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Location: http://the.ricethresher.org/ae/2006/09/29/canyon_artists_interview

September 29, 2006 > Arts & Entertainment > Cardboard architects discuss their design

Cardboard architects discuss their design

By Tiffany Siu | Thresher staff

What inspired this structure?

Gaston Nogues: It started with a material exploration in doing these chairs for [architect] Frank Gehry a while ago. It was basically a take-off of laminated cardboard chairs that were stacked to make more organic shapes.

Benjamin Ball: This project is, from the gallery standpoint. tied into a show on the landscape of the West. So [the museum curator] mentioned that to us, and it got us thinking about Western American imagery. We started thinking about waves, sand dunes, canyons, tunnels, and we wanted to fold all of those things together, and we thought the name achieved that. We struggled a long time on the name.

Nogues: It was like naming a kid. It didn’t do it for me at first, but it’s grown on me.

What are you trying to say with this piece?

Ball: We’re trying to create an experience for people who come here. And that experience is an evocation of imagery, as well as an activation of your body as you move through the space. This requires you to climb on it, walk on it, sit on it. And that’s a different approach than, say, a conventional sculpture that’s created for your eyes and your mind.

Nogues: We’re also interested in using a material that transforms what it is. Like, put enough of these cardboard strips together and they begin to look like leather or suede. Last night I was sitting up here, and I thought I was sitting on the back of a dragon. When we were talking about this, we always thought about how people would move around on it and what they would conjure up and imagine.

So why do you guys like working together? Is it because you both like to explore different materials?

Ball: There are things that I hate doing that he would love to do all day, and there are things that he hates doing that I would love to do all day. So you combine them and together we expand each other’s vocabularies of expression.

What would you say drives you?

Nogues: Paying the rent, that’s for sure.

Ball: We come up with a lot of ideas and it’s very satisfying to see them actualized, you know? There’s just this bliss we get from making this stuff. But I don’t think it’s any different than someone in any other field.

So you guys really love doing this?

Ball: Yeah, we love doing this. But we don’t just love cardboard; we like creating places and environments.

Nogues: When we showed up here, we came with very definite plans for how things were going to happen. And 99.5 percent of that plan came through. We did a lot of tests and mock-ups.

You’ve been featured in the New York Times, LA Times, and won the Annual Design Review Award from ID Magazine. How does it feel to be on the rise now?

Ball: If you start looking at it like media attention is the most important, you lose focus on the work. Don’t get me wrong, we’re not going to sound like purists, you have to [pay attention to the media].

Nogues: I’d like to get another job out of this. It’d be a step in the right direction. My entire career, up to now, was working for [Frank Gehry], who gets to do whatever he wants, for the most part. That’s a pretty nice feeling, going to work every day and getting to call the shots.

Ball: But [Gehry’s] a workaholic. It’s easy to romanticize the life of somebody who’s pretty successful.

Nogues: I don’t want to do work where the only thing I want to do is retire. I want to do something that drives me.

What did you think about Rice?

Nogues: Honestly, this is one of the most fun places I’ve worked. It’s a great setup.

Ball: There aren’t very many galleries in the country that aren’t for profit and will give you money to do installations. Things like this require a lot of resources, and there isn’t a huge commercial potential for this. What are you going to do, sell this thing? Rice Gallery is unique in the country in that it’s dedicated to installations.

Nogues: It’s an honor to be asked, so we took it really seriously. Some of the people who have done work here are world-class artists. Being asked to do something in a place where other people have done really amazing work is kind of a big deal

Do you have any advice for aspiring architects?

Ball: Get out while you can.

Nogues: It’s a pretty hard profession. It beats you up sometimes, but I think if you decide to do it, you should just do it. And don’t let it beat you up.

Ball: Assess how passionate you are about it, and recognize that if you’re passionate about it, work hard. If you know you’re not that passionate about it, just know that and don’t expect to do monumental things. Also, a mentor is very important to have. Getting a really clear and intimate understanding of somebody’s approach helps a lot. Another way to go is to work for a lot of people and try a lot of different approaches out to find out what works for you.

End of article

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