“卢尼地带”研究:突破河流定义的“水分关键带”

Engaging Luni:A Critical Zone of Wetness rather than a River

在地理视角下,卢尼河是一条穿越印度塔尔沙漠的季节性河流,此时的沙漠即为一片毫无生机或极度缺水的区域,需要通过管道和运河向其输送水源。但若将这一场地理解为处于云层和含水层之间的"水分关键带","卢尼"便可被定义为一处拥有丰富多彩文化的开敞空间,这里孕育着制盐、陶艺、音乐、木版印刷和印染等多种受季风影响的传统技艺。2018年,由宾夕法尼亚大学斯图尔特-韦茨曼设计学院阿努拉达·马图尔教授组织并主持的设计课程通过模拟图像、压印和蒙太奇等方式,利用后一种范式来研究"卢尼",以构建另一种"场地"。有别于从"河流"的视角来理解卢尼河,此设计方法所探究的是另一种视角下的"卢尼地带"—无处不在的水分。设计方案"共鸣乐器"即为此课程的成果之一,方案摒弃了一般地图中将场地局限为地理表面的传统,运用绘画、摄影、版画和蒙太奇等方法,将场地打造成为一处"水分关键带"。针对"卢尼地带"的具体研究应用这些方法建造了"水分关键带"中的"乐器"装置。在这里,协商沟通、灵活变通和容许差异的设计方式比刻板固定、一刀切、严格划定和精准定义的模式更加适用。

When the ground is understood as a geographic surface, Luni is articulated to be a seasonal river that flows through the Thar Desert in India. In this paradigm, the desert is perceived as empty or as a place of scarcity to which water must be brought in pipes and canals. However, when situated within a "critical zone of wetness" that extends from clouds to aquifers, Luni is a culturally vibrant open terrain where various traditional practices of habitation—salt production, pottery, music, block printing, and dyeing—are acutely tuned to the monsoon. The design studio organized and instructed by Professor Anuradha Mathur in 2018 at the Stuart Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania engages the latter through analog prints, imprints, and montages to construct another ground. This approach pursues Luni as ubiquitous wetness, rather than understanding the Luni-as-a-river differently. The design project "Resonating Instruments" is an outcome of this studio. Instead of working with maps that construct the ground as a geographic surface, the project uses drawing, photography, printmaking, and montage as techniques of negotiation to construct the ground as a "critical zone of wetness." These techniques were used to engage the Luni and to construct the instruments in a "critical zone of wetness," where negotiation, flexibility, fluidity, and gradients are favored over rigidity, separation, and strict delineations and definitions.