

A close-up photo of a table with a sheet on it. Two white people stand on opposite sides of the table and hold four strings. The strings are attached to a white square with a pen affixed to it. The people use the tool to draw together on the sheet.

Exercise 6: plotting with multiple people at once using a prepared tile.

Top view photo of a sheet of paper. On top of the sheet a white hand which moves a smaller semi-transparent sheet. On both sheets colored lines without identifiable shapes.

A photo of a white hand holding an A4-sized semi-transparent sheet of paper. On the sheet an abstract drawing in blue, curved lines.

A photo of an abstract line drawing in multiple colors. All lines have the same width.

Plotted vectorised fragments on semi transparent paper. In the second part of the workshop the vectorisation script developed by François re-interpreted, or vectorised photos (of fragments) of the worksheets. The semi transparent paper allowed to position the plots on the worksheets to make new compositions.

A scan of a fluo pink sheet with text on it. The font is curvy. The text describes the instructions for the exercises in the workshop.

A scan of a fragment of the worksheets, with a plot on top. The worksheet has abstract line drawings on it in multiple colors. The overlay has red lines on it. The shapes on the overlay are smaller.

A scan of a fragment of the worksheet. On the sheet are blue lines in the shape of a quarter circle. In some places the individual shapes interact with quarter circles nearby forming compositions.

A scan of two semi-transparent A4-sized sheets on top of each other. Both sheets have abstract line drawings on them. the lines on the bottom sheet are ochre colored, the lines on the top sheet are red.

A scan of a folded worksheet with a semi-transparent sheet on the top. Both sheets have abstract line drawings on them. The squigly lines form big shapes. It is not clear which lines are on the top or bottom sheet.

A scan of two semi-transparent A4-sized sheets on top of each other. The bottom sheet has line drawings all over in lightblue, the shapes are more geometric. The sheet on top has a line drawing in darker blue. The lines on this sheet form a more organic, self intersecting shape in the center of the sheet.

A scan of a part of a worksheet. Strips of painters tape are stuck next to each other. They have varying lengths but are placed neatly next to each other. On the tape an abstract line drawing in light blue. On top of the worksheet a line drawing in bright blue. The lines of this drawing are curvy and intersect with each other. Together they form almost a rectangle.

A scan of a part of a worksheet. On the worksheet are line-drawings in different colors. The lines in grey are small curves, about an 5th of a big circle. Some are placed in lines.

Scans of the instructions, worksheets and plots.

The plotterstation workshops are supported by FWB