City Layout

In light of Max Ernst's interest in automatism I'd created a few images that tried to translate involuntary action to visual design. 

His main specialisations: Grattage and Frottage (where objects and equipment are used to limit work and provide that element of 'chance'), will be used for the main building textures...

And since he'd also had an interest in the automatism movement as a whole, and had inspired methods such as the one I'd used here...it seemed fitting to try out automatic drawing. 

Afterwards, in the digital drawing lecture, (revisiting 'production design'), I'd learnt it's possible to take existing drawings and distort them across the page. 

It's at this point I thought about using these designs as 'floor plan' of sorts, for my city. 

Along these random lines, (just one, single representation of our conscious), there my buildings will sit. Stark and lost in a place, far away from their original context.

You see, I'd referenced a lot from architecture (across Europe),  lost as a consequence of conflict.

The most obvious being the effects of world war two (though the 'Great War' also shows prominent damages to historical places caught in the front line). 

Particularly Dresden, who'd lost thousands of civilians and received substantial damages to a lot of it's buildings, as a consequence of the controversial aerial bombing of 1945.  

Max Ernst's 'Europe after the Rain' show's his stance towards conflict, having been a soldier in WW1.

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For 'What If? Metropolis', his attempt to revise art from scratch, however, would most likely prove challenging in a city where many others will live. Their memories and interpretations of these places, prior to their destruction, will be burnt into the very structure itself. Unable to leave. Holding it there in memory, despite its lack of physical form.

These designs intend to show his frustration towards this halt in human development, as past culture, years in the making, are destroyed. 

Does getting rid of the architecture mean a new beginning, or do you need it there, so you can get on with human progression?