GHASSAN ALSERAYHI
 MSc. Arch, M. Arch, B. Arch, Assoc. SCE

ARCHITECT + EDUCATOR + RESEARCHER
  ‘KNOWLEDGE INCUBATORS+PORTALS’
SUBJECT: ‘INSTITUTIONS’: BENEVELONT KNOWLEDGE  
TYPE: DESIGN STUDIO
INSTRUCTOR: PERRY KULPER
DATE: 2021
Epistemes are implicit ‘rules of formation’ that govern what constitutes legitimate knowledge forms for a specific cultural period. They are the underlying codes of a culture, governing its language, logic, schemas of perception, values, techniques, etc. Thus, what would they look like if brought together as a collection? Creating a space of illusion that exposes every so-called real space, and in turn, creates a new, other space, allows the work to act as a feedback loop within itself and within the participants’ world(s). This relational structures facilitate the reconsideration of their assumptions, structuring a continuous exchange of knowledge and learning through a process of ‘unknowing.’ Defamiliarization recalibrates forms of knowledge construction by juxtaposing several incompatible spaatial situations, terretories, and temporalities.

Considering the irregularity of temporal relationships, not governed by a singular conception of chronological time, transports people to dimensions beyond the immediacy of a spatial realm. This provokes the possibility of mental constructs where knowledge constructions can flourish and reflect on itself as a process. Historically, our access to history was enabled through paper dissemination, whereas today this almost entirely replaced by the Internet. Hence, determining validity and authenticity based on reviews, comments, and follower counts raises questions about the purpose and nobility of knowledge and the consequences of curiosity. This so-called ‘library’ critically reframes and reroutes these issues in multiple ways, expanding the audience range and foregrounding the diverse structures in which knowledge can be organized.
A number of specific tactics are initiated, primarily through drawing. This physical construct oscillates between concrete spatial proposals and notations for further development. Representational borders are opened with the hope of sustaining a more fluid ideological, critical and material amalgamation. The interventions are generated as ways to augment, qualify and occasionally negate, existing island conditions. Additionally, there are several relational characteristics that propagate the new and point toward the unforeseen, continually qualifying the emergent temporal dynamics of the three different situations proposed in this work.















:: STRATEGIC PLOT; SITUATIONS;
RELATIONAL STRUCTURES

The relationships between things might represent a kind of meta-character. These entities, a collection of autonomous characters, might structure or enable interactions; then there’s something else facilitating different interactions. They may or may not communicate with each other. The most significant aspect the work considers is the absent relational conduit between objects. This work specifically aims to construct the transactional space, not the objects facilitating the transactions. It’s akin to the dilemma of jigs and rigs: creating them inherently structures something else indirectly; it’s not the entity itself but rather a pointer to it. The essence of the work lies in this indirect approach – it’s about pointing to possibilities, embracing an indeterminate, contingent, and incomplete logic.

 SITUATION[S]
          HUMAN
          ANIMAL
          MYTHOLOGY






ANIMAL[s]
The achievement of landing on the moon, one of the significant milestones in the history of humanity, not only sparks discussions about its validity but also raises questions about who has access to knowledge and technology, which often translates into power and control. This phenomenon extends to both the past and the present and the reasons behind it. Furthermore, it empowers these devices, metaphorically allowing them to present themselves as contributors to the world. Considering this, numerous questions arise about the nature of things, such as what lies within animals.

In relation to the schema of knowledge construction, considering that everything is connected in our world, according to Foucault’s philosophy on life and time, animals in general, and camels specifically, can be regarded as knowledge conduits. They played a crucial role in disseminating various types of knowledge worldwide in the past. One might argue that without them, we wouldn’t have reached the same level of technology. Representationally and conceptually, this notion narrows the gap between camels and a critical link in the chain of human knowledge dissemination, highlighting their significance in shaping the course of history.

How do we acquire knowledge, and what gives us certainty in what we already know? Can we fathom the multitude of worlds that exist inside animals, like camels? Without animals, particularly camels, would we have achieved the same technological advancements and inventions?
























HUMAN[s]
Understanding humans structurally, emotionally, and physically is arguably impossible, considering the level of accuracy the word ‘understanding’ might carry. These moving and uniquely created machines are interesting to learn from and explore the existence and the role of being. Until today, there are no 100% accurate answers for plenty of questions we have been asking to know more about ourselves or other creatures. Doubting everything structures constantly and on different scales/degrees of awareness.

The door to many discussions, especially with the level of technology we have reached today. What and who are we without the bone or our appearances? What’s the nature of souls, if there are any, their relationship to human minds, entities, and consciousness, and how are these related to realities? Are we real? What is real? Is there more than one reality? Are souls recycled? Were we once Egyptian slaves one day and British colonizers years after? Or are we also alive in another cosmos?

What we see, feel, smell, hear, and even taste are considered by themselves as a form of knowledge construction and a learning process that has open, undetermined degrees of operation. One level of realization and awareness is captured in this work to be presented through the lens of my imagination of what the world inside our bodies might look like, specifically the hip bones. Bones were picked for the study here because they are arguably the last parts to be dissolved/recycled after death.

































MYTHOLOGY[ies]

Delivering the work through a story or fairy tale relies on certain archetypes drawn from myths. These archetypes function as devices that are embodied and constructed in the form of phases, sequences, and other elements to establish the navigation of these worlds. All the pieces and devices come together to construct knowledge, or it could be nothing at all. The produced situations and worlds have a ritualistic, sequential, and preoperative nature. It is not the type of world where you simply walk into a building. Instead, the work envisions a series of libraries—physical, psychic, and spiritual—existing within the clouds, on the clouds, and as the clouds themselves.

In this allegory, when it rains, the clouds pour forth the events and properties of history and cultures, embodied in the atoms that compose the cloud. These atoms have the potential to take root and transform into something akin to Pandora’s Box from Greek myths. They remain dormant until knowledge seekers and curious individuals stumble upon them and interact, at which point they are activated and opened, releasing their hidden treasures.