The Maze

Army aerial photograph, c. 1980

Following the labyrinth lead I came across an interesting prison complex called The Maze, opened in 1976 outside of Belfast to contain political prisoners.
The prison consists of a number of near-identical living blocks and outdoor spaces which create a feeling of confusion.









To quote the book:

Repetition is a feature of control systems. It creates a predictable and therefore secure environment. The Maze prison was a model of repetitive and systematic architecture. Its primary function was to contain and isolate.

Its geography is clear and functional, but also repetitive and confusing. There are 8 H-blocks within its17-foot-high concrete perimeter wall which stretched for two and a half miles.

The pattern of (...) journey is one of constant, relentless repetition on a vast scale. This sense of repetition is intensified once inside a block. For example, if you leave H-block 1 at the very east of the complex, and enter a H-block 4, almost a mile away on the north side, it is impossible to distinguish, even remember, which of the two you are actually in. The result is a feeling of complete disorientation.

These quotes bring me back to my first and rather random experiments with frames. If we assume that the frames represent a section of a space, then their spread over the screen as well as in 3 dimensions becomes a real maze - confusing, repetitive non-space. No Place - where any element is as good or relevant as the others. Somehow through all this, it seems that the disparate elements of my research are coming together into a final piece where they actually can be combined, enriching one another.