The Scroll

In realizing a project, Negar Seyfollahy and Alisdair MacRae draw on their combined backgrounds in architecture and fine arts. They aspire to appeal broadly while staying rooted in a layered research process accessible to a variety of groups and individuals. They often step back from the process to reflect on the project’s purpose, and in doing so, allow it to unfold without pursuing preconceived agendas. Although they develop a project as fully as possible in the planning stages, they look to maintain as much flexibility during its realization in order to be inspired by new possibilities.

The concept started with the idea of a paper scroll unfolding along the library wall and depicts the realization that knowledge is typically incomplete, and not always written. Expanding on the original idea of the scroll, the artists were inspired by James Minoru Sakoda’s book “Modern Origami”. Like the scroll, the aesthetics of origami represent a body of knowledge. The patterns in the artwork are based on the fold lines of paper origami creations. Combining the form and symbolism of the scroll with the patterns and techniques of origami, the concept becomes a metaphor for all other forms of knowledge accessible through the library. The pattern replicated throughout the work are based on the fold lines of the several basic origami forms – the bird base, four-point star, sitting crane, and lobster. The patterns have been enlarged and elements have been removed to represent incomplete or different forms of knowledge. Etched and engraved onto the wood, acrylic, and glass panels the patterns become visible as a whole to the viewer and reflect the holistic and interconnected nature of knowledge.