David Dobie | Shifting Design III - Manufacturing the natural world

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David Dobie, “Shifting Design III - Manufacturing the natural world,” 2024

(schematic) (courtesy of the Gallery)

The first two iterations of this project were referred to as Shifting Design I and II. The first in the Nelson Capitol Theatre, the second outside on the front lawn of Nelson City Hall. Both project assemblies had similarities and differences but both were felt as a celebration of forty years of architectural design where I translated the dynamics of the design process that I had used continuously. This installation project has never been about specific built projects but rather a view taken of the random nature of focus and perseverance that goes into creating things in our world; in my case buildings, and the many things related to buildings. I have always used my hands to draw and sketch these many diagrams that moved ideas forward to a conclusion that in most cases were constructed on the land here in the West Kootenays. These panels help to show how ideas flip through my world, come and go, transform into nuanced versions of the previous notions and play on the metaphors of what we attach ourselves so tenaciously.

This third iteration speaks to my inner dialog of how we converse with nature and natural resources, taking the opportunity if we are inclined. Our pent up desire for more, new and updated dwellings can help resolve the serious issue of inadequately efficient structures but often at the expense of dwindling forests, raw materials and contamination, and far too often our housing commodity becomes another source of income. We conjure many justifications to whet this appetite for enhancing our living environment. 8 billion people could not possibly have what we in our culture expect as normal and available.

Apart from some of the complex chemistries most if not all of what we create has a life span and we are surrounded by slowly deteriorating objects that are seeking return to their elemental components. This installation is vulnerable in so many ways and when I looked back at the many projects I worked on most but not all remain intact beyond their initial owners. They immediately get modified, torn down, “personalized” by new ownership.

These curved surfaces are both ascending from the ground and sinking back but still remain tenuous and vulnerable in the context of the larger world. The filmy veneers of drawings are like the fleeting aspirations and ideas we have of our desires; also left in a vulnerable context. The curved panels are reminiscent of the panels in Shifting Design I and II but are shown here as more substantive and purposeful, they in their own right have more commentary.

The stand-alone objects are re-manufactured trees which in time could be assumed to be what a forest is, and by our social nature assimilated as real. The concept of taking the drawings on paper attached to wood frameworks to become trees emphasizes the extent to which we as

humans will travel to justify the costs of our desires.