MALIN ZIMM, Architect, Artist
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Copyright architecture, art and photos © Malin Zimm
BIOGRAPHY
Malin Zimm born 1971, Sweden
EDUCATION
19.10.1999 Diploma in Architecture, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm
27.09.98 - 10.06.99 BA (Hons) Diploma in Architecture:
Department for Architecture and the Built Environment,
Bartlett School of Architecture, University College of London, Commendation in Design Portfolio, Distinction in Technical Studies
17.09.97 - 10.06.98 Pre-Diploma course, the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, London
29.08.96 - 06.06.97 Pre-Diploma course, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
21.08.94 - 29.05.95 Institute of Interior Architecture and Furniture Design, University College of Arts, Crafts and Design, Sweden
22.08.93 - 25.05.94 Nyckelviksskolan Institute of Arts and Crafts
15.08.91 - 28.05.93 Graduate School of Architecture and Planning, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
20.08.87 - 10.06.90 Senior High School, Civics Programme, Franska Skolans Gymnasium (the French School), Sweden
EMPLOYMENTS, ASSIGNMENTS AND EXHIBITIONS
January 2000 Tutor, computer and media course at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm
February 2000 The Hotel: product design, Designtorget, Stockholm
Nov 1999 - May 2000 Architect, CODESIGN ab architectural office, Stockholm
Sept 1999- Guest critic, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm
Sept 1999 Freelance architecture and design journalist
Advisory Board member of "Offentliga Rum", Stockholm
Sept 1998 Construction Manager for the exhibition "Lifeforms", Stockholm Culture Capital of Europe-98
July - Sept 1997 Office planning and Interior design for Triple Sense, Stockholm
29.06.97 - 01.08.97 Tutor and Critic, Multimedia course, Royal Institute of Technology
10.01.97 - 16.06.97 Prop Manager and first Set Designer Assistant, "Under Ytan", a long film production directed by Daniel Fridell, Reaction Pictures, Sweden
04.10.96 - 20.10.96 The Portable Zone: installation and performance, New Stockholm Gallery
28.04.95 - 19.05.95 Art exhibition, Kunsthall am Kunsthof Oranienburg, Berlin
18.06.95 - 31.08.95 Arts and Crafts exhibition at Fr¯vifors Bruk, Fr¯vi
24.05.95 - 25.07.95 Set Designer for "Vackert Vader", a long film production directed by David Flamholc, Caravan Film Productions, Malmo, Sweden
16.06.94 - 27.07.94 Architect trainee at Arsenalen Architects, Stockholm. Sweden
19.05.94 - 26.05.94 Leka Hem: ìPlay Houseî, installations, games of scale and architecture, Ann Westin Art Gallery, Stockholm
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TEXT BY MALIN ZIMM
The Synesthetic Mediator
Synesthesia (greek, syn- together and aisthesis- perception) is a neurological condition of involuntary cross-modal association, where a stimulation causes a perception in one or more different senses. It denotes the rare capacity to hear colours, taste shapes, or see music.
The Synesthetic Mediator is a visitor centre in the back of your mind. The site-bound physical space is just like the human body: a container for individual experiences, a tool for communication, interaction and transportation. The brain feeds on information. A brain deprived of external input will start projecting an external reality of its own, readily perceiving things that are not really there. The experience of the physical space of the Mediator is secondary to this experience of the synesthetic features of the brain. The visitor passes through a series of chambers that spatially induce a synesthetic experience: the interior is a tool for inducing perceptual fusion. The result could be a zone of alteration and pulsation, a misbehaving space ruled by confused time, where the individual inner perspective is the only true vantage point of perception.
Synesthetic architecture is about fusion, not only in the sense of joining materials together to enclose space, but fusion as a method of joining ideas on all levels. I would like to introduce synesthesia as an alternative construct of the mind, both influencing the design method and the final concept. The Mediator will, by spatially causing a distortion of the senses, invoke the synesthetic multimodal state in order to deepen the direct experience into a meditative state of perception, where two media merge into a third. Synesthesia is an additive experience, combining two or more senses into a more complex experience without losing their own identities. The building incorporates concepts of transition, mediating between one state and another. The Synesthetic Mediator is an amplifier of sensations, in some levels taken to the extreme, where maximum reverses to minimum, all embodied in the dimensionless existence of a cartesian point.
Bi-sociation is the linkage of conceptual frameworks that appear to have nothing in common.. My hypothesis is that the idea of bi-sociation could be a preview of a platform for multidimensional mediation, a system in favour of the unprejudiced combination of ideas to find unexpected solutions and inventions. What we are looking into is the immersion of the body in the digital realm and the introduction of "misbehaving" senses and a perception process allowing us to experience sensory effects beyond the normal. Media, games and interfaces will simulate and stimulate all senses to a higher degree than we see today. Within such a system, the capacity to adapt, even if it means to engage in a process of unlearning, will be crucial.
We begin to perceive the world in a certain way from a very early age trusting the perceptions to be true. But if this sensory data is suddenly altered, will our perceptions alter, or will the world?
"What are you waiting for? Let's perform. Let's open those neural floodgates."
videodrome
"I can reach my hand out and rub it along the back side of a curve.
I can't feel where the top and bottom end: so it's like a column.
It's cool to the touch, as if it were made of stone or glass. What
is so wonderful about it, though, is its absolute smoothness.
Perfectly smooth. I can't feel any pits or indentations in the
surface, so it must not be made of granite or stone. Therefore, it
must be made of glass."
Michael Watson, synesthete
