Blaire Haslop
Victoria University of Wellington
Blaire Haslop isn’t one to move slowly… whether it’s training for a half marathon or scrolling glitch blogs so fast her computer screen resembles something of an epileptic fit, you could say there are obsessive tendencies afoot. That’s not such a bad thing when you apply it to your thesis though! Read on to find out how a discovery in a 400-level design class has led the way to her current interest in “the glitch” and how the harsh reality of digital decay can be interpreted in three-dimensional, architectural space.
Student Architecture Network New Zealand: In 20 words, what is your thesis about?
Blaire Haslop: Interpreting the inevitable decay of the digital through architecture using algorithmic design and data from naturally decayed files. It makes a bit more sense if you visit my thesis blog www.yoshisherbertland.tumblr.com for more info.
SANNZ: Who is your supervisor and why did you choose to work with him?
Blaire: Mid-way through summer I completely changed my mind on my thesis topic and emailed my tutor from fourth year (Marc Aurel Schnabel) asking him if he would support carrying on my glitch idea into thesis and be my supervisor, and he said yes! He is also the Conference King with a very international outlook.
SANNZ: When you started your Master’s just over a year ago at the start of fourth year, did you think your thesis would take this direction?
Blaire: No! I am usually so analog, illustrating my architecture because it’s typically more theoretical than structurally viable. I am also terrible at maths to the point that my stats teacher threw a duster at my head. She would faint if she knew my thesis involved numbers.
SANNZ: So you went ‘digital’?
Blaire: Yes, I have since completely immersed myself in the world of ‘Glitch’. My supervisor told me to get in touch with Matthew Austin who wrote a glitchy paper for a CAADRIA conference. Matthew invited me to all these glitch community Facebook pages such as Glitch Artist Collective, Glitch Theory and Glitch Tool Time. Here we comment on each other’s work and debate on threads such as, “what are we trying to achieve through glitch politically, artistically or otherwise?”. Glitch artists are sort of this fringe community rebelling against technology… their humor is so specific, very Tumblr humor; so when I put up my work with “ask me anything!” I receive responses like, “who is behind ISIS?”. Hopefully my thesis can take glitch to another level and bring some authenticity to the field through architecture.
SANNZ: We saw earlier this year that you made a call asking for people to give you old images, out-dated technology, etc. that had ‘glitched’ for them. What are you doing with these?
Blaire: Yes, so last year I discovered all my pictures taken in 2007 on my fuschia Motorola now opened in wild colour shifts of disassembled pixels, which lead me to question glitch as digital decay. I have created certain methods to extract data from these jpegs, but the greater amount of aged technology or glitched files I can get my hands on, the greater amount of opportunities there are to investigate this idea. I am particularly interested in finding some old 3D digitally modelled files because if they open differently in today’s programs they may create new three-dimensional opportunities to interpret digital decay.
SANNZ: What are your plans for next year?
Blaire: I want to use my J1 Graduate Visa and move to New York. Every kiwi who graduates can live and work in America for a year within a year after graduating. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity!
SANNZ: Do you feel that architecture school has prepared you for the realities of working in the industry?
Blaire: No, architecture school changes the way you think, it teaches you to design with reason (even if it is post-rationalised). The great thing about this profession is that you are constantly learning, so even when you start practicing there is a whole new section to learn (even if it is detailing a brick wall).
SANNZ: Do you work while studying/how many hours?
Blaire: I am a tutor for first year architectural design. Tutoring is a great job, your students push you to think of new ideas and constantly remind you what is important in design by draining your soul for four hours a day. No, I honestly absolutely love my job. Pushing new ideas is exciting and passing on knowledge, theories or little computation tricks that I was once taught is rewarding.
SANNZ: How do you switch off after a long day at Uni?
Blaire: I don’t, the closest thing to switching off is scrolling glitch blogs, I scroll them so fast it probably looks like my laptop is having an epileptic fit. I am pretty obsessive so its constant, as in still scrolling at 2am constant.
SANNZ: What do you work toward in your free time?
Blaire: I was working towards running a half marathon but I have completed that now so I need a new activity. I decided last week that I wanted to design a theme park, so I guess Roller Coaster Tycoon 4 has become my new form of training.
SANNZ: What music or artist has helped you get through architecture school?
Blaire: Yayoi Kusama has been my constant inspiration. She’s absolutely bonkers but all the best people are. I dressed as her for Halloween.
SANNZ: What coffee has fuelled your degree and where do you usually buy it from?
Blaire: I was always a mocha girl, anything stronger and I would be unbearably hyper. However 4 years enduring architecture school has taken its toll and I am now needing flat whites. Perhaps a year in New York and I’ll finally join the archi boys on the long blacks. From Midnight, always!
SANNZ: What were you like in high school?
Blaire: An insomniac art department girl with a lot of extra curricular commitments.
SANNZ: What is your favourite word?
Blaire: Manila
