For the Goat

the crowd

2010-09-28T21:55:00.000-07:00

some photos taken of costume in motion.

one more to go ...

slowly coming together - disguise

2010-07-14T10:26:00.000-07:00

the four designs are based on 4 themes of what happens to the body when it dons a costume.
These themes are stylized, distorted, disguised and inversed. The origami dress posted previously is the stylized version of the female in carnival and the traditional dragon costume. The rope costume is a distorted and exaggerated version of the female body and form.
This one is the 3rd costume 'disguise'.

In the finished product the spiral tentacles creep up to cover the face, until the body is overtaken and no longer distinguishable.

ill post the finish product soon. These images are where it is at now.

exaggeration

2010-06-15T14:07:00.000-07:00

exaggeration

plaster body form contoured with 200 yards of white nylon rope.

LUCY AND BART ART

2010-06-03T23:34:00.000-07:00

Interesting stuff

LOOK but don't TOUCH

2010-06-01T17:24:00.000-07:00

completed origami 'threat' paper costume

'Look but don't Touch '

inspired by traditional threat/ dominant costumes and the female role in today's carnival.

architecture, space, body , costume

2010-05-28T10:09:00.000-07:00

"The use of the term facade is in itself revealing. It signifies recognition of levels to be penetrated and hints at the functions performed by architectural features which provide screens behind which to retire from time to time. The strain of keeping up a facade can be great. Architecture can and does take over this burden for people. It can also provide a refuge where the individual can "let his hair down" and be himself."
(pg 104 , 'The Hidden Dimension', Edward T. Hall )

This is exactly what the costume does for the body. Within carnival the body carries the architecture instead of being contained by it. Like the facade,the costume acts as a mask allowing the wearer to loose all inhibitions and in doing so, reveal his or her deepest wants or desires.

SPACE

Space can be, at the same time Contingent - formed at the moment of its use, territorialized and then dissolved - homogeneous for all practical purpoed and at a large scale, and yet discontinuous and heterogenous in its minute detailed operations... Space is, by definition, that which defines difference in bodiesand objects and, by doing so, exceeds them. Space can envelope bodies and objets but in order to do so, it must also depart from them - unaffected , indifferent."

(pg 198 - 199 Ingraham, Catherine 'Architecture, Animal, Human: The Asymmetrical Condition')

ARCHITECTURE AND THE BODY ( ref. to virtruvius man)

" an analogy between one thing that is in motion, psychological, dynamic, and animate, and another thing that is inert, without mind, an object, inanimate. What architecture attempts to mimic are salient properties of the body - bones, skn, bilateral symmetry, the equinose of the feet. " Mimics" in this case means the formation of an approach to, the formation of a desire. The desire for movement and wholeness compel architecture in the direction of the body - a neoclassical dance enacted through the symbolic homage of the motif and the gesture."

" The approach to the human body, whether inscribed geometically as in leonardo's man or Le Corbusier's modular. or literally, as in the caryatids ( the special case), requires that the body become more biologically and psychologically simple, more animal-headed, and formal, but less distinct than human beings. "

(pg 225 Ingraham, Catherine 'Architecture, Animal, Human: The Asymmetrical Condition' )

2010-05-24T09:53:00.001-07:00

and it keeps growing

2010-05-19T10:30:00.000-07:00

Below is a 'crazy' matrix of the systems that make up trinidad's carnival, there are the original systems,parasitical systems and how they influenced and formed the existing system.
Elements of Time ( linear and cyclical), space ( appropriating, dominating, creating ) and body ( diguised , inversed , distorted and stylized) are key.

design work in progress

2010-05-17T11:32:00.002-07:00

First costume based on fashion / body as threat device and sexual lure for the human body. Animals use their bodies social organs to communicate.Their stance and gesture along with the constrast of colour, texture, contour and size aid in appearing as the intimidating dominant or the sexually attractive. As our social organs have developed to signal these ideas ,so to has fashion and costume come about to aid the body in communicating these very same ideas.

The medium being used is bond paper cut in various size squares and then folded to produce a module, which is then repeated in and inserted into one another to created a continuous series of 'spikes'.

At present I have two body forms I am working on. One is the full female torso and the other the female chest.At first I thought the final look will be a female body suit constructed of the paper modules. It would highlight the areas of the female body that are used as both sexual lures and threat devices. Now i've decided to just continue to play around with the body shape and the effect the various sizes of modules and their placement can do for the body and come up with a variety of options or 'looks'.

i'll keep you posted!

DAWN - jouvert - birth

2010-03-23T21:40:00.000-07:00

Photos by Stephen Broadbridge, Trini jungle juice, Tara Keens - Douglas

“The vocabulary of festival is the language of extreme experiences through contrast – The body is made into an object of dressing up, costuming and masking … And of course, singing and dancing and other kinds of play are part and parcel of festive celebrations, again with the idea of overextending the self. All of these motives underscore the sprit of increase, of stretching life to the fullest, that lies at the heart of festive celebrations” (Roger d. Abraham, in Turner (ed) 1982 167-68

First aim is to document human experience within festival. I will do this by documenting my own experience and a collection of quotes and images that best describe that experience.

Trinidad carnival parade takes place over a period of 2 days. These days will be broken down by time. Dawn, Midday and Dusk and discussed by the seasonal cycle of birth - death -renewal.
The narrative will take you through these cycles discussing (where necessary) the body,the crowd, the atmosphere,the city, the stage, the costume, the dance and the music.

DAWN experience - the birth - a baptism in mud!

I could do my research and tell you about the history of carnival and j’ouvert. Where it originated and how it has developed. About the olden days where carnival supposedly was richer in context and held more meaning for its participants. Carnival as culture has been beaten down over the years, with people assuming it will surely die. This is not so and there is a reason it continues to live on defying all those who predict its demise

Reiterating carnivals history from numerous texts, will not aid in grasping the feeling of the human experience within the festival. I cannot draw comparison to carnival before my time, but I can talk about what I experience today. The process may have changed but the feeling of ecstasic joy, I believe has remained the same throughout its existence. The joy I feel now is still the joy felt in past years just the tradition itself has changed. With that said, I don’t want to waste time talking about the supposed degeneration of a festival. Change is evident but the feeling of the experience attached to it can surely be felt by anyone who has participated.

As a Trinidadian, I have participated in Carnival as if my life depended on it. I have managed to go fourteens years straight playing in the ‘pretty’ mas. Everyone likes to look good and putting on that costume made you feel good! I remember picking up my costume a week in advance and trying it on everyday, until I woke up carnival morning and put it on one last time. It was an event within an event of sorts. There is the alteration of the costume, whether to add on or take off. Then taken into consideration are the boots that should be worn and the make up that should be applied. This was no ‘joke’ operation with women (and men included) contemplating how their hair should be worn and what colour shoes matched best with the braiding on the costume. So carnival came and I reveled in all my glory the costume I made my own. In those fourteen years however, I had always contemplated playing J’ouvert – ‘mud mas’ which was immediately followed with cries from my mother “ J’ouvert? Are you crazy? You can’t play both ‘pretty’ mas and ‘mud’ mas, you would not have enough energy. And it’s so dirty? So unsafe, you can’t tell who is who!” The list of reasons went on and on. This year however I said to myself I had to do it, I had to see what all this fuss was about ( not to mention my mother had never played before , so I dragged her along in the process. She could not preach against it, if she never played!)

So 2am Monday morning, I woke up and I must admit I was not excited. The thought of sleep and having to get up to play ‘pretty’ carnival loomed over me. I wanted to look decent; actually I wanted to look good, so I dressed the part. My mother walks in and questions my outfit. Do you plan on wearing that again? Turns out my clothes were too ‘nice’ for j’ouvert, so I changed into an outfit I was willing to part with, an old t-shirt and tights.

A group of us drove into town and in the darkness I can see the littering of people on all corners of the city.Carnival is rarely still, but in the early hours of the morning, the surroundings are eerie and solemn. The number of bodies kept piling up. This stillness will soon be over thrown. Everyone was getting ready for something; I was not quite sure what that something was.

I decided to play with a j’ouvert band, as I figured this would give me the feeling of belonging to a group, it cost about 50 CDN and this included free drinks. I would soon find out that to belong this was not necessary.

I could hear music blasting from random music trucks. The group I belonged too had a steel pan band, which I was happy about as steel pan music was traditionally what accompanied j’ouvert celebrations (I wanted to experience the real deal!). So in my t-shirt and tights I shuffled to the music. I tried to stay close to my group, as the mass of bodies were dizzying, in the darkness it was difficult to register who was who, who was participant and who was spectator.

Then I see this thing walking towards me. A human thing, caked with wet brown mud, carrying a bucket of that same wet brown mud. This was the dirtiness my mother talked about, and I clenched my whole body hoping to dear God that I would not be his next victim to splatter with mud.

The thing is I knew it was mud carnival, I knew I would get dirty but I was not ready, the site of him excited me but also made me uncomfortable. I still felt too clean to get dirty.

We caught up with our band and I began to see more people with smears of mud. In front of me there was a bathtub on wheels. A bathtub filled with the slimiest mud and at its side’s bucket of paints – red, blue, green, yellow and white. I could smell the fresh paint. This was our supply to revel in. Before I could turn to show my mother, I see my friend get a handful of blue paint to the mouth. His whole face is blue and his smile was blue as well. I laugh and like a domino effect, the paint was passed on. I dunked my hand elbow deep in this mud and flung it. I must admit it felt good. An old man covered in red, blessed me with red paint as well, all I could do is laugh and smile. J’ouvert knows no scorn.

So now I’m covered and my clothes are half wet and half dry. People resort to removing articles of soaked clothing as the paint feels better on your skin. I wish I wore less. I can’t tell who is who in the mess. I followed the happy group of people dancing to the beat of the steel pan. The music, the dance, the mud built a unitary momentum. There was a feeling of oneness. I was already dirty, so I didn’t care whose paint covered arm rubbed against mine, we were all in the same thing. A Unified and happy collective.

The darkness quickly dispersed as night meets and greets the rising sun. Reminding me it has only just begun. I had to get up in 2 hours to continue my carnival celebrations. People don’t seem to be concerned … they are dirty, muddy, tired but happy. Skin caked with cracking mud and paint they could not care less. All people were anonymous as all denominators of colour,class and race were erased. One muddy man looked like the other muddy man. There was no distinguishing between stranger and friend, they were both part of the collective experience. They both shared the same space in the streets.

You really can’t tell who belongs to where, it is displacement of sorts. It is the 'other 'world -that knows no boundaries. The existing social hierarchy that created boundaries that determine ‘who can go where, who can approach whom, who is welcome, and who is not’, is broken. The mud washes away these boundaries. The mud is to share, you can’t keep the mud to yourself. You can’t own it like a costume that is meant to fit your body. This substance consumes the body, able to spread over all equally. You cannot commercialize mud no matter how hard you try.

Carnival for the people is a challenge to the authorities, the power houses- the church, the hierarchies and the capitalist .It is appropriating spaces that in their ordinary day to day life do not belong to them. It is also celebrating the body. We live in a society where the body is private and its functions are private. “The body is where the power bearing definitions of social and sexual normality are, literally, embodied, and is consequently the site of discipline and punishment for deviation of those norms.” (Fiske 1987, p.248) people refuse the identity proposed by the dominant ideology and use the body as a material against morality, discipline and control. “

In opposition carnival celebrates the body. Best described by Bakhtin are the notions of the open body in carnival. He speaks of the grotesque body that is concerned with openness to the world. The parts of the body that reach out to the world or allow the world to enter. These include the nose, phallus, breasts, gential organs, buttocks, belly and the mouth. Modernity is concerned with the closed body that is separate from the world. Carnival is concerned with the open body that becomes part of the world. With this openness the body is able to connect with other bodies around in and also with its surroundings. This is exactly what occurs in the early hours of the morning during Trinidad j’ouvert. It provides us with a certain time and space that allows all involved to be part of the collective. The rhythmic songs played at carnival time encourage this openness in the way we are provoked to dance.

"There is no room for individual manoevring in the darkened streets; everyone is forced to follow the collective, steady rhythm coming from the nearest source of music. Whether they like it or not. everyone is borne on the rhythmic wave which runs through the crowd, back to back and belly to belly "1997 243 KONINGSBRUGGEN

The dance draws attention to all the body parts that Bakthin speaks of as belonging to the grotesque body. In costuming, emphasis is placed on these parts of the body. In the nakedness of j’ouvert these parts are even further glorified with mud. Mud does not place a structure upon the body, it does not obstruct it but surfaces its terrains .It settles in the crevices and on the pertrusions of the grotesque body.

" Mountains and abysses, such is the relief of the grotesque body; or speaking in architectural terms, towers and subterranean passages." 317 Mikhail Bakhtin

Blue Devils

Painting in Progress

Updated abstract

2010-03-10T12:38:00.000-08:00

“Jumbie , Jumbie dey … outta body back to yuhself! …”

The chant shook the crowd, threatening to uncork the bottled up energy of the masqueraders. This was our stomping ground and nothing could hold us back. We were ready to display ourselves, to play ourselves. The movements of the body could not be controlled as hips,waists, arms and legs pelted rhythmically to the sounds of the music. This ‘Jumbie’ character was ready to come out; every sense had brimmed and was now overflowing in a mess of sweat, feathers, rain and beads. Rushing forward toward the stage, I was hit with the vibrations of voices, music and gyrating bodies that left me speechless, breathless and removed. Floating out of body I could see the chaos of the streets below and the mass of open mouths singing, laughing and smiling. It was in that moment I saw the sweet revelry of an island that I felt more than ever I belonged to. I held this moment, wondering what it was, why it happened and when again I could soak up this joyous experience. It is with this thesis I choose to find the answers to these questions.

Ecstasy is defined as an overwhelming feeling of great happiness or joyful excitement, Its origin comes from the Greek word ‘ekstasis’ which means to ‘stand outside of oneself’. Festival is an outlet for ecstatic revelation which is expressed through the people and the architectural domains they occupy. There are many different types of festivals but factors which remains common to all are: Voluntary participation, celebration in excess and its occurrences outside of ordinary life. This is present in the Carnival of Trinidad and Tobago where for two days a city and its people are turned upside down and inside out in the chaos of costumes, music and dance. It acknowledges and embraces the play world as both event and place and uses both the body and the city it occupies as its site. Built on this site are the costumes and the stages through which the epic culmination of ecstatic joy is experienced. The role and nature of these architecture domains and the bodies which occupy them are to be explored through a narrative which studies the transformation that occurs during the excesses of carnival and its donation toward that moment of ‘ecstasy’ and illusions of Utopia.

THE GROTESQUE BODY

2010-03-07T12:24:00.000-08:00

Notes /quotes from Rabelais and his World by Mikhail Bakhtin and its relevance to Trinidad's carnival, in particular jouvert and the concept / theory of grotesque imagery and the grotesque body.

The grotesque image reflects a phenonmenon in transformation, an as yet unfinished metamorphosis, of death and birth, growing and becoming. The relation to time is one determining trait of the grotesque image. The other indispensable trait is ambivalence. For in this image we find both poles of transformation, the old and the new, the dying and the procreating, the beginning and the end, the metamorphosis. 24

The grotesque image remians ambivalent and contradictory; they are ugly, monstrous, hideous from the point of view of "classic" aesthetics, that is, the aesthetics of the ready made and the completed.

Main elements in the system of grotesque images are copulation, pregnancy, birth, growth, old ag, disintegration, dismemberment.

“Mountains and abysses, such is the relief of the grotesque body; or speaking in architectural terms, towers and subterranean passages.” 317

The grotesue concept of the body is not a closed completed unit it is unfinished, outgrows itself and trangresses it own limits. It focuses on the parts of the body that are open to the outside world, where the world can both enter and exit and through which the body can also exit. therefore it emphasises on the apertures and convexities of the body, the open mouth, the genitals, the breasts, the phallus, the pot belly and the nose. The bodies disclosed its essense as a principle of growth which exceeds its own limits only in copulation, pregnancy, child birth, the throes of death, eating , drinking or defecation.

Common in the carnival events is an exposure of one’s body, there is blatant sexual behavior that during the two days of festivity is not frowned upon but almost expected, to all it is a time to “get on bad” and where “all o we is one”. 'Wining' a term used in Trinidad to refer to a dance that is the gyrating of ones pelvic region and it is used in a popular song in the carnival of 2010, which states “man wining on anything, woman wining on anything”. It is a motto of sorts for those partaking in the festival. Anywhere you look there are people wining on people, walls, post, pretty much anything … a release of built up energy, an opening of the body and its fusion with other bodies. This is most evident in Trinidad Jouvert which is the opening of the carnival parade , beginning in the early hours of the morning and finishing with the rising of the sun. During these hours ,participants and unexpected spectators are covered and pasted with mud, paint, oil and most recently chocolate. It is here in particular that all hierarchical systems and seperations by race, gender, culture and class are thrown out the window. It is the one equalizer that unites all bodies, there is no longer the individual but a unification of the masses. in the darkness all covered in the same mud with only the sound of the music and the direction of the collective to guide them.

It is here that Bahktins notion of the grotesque body comes into considerations. Bakhtin explains the grotesque as exaggerated and building on the negative and what is deemed inappropriate. The grotesque body is also defined as a body in the act of becoming. It is incomplete as it continually built up creating another body in the process. It is an open body that is connected with its environment and the other bodies within that environment. This is what jouvert encompasses. It is a metamorphosis.

As the body is the site that is built on during carnival , I would like to begin with the grotesque body in its rawest forms and continue to build on that body by studying how the grotesque body is furture communicated through costuming and exaggerations of various kinds, that aid in removing the individualistic private nature of the classical closed body and instead present an open body that is subject to heightened sensory awareness and sense of community and unity with other bodies during the carnival.

WORDS

2010-03-03T16:18:00.001-08:00

There are certain terms and words I use that I take for granted. I expect everyone to know them, as they have always been a part of my vocabulary, but I now realize that my vocabulary is saturated with 'Trini' or Trinidadian words that only a Trinidadian can comprehend far less string together in the often used dialect of the island. So with that said I would like to clarify to the words - "mas", "masquearade" and the term " play mas"

mas - Mas is the Trinidadian word for masquerade. Some people prefer "mas" to carnival.

masquerade - To dress in carnival costume, dance and parade in the streets.

play mas, play mas', masquerade, play mask- To put on a costume and participate in a mas band or jump up in the streets. This is the key action of carnival from which everything else comes. The expression "to play mas" is part of Trinidadian vernacular, connected to the idea " to play yourself" or "do your thing"

Definitions taken from the glossary of Carnival - Culture in Action by Milla Cozart Riggio

Now there are also categories of mas such as pretty mas, ole mas, traditional mas, mud mas. These will be expanded on where necessary.

There are another few words I would like to clarify for people, because what is carnival for me is a country fair for others, and often when I speak of the word ecstasy people get ridiculously giddy ( I find this highly annoying) and blush with thoughts of my thesis as some sort of karma sutra or devotion to sexual pleasures. With that said these definitions I have taken from the good old oxford dictionary.

carnival
• noun 1 an annual period of public revelry involving processions, music, and dancing. 2 N. Amer. a travelling funfair or circus.

— DERIVATIVES carnivalesque adjective.
— ORIGIN Italian carnevale, from Latin carnelevamen ‘Shrovetide’, from caro ‘flesh’ + levare ‘put away’.

ecstasy
• noun (pl. ecstasies) 1 an overwhelming feeling of great happiness or joyful excitement. 2 an emotional or religious frenzy or trancelike state. 3 (Ecstasy) an illegal amphetamine-based synthetic drug with euphoric effects.

— ORIGIN from Greek ekstasis ‘standing outside oneself’

stage
• noun 1 a point, period, or step in a process or development. 2 a raised floor or platform on which actors, entertainers, or speakers perform. 3 (the stage) the acting or theatrical profession. 4 a scene of action or forum of debate. 5 a floor of a building. 6 each of two or more sections of a rocket or spacecraft that are jettisoned in turn when their propellant is exhausted. 7 Electronics a part of a circuit containing a single amplifying transistor or valve. 8 Geology a range of strata corresponding to an age in time, forming a subdivision of a series. 9 archaic a stagecoach.
• verb 1 present a performance of (a play or other show). 2 organize and participate in (a public event). 3 cause (something dramatic or unexpected) to happen.

— PHRASES hold the stage dominate a scene of action or forum of debate. set the stage for prepare the conditions for.
— DERIVATIVES stageable adjective.
— ORIGIN Old French estage ‘dwelling’, from Latin stare ‘to stand’.

architecture
• noun 1 the art or practice of designing and constructing buildings. 2 the style in which a building is designed and constructed. 3 the complex structure of something

Carnival - Stations of the road

2010-03-03T15:01:00.000-08:00

I have noticed that references and comparisions to religion are often brought up when reading literature on Carnival. I have read about the trance-like state of ecstasy being compared to the feeling as if in prayer at church, isolated and completely involved. I have read of devoted costume designers like priest with all helping hands like devoted acolytes dedicated to the costume and the carnival as if it were their faith. References to pan yards as cathedrals where every year dedicated pan men and women will gather to practice, as if gathering for their daily mass of prayer. Then finally I thought to myself, that the actual carnival event of two days that takes place on the city's streets and is puntuated by stages along the given route bears resemblance to the Catholic tradition of the stations of the cross.The fourteen stations of the cross, marked by pray ,tell the story of the devotion of Christ and his journey to his crucifixion. This may seem an extreme reference but it leaves me wondering of ways to categorize my thesis and its layout ... as if if chapter were stations of the cross... or stages along the carnival route with the end result being an ecstatic revelation of the collective.

With that said I am now thinking ... this makes sense! ... because ever since I started researching for this thesis, it has been about the human experience weather it be individual or collective experience it was an experience that was allowed to occur during Trinidad's carnival. I have noted before that this is the people's second life, an other world or rather a world turned upside down where what was deemed strange, illegal, abnormal in the ordinary world is expected in this other world. This other world is temporary and entering into it is voluntary, but for those two days everything is done in excess with the ambition of all to achieve a state of ecstasy. So besides my own experiences, I came across some literature that held characters that spoke out of the experiences along this journey in this other world. These characters are Aldrick from Earl Lovelaces book ' The Dragon can't Dance' and the character in the poem 'Savannah Ghost' by Paul Keens - Douglas.
I wish to illustrate these characters and their journey much like how Christ's journey is documented by each station weather it be represented by paintings or carvings as it is in the catholic church.

I will also use quotes from both pieces of literature to further document the characters experience.

"Ah could hardly see dese damn people.
Is like everybody look alike, like dey
Join together.
Is like dis place is a jungle,
De people like ah wall round me,
Dey hot, sticky, sweaty, like they want to
stifle me,
Like dey have every smell in dis band,
In me nose, in me eye, in me mouth.
Is like ah jungle with vine, an’ color,
An’ snake, an’ bush,
Touchin’ me, roughin’ me, pullin’ me.
Is de rum, no de music, no is de people man.
Move foot move, jump, yu hear me, jump.
“Ah diggin’ horrors, because, all ah
Readin’ bout
Is guerillas, more laws, and wars”
Take me up foot, up, up over dis stinkin’ band’
Past all dese winding backsides, sweaty backs,
Bouncin’ bubbies, multinational bad – breath.
Up, up slowly, out de jungle,
Up, up slowly, out de jungle,
Up, up, up towards de clean sky.
O’ god ah could see the whole world now,
Trinidad is really ah island, ah didn’t believe dem,
But from coast to coast is water,
Black with oil, black with pitch, black with history
Not one hero in sight, is only mas!"

Excerpt from Savannah Ghost by Paul Keens - Douglas

"He wanted them to know that he will always be threatening there, a breath away from them. Some could'nt understand it, this refusal of the coins. They thought that they were not offering enough; and as he danced before them they made another journey into their pockets and showed him more coins. He didn't take the money - ' No, this couldn't happen! This dragon was crazy! This fellar wanted trouble!' But it was Carnival. Whoever heard someone calling the police for a Dragon.Aldrick growled and he spat and he moved to press against them, watched them grow more afraid, more confused "

Excerpt from 'The Dragon can't Dance' by Earl Lovelace

Rambling

2010-03-03T14:55:00.000-08:00

The dreaded question I face when asked about my thesis is what does carnival have to do with architecture? I often begin by defining architecture as any space and giving my point of view; that both city streets and costume are the spaces that the body occupies during festive celebrations. The follow up question is then asked, “Don’t you have to design a building?” and I respond with the concept of the stage as possibly a planned built entity, an appropriated space selected by the masses or the body itself that acts as a stage to express oneself. With these proposed stages there are structures or perhaps a lack of structure that are then paraded upon it. Both the stage and the structures are the architecture I wish to talk about.

With that out of the way, I researched parallels between fashion or costuming and architecture. They both share similar methods and strategies towards their respected end product. They are both expressive of the designers and the people who occupy them. Both disciplines use and experiment with an array of materials that with technological advancements are able to contribute to designs within both fields. Costuming often takes on an architectonic nature with much attention paid to structure and movement as all costumes must be carried by the masquerader and compliment not hinder his movements. On the surface architecture can take on a costuming effect, with the facades or building skins acting as clothing or mask to the interiors. These skins may reflect or hide the buildings interior or and may be structural or purely aesthetic.

What is extremely important to carnival in particular is the fluidity and movement of the costumes that are paraded. Carnival was and still is an outlet for expression of emotions that are repressed during the rest of the year. Hence these costume structures act as extensions to the human body, with every limb and movement appearing larger and grander as it is echoed through the structures.

Another aspect of the costuming of Trinidad carnival is that it is ephemeral. Costumes are only used for the two parade days then neglected never to be paraded again. If lucky they are salvaged for odds and ends of braiding to be used in a newly designed costume. Fashion is also seen as fragile, superficial temporal or trendy where as architecture is regarded as solid permanent durable and strong.

The scale is also different. As mentioned before costuming and carnival uses the body as a stage, as a foundation for its designs where as architecture wishes to house the body or many bodies. However like carnival both architecture and fashion not only protect and shelter the body but are outlets for expressions of identity.

Both architecture and fashion adopt similar terminology, language and vocabulary in its execution and production of its end product. Both are influenced and inspired by similar innovations and by each other as well. They both carry with them a creative process that often begins as ideas on paper, only to materialize later as three dimensional objects.

So here it is established the similarities that lie between costume design and architecture structure. But festival of carnival is not about the static, the costume comes alive due to the individual that inhabits it the same way some architecture is designed and programmed to accommodate the individual who inhabits that space. Designs of costumes and what is classified as a costume has varied and been influenced greatly over the years. Politics, religion and culture all play an important part in its evolution and the costumes that are presently paraded on the streets of port of spain. Also technological advancements and shifts in the countries economy and concept of culture continue to play a vital role. These influences will further be discussed in another chapter.

In fashion often what stands out is that which challenges the norm. Carnival pushes this idea. Over the years costumes and lack of costume seek to challenge the officials and the onlookers. They are daring, controversial, crude and often seek to get a reaction, weather negative or positive, once it has evoked the senses, it has done its job. Donning a costume is often liberating and hence carnival is liberating. It is a world turned upside down and the costume is the added element that pushes the wearer to ecstatic heights unachievable in ‘ordinary’ day to day life. To be other than oneself is often the goal of some who wear elaborate costumes that transform the body’s appearance presenting a new body and on some some level a new self or true self.

Carnival like architecture can be used to give the individual a sense of identity, place and ecstasy. The body experiences and identifies with this.

Inside Out

2010-03-02T14:14:00.001-08:00

"People were so to speak, reborn for new, purely human relations. These truly human relations were not only fruit of imagination or abstract thought; they were experienced. The utopian ideal and the realistic merged in this carnival experience, unique of its kind."

Rabelais and his World, Bakhtin

The reason why

2009-12-07T19:51:00.000-08:00

I remember the moment, the epic culmination like it was yesterday. In the streets of Port of Spain, South quay to be exact I waited amongst the band members in anticipation for the stage created ahead. Security formed a human link barrier, corking the bottled up energy of the masqueraders. We rallied ourselves with the chant and movements of the year's jumbie dance. It was a tremendous amount of excitement in the milieu of bodies and costumes.

"Jumbie, Jumbie dey... outta body back to yuhself! ....Dip in the center do the jumbie dance, lean back and reverse do the jumbie dance ..."

Fresh in my mind was the unison of bodies, arms and legs jumping and pelting about, following the instructions of the song than had left a spell over the masqueraders. We were ready to display ourselves , to play ourselves. The jumbie was ready to come out, every sense had brimmed and was now overflowing in a mess of sweat, feathers, rain and beads. Rushing forward toward the stage I remember the vibrations of voices, music and bodies that left me speechless, breathless and removed. Floating out of body I could see the chaos of the street below, in that moment I saw the sweet revelry of an island that I felt more than ever I belonged to . I held this moment wondering what it was ,why it happened and when again I could soak up this joyous experience. It is with this thesis I choose to find the answers to these questions.

An Old Jewish Story

2009-12-07T14:36:00.000-08:00

"Once upon a time there was a great traditional ritual for the inner protection and norisuhment of the people. The rabbi and all the people of the community went to a particular tree, in a a particular forest, in a particular place, on a particular day, and performed a highly prescribed ritual. Then, so the story goes, there were terrible times. A whole generation was scattered and the ritual was forgotten.

When things got better again, someone remembered that there was an old ritual for protection and norishment, but he could remember only its overall structure. The rabbi and the people went into the forest, but they'd forgotten exactly which tree was the right tree. So they chose a tree and performed the ritual as best they could. And it was sufficient.

More hard times came and another generation was excluded from the ritual. Somebody remembered that in the old days their ancestors had gone into the forest and done something, so the rabbi and the people went out into the forest and made up a ritual. And it was sufficient.

And then there were more bad times, and much more was lost. The people remembned that in the good old days their ancestors had done something or other, but they didn't know when or what or where. So they just went out and did the best they could. And it was sufficent.

And then there were more hard times, and all that was left was the vague memory that in the olden days somebody had done something. So the new generation went out and improvised and did the best they could, intending their new ritual to be for the protection and norishment of the people. And it was sufficient."

pg 86
ECSTASY Understanding the Psychology of Joy.
Robert A. Johnson

I find this story interesting as it shows that there is no concrete structure or system to make something or do something in order for it to be complete,correct or effective. It is if you attempt the task with the most of efforts and conciousness will be sufficient. The idea of ritual lies behind this thought, we can create our own ritual.

This is the same way I prehaps view my thesis and the every changing face of carnival. Its content over the years can't always be the same and it will not always be the same, but the underlying purpose of self expression and ecstatic release is ever present ,once we participate with full enthusiasm and conciousness toward the event and its cultural purpose.

It's at times such as these I realize the need to just "do it" and get fully involved with my thesis by being concious of my attempts and efforts to produce and express what I believe is trying to be said or created. At times I can't remember exactly which direction I was trying to take but i go ahead with the process as its purpose is still being fulfilled even though the end result may vary. This proves more effective than sitting back and trying to think of the "right" way or thing to do in order for it to be successful. The truth is there is no "right" way.

traditional costume as high fashion?

2009-11-25T09:31:00.000-08:00

I drew a comparision between today's high fashion designers and Trinidad's traditional costumes. Similarities in shapes, geometries and attention to body movement and restrictions exist in both cases. Nowadays the traditional costume is a dying element in the nations carnival. Today they resort to costumes that though eye catching they rarely acknowledge the arquitectonic spaces that can be created. Varying elements and techniques to achieve the desired effects that both realms of design seek to acquire are left to be explored. I hope to explore these techniques. I have acknowledge that in today's trinidad carnival it has become more about the glitter and beads and less about the art form. Though some designers have tried to bring it back the masses still flock toward the sequins and beads. I beleive there is some sort of middle ground where both can coincide. Having tried my hand at jewelry making , I thought about the existing elements of todays costume and how they can be played with ,altered and reinvented. These pieces include the headpiece, neckpiece/shoulder piece, arm bands, leg bands and waist bands.

Oskar Schlemmer

2009-11-24T10:59:00.000-08:00

Associated with the Bahaus school, Oskar was a sculptor, artist and designer who worked with the human form as his subject. This form he reduced to basic geometrical shapes that illustrated the human body as a system of proportions and functions which held true to a basic structure.

Well known for his Triadic Ballet, Schlemmer through costume and choreography drew relationship between the body and the space it occupies and also the body in relation to other bodies around it.The costumes when worn were sometimes transformed into living scuplture as the body structure and system of joints brought it alive.

Unbelievable fashion Vogue 2008

2009-11-24T09:27:00.000-08:00

This is a fashion editorial from teh Vogue December 2008 UK Issue. In the name of high fashion its features risk taking designers such as Alexander McQueen, Comme des Garcons, Gareth Pugh, Hussein Chalayan, Issey Miyake, John Galliano, Thierry Mulgas, Hussein Chalayan, Rei Kawakubo, Viktor & Rolf and Yohji Yamamoto.

"Through the generations of designers there are visionaries who conjure fabulous creations that go beyond the boundaries of the imagination, transporting us to other worlds."

UK Vogue December 2008
Photography by Nick Knight

This is the very effect that costumes during carnival can take on, its is crossing over into the second world and realm of play and ecstatic revelation. It is in swinging between the oridinary world and the second temporary world of carnival and play that high fashion becomes costumes and costumes indeed become high fashion.

costume designing

2009-11-23T16:19:00.000-08:00

So I've decided. I'm making these killer costumes. I broke it down to the modern costume parts of today's carnival costumes in Trinidad, that consist mainly of the headpiece, neckpiece, leg and arm bands, waist bands and bra. The designs at present rarely push the limit with the possilibities theses components can create. I've been finding inspiration in existing jewelery pieces and also while playing around with the components of the jewelery I was working on previously. Basically its a system of attaching something to the body then attaching something to that something. The process continues from there.In its simplest form, its a jump ring, that is a circular metal ring that has an opening. By opening its you can loop another ring to it and continue the chain. This basic construction is the basis for majority of jewellery pieces. I hope to work as well with grommets and metal snaps closures. I realized in alot of design the single unit alone looks uneventful, but in multiples its creates a language of its own. By finding a variety of ways to attach things to the basic formwork of the previously mentioned components I can prehaps form something that can create a rhythm ,a movement, a sound or simply something to be enjoyed by the effectiveness of multiples.I'm making something in order to think about it and not the other way around.

I've attached two inspiring videos, first is the Trinidadian Mas Designer Peter Minshall who is known for creating fabulous costumes that he refers to as 'dancing mobiles', second is American artist Nick Cave who stumbled upon the idea of the sound suit while building a scupltureout of twigs, as the body moved in it ,the rustling of the twigs against each other created sounds. From there he made 50 more sound suits. It's this sort of stumbling upon something new that I hope to encounter.

2009-11-10T08:38:00.000-08:00

So the mission to play and create continues. I found myself in the beading aisle of Micheal's and all hell broke loose. I stayed up for the past two nights linking hoop to hoop and bead to hoop and connecting bead to bead. The way it flowed was interesting, not quite knowing the next step but just bead by bead... it because a judgement call on what 'looked right' whatever right is. I think i like this enough to keep at it. I also started playing with different gauges of wire to create devil horns.

BLUE

2009-11-10T08:36:00.000-08:00

This is the Blue devil painting i spoke about previously.

The Trinidad Carnival By Errol Hill

2009-11-02T13:18:00.000-08:00

As the glorious morning approachs, the true masker becomes a changed person. For weks he has been getting into his part. No seasoned actor ever worked harder on a role. He has Visualized his character a hundred times over. He has watched its outward form take shape slowly under skillful hands. All that remains for his complete metamorphosis is to enter his costume and step into the street. For two days he will be the living embodiment of his most fancied imagination. ...

Contest, competition. the desire to excel all others in perfection of representation is the keynote of the Trinidad carnival.Here, two maskers. meeting in the middle of the road, stand facing each other, displaying their costumes with peacock spread, rocking on their heels arms outstretched, pivoting to the music, each confident he has outshone the others in fidelity and magnificence.

pg 84-85

2009-11-02T12:41:00.000-08:00

So halloween just passed and in the excitement of creating my costume,I realized that this is the one holiday or event that can try to compare to what its like in the build up of carnival and preparing your costume.
I had more fun preparing my costume than at the party itself. I was mrs. pac-man and we went all out creating the giant yellow head. Supplies were boughts, sketches were made, and its varying pieces were cut out as neatly as possible, trying my hardest to have a costume that appeared well crafted and well thought of. I took great pride in the final product and was happy to debut it.
We made the joke that if we put this much effort into our thesis we would be out of here in no time. Its funny how creating something as silly as mrs. pacman consumed my every thought. I dedicated hours to its craftmanship because I wanted to impress others with its size ands well thought out detail.
What is this thing we experience when we create a costume that represents something that is not us? Why are we so dedicated to it?
I guess it only happens once a year, same as any festival such as carnival and thats part of its attraction. It comes and goes and leaves you longing for the next time you can have an excuse to enterntain yourself with the absurd.
Another point I would like to make is the disorienting factor of wearing the pacman headdress.
I had severe tunnel vision and it was frustrating and dizzying at times. I thought to myself most carnival costumes dont have this limitation and its with that, the excitement of wearing the costume was greater and more fullfilling. Most other costumes wearers were happy to sport spandex for majority of the night, not the most forgiving material when it comes to body appearances however the best for flexibilty and mobility. Most carnival costumes resort to the use of spandex or stretching fabric, not boxed in pacman heads . Its a freedom thing.However why is it that we are so terrified to wear spandex for the other days of the year but everyone is happy to sport it on halloween, not seeming to have any qualms about it .

This is just me thinking.

Also I've started a painting and almost finished a painting ... and in the name of "play" i've been experimenting with dripping paint and making a fun mess of things (of course still keeping with my usual style of painting, but kicking it up a notch :)). I'm liking it ... now I want to just work on bigger canvas. I'm working my way up. I'll show you soon enough.

Origami devil

2009-10-29T20:20:00.000-07:00

Waste and Carnival

2009-10-29T14:12:00.000-07:00

"The carnival mentality seriously, solemnly dedicates itself to the concept of waste, ephemera, of built-in obsolescence, but this is not the built-in obsolescence of manufacture but of art, because in Carnival the creative energy is strictly regulated to its own season. Last year’s intricate sculptures are discarded as immediately valueless when it is midnight on Shrove Tuesday …"

pg 55 Critcial Perspectives on Derek Walcott by Robert D. Hameer

"And every year we dance and sing,
And every year we kill the king,
Because the old king must be slain
For the new king to rise again. "

from "Batai" by Derek Walcott (Unpublished manuscript in author's files)

Gathering

2009-10-29T13:42:00.000-07:00

I'm going to start gathering things. Random things, things that have no relevance, things that hold a memory, things to build with, pull apart and put back together again. With these things I will begin to play, like a child would, trying to step away from all the intellectual research about why,where and when we play. Basically I'm trying not to over analyze the situation. I would attempt to truly play. It's easier said than done, because I keep telling myself I need a reason why. As of now I have decided that the process and its result will be analyzed in the future, but I would leave that for after I play.

I want to play with materials I have not used before, try techniques I have not tried before. This would help me step away from the conscious efforts for tastefulness and respectability that I aim towards in my other art work where I am comfortable and familiar with my media and technique.

I also scanned all my sketches I have produced over the past few days. I may not yet know their significance to the larger picture of what my thesis may be, but I do know that my obsession with drawing these dragon and devil scenes will be useful to the process and development of my thesis. I will post some images I created with the scans.

I Often sing this song by the Calypsonian Penguin, everytime I draw devils and dragon scene:

You ‘fraid de devil? You ‘fraid him bad?

Well look de devil right in your yard!

An’ he grinning while you saying grace

Shaking up he tail in people face

Wey de devil dey? Wey de devil dey?

Look de devil dey!

The costume

2009-10-17T13:22:00.000-07:00

I started flipping through the book: Analyzing Performance: dance, theatre and performance by Patrice Pavis. I found a a few quotes about costuming that i've written down. In addition to making my own notes , i think analyzing the costume in respect to the body and the space it occupies will aid in the development of my proposed re - creation of the dragon costume and prehaps another project that will be a contemporary costume relating to a specific theme unknown at the moment. I think contrasting the traditional dragon and devil mas and costume performance against the contemporary costume (a king or queen individual) will be great grounds from which to view the effects of festival setting and theatre and its effect on how the wearer performs the given costume and its cultural significance.

Like any sign of performance, a costume is both a signifier (pure materiality) and signified ( element intergrate into a system of meaning). In fact this is exactly how Roland Barthes conceives of the “ good costume” : it “must be material enough to signify and transparent enough not to turn its signs into parasites.”
Pg 174 (Analyzing Performance: dance, theatre and performance by Patrice Pavis)

Costume and Body
A body is "worn" and "carried" by a costume as much as a costume is worn and carried by the body. Actors develop their character and refine their underscore while exploring their costumes; one helps the other find its identity:

A sleeve that is too wider or too narrow, too long or too short, can alter the stage projection of a character , and require from th actor a modification of his attitude; this then provokes subsequent inventions/constructions in terms of the costume, and so it goes on.

Costume and Space
Costume often constitutes a kind of traveling scenography, a set reduced to a human scale that moves with the actor: a decorcostume, as the costume designer Claude Lemaire calls it.

With the above quotes, I will try to create a series of diagrams that illustrate the relationship of the costume to body and space.

To begin ...

2009-10-14T21:44:00.000-07:00

I decided the best way to get the ball rolling on this project, is to document all my sketches and ideas that will lead up to the dragon costume I will create ( I envision this as one project in a series of design projects I would undertake to examine my thesis aims) . I want to be able to document step by step, hour by hour all that takes place . If in the spirit of "Priesthood" I gather a few "Acolytes" the more the merrier. The idea of group work and forming of communities in 'mas camp' (where costumes are made) will also be developed and explored.

The idea is to create something from scratch and envision the space the body will soon occupy. Therefore paying attention to materiality, flexibility and movement. Also with the use of limited materials the folding and manipulation of the material ( paper or rigid fabric) will have to show the textures of the dragon costume and aid in animating the costume. Something that would usually be done with the addition of paint, glitter and sequins. I would like to explore costume making in its raw state, minusing all the layers of beads and sequins that cover up the body and structure of the costume itself. Whatever its framework, it is this arquitectonic costume space that the body occupies that will be examined.

Folding and costuming techniques

2009-10-14T21:11:00.000-07:00

I made attempts at origami to experiment with various folding techniques that may be incorporated in making a costume. The motivation here was to draw attention to the use of basic and cheap materials but with an intensive labor technique, to create an end costume result that was reflection of the time, energy and patience that goes into traditional costuming. Folding is not usually found in Trinidad carnival costuming techniques however I wanted to introduce a new technique to help futher develop the arquitectonic nature that the carnival costume shape and space can create.

"In truth, it was in a spirit of priesthood that Aldrick addressed his work; for, the making of his dragon costume was to him always a new miracle, a new test not only of his skill but of his faith: for though he knew exactly what he had to do, it was only by faith that he could bring alive from these scraps of cloth and tin that dragon, its mouth breathing fire, its tail threshing the ground, its nine chains rattling, that would contain the beauty and threat and terror that was the message he took each year to Port of Spain. It was in this message that he asserted before the world his self. It was through it that he demanded that others see him, recognize his personhood, be warned of his dangerousness.” (35-36)

- 'The Dragon Can't Dance' by Earl Lovelace

Pulling inspiration from the protagonistic character "Aldrick" in Earl Lovelace's book " The Dragon Can't Dance" I would like to place myself in the role of Aldrick the Dragon costume designer and performer and imagine what the process was for him to create the dragon costume from scratch each year. The book describes the dedication and faith he had in the costume making process as being in the spirit of "priesthood". I hope the patience, intricacies and discipline of folding will help to discover this "spirit of priesthood."It should also aid in developing a project that goes through a creative thought process that is stimulating for future projects and encourages the designer to have a greater awareness of the spaces he creates, as he is more in tune due to the focus and patience that folding requires.

2009-09-29T15:14:00.000-07:00

The use and integration of sailor's prop (the cane) analyzed.

2009-09-23T07:06:00.000-07:00

Ignasi de Solà -Morales writes in Differences: Topographies of Contemporary Architecture :

" Architecture is not a tree but an event, resulting from the intersection of forces capable of situating an object that is partially signifying, contingent." (p.16)

"... that is to say, there is no system of objects governed by formal laws that might guarantee aesthetic efficacy. Instead, in the first instance, what exists is the subject's willingness to establish relations with a world that is to be constructed through the mediation of the body. The subject, who is a nothing, a useless passion, constructs the world by looking ahead. through openings, and through consciousness. The work of art is a gesture that emanates from the body." ( p.52)

2009-09-21T10:36:00.001-07:00

Mike Presdee writes in ‘Cultural criminology and the carnival of crime’ :

“…The performance of carnival uses the body as the stage, claiming it back from those who wish to control it, who wish to appropriate that which it produces, to civilize it, or even imprison it. Carnival –places the body in a trance-like state where, like the carnival of rave, one can play with one’s body and carry out a state of enthusiasm … near to the happy state of mind’ (Jeanmaire 1951:58) Now Artaud’s ‘festival of the street’ takes the people not only out of their bodies but in so doing out of society into a state of ecstasy.”

2009-09-21T08:45:00.001-07:00

“...he wanted for the audience to be able to see the music and hear the dance, in Mas that is exactly the purpose! ...you want to be able to see the music dancing!”

“I don’t design costumes. I provide the means for the human body to express its energy.”

Peter Minshall

OCCUPYING ECSTATIC FESTIVAL SPACES – The costume and the city stage

2009-09-21T08:36:00.000-07:00

Abstract

This thesis examines the role architecture plays in the profound nature of collective human joy during festivals. It will look at human behavior during the festive hours and the events, places and actions that encompass play in festival. There are many different types of festivals but there are basic commonalities that exist in all. There is a voluntary participation, celebration in excess and its occurrences outside of ordinary life.
The Stage and Costume are vital contributors to the collective ecstatic joy experienced at festivals. This includes the spatial role of the city as a theater stage and the stage structures that exist during festivals. While some stages are permanent others are temporary and subjective. At times a stage can be a specific route or area where something symbolic has occurred. The stage creates a relationship between the performer and the audience. Another element that stresses differences from the ordinary world outside festival is the costume. Seeing the Costume as architecture for the body and as the space the human body occupies is relevant. The line between friend and stranger is diminished with the adorning of a costume. Transformations such as these lead up to the climatic joyous feelings that encompass festival.
Parades, festivals and carnivals are celebrated in many cities around the world. While the customs, religions and cultures may be different, a common thread is the profound nature of collective human joy experienced in these diverse cities. However industrialization and human obsessive drive to succeed in social rank and class has dampened our festive nature. This thesis will assist in renewing the capacity of festival particularly in Trinidad's Carnival. By examining the role of architectural space in the actions that encompass this urban festival, it will propose both new and revived forms and spaces that contribute to the festivals collective ecstasy.