Mosque at Cordoba Study

For a building to be motionless is the exception: our pleasure comes from moving about so as to make the building move in turn, while we enjoy all these combinations of its parts. As they vary, the column turns, depths recede, galleries glide: a thousand visions escape.

Paul Valery, The Method of Leonardo

The Mosque at Cordoba is an interesting example of a field condition. The myriad of columns (over 900) dematerializes the lateral walls enclosing the prayer hall and also lends the space a sense of movement, which is enhanced by the body's movement through the space. See Stan Allen's article, "Field Conditions," in Points+Lines (1985).





The following images and video are various studies using the Mosque at Cordoba as a model. The idea is to produce a sense of movement without literal movement of the objects. Light and body/camera movement produce the effects.


















Video: Movement Simulated with Light



Video: Movement Simulated with Camera (as stand in for the body)