For the past year, every day at 6:30 A.M. Hunter Doyle has organized and recorded his research from the previous day. Hunter is s a 2nd year student of architecture,studying at The AA, London.
He has organized his archive into 153 folders. creating a new folder for each reference.
Over a 20 day span in Paris during August of 2015, he composed Reneisidore-Panmuphle.
He created 999 hyperlinks.
Grouped in four cantos, each contains an argument in three voices!
I am reminded of the ingenious memory machines of the Middle Ages, the processes and devices designed to aid memory before the printed page was available or commonplace. The Francis Yates book “The Art of Memory” from 1986 references the world of memory. Mr. Doyle has gone there too. This a very private world we have been given access to, and it requires focus and determination to fully exploit.
But, on the other hand, on a simplistic visual level it is fun to play around with, there is a density of content that is rewarding however one uses it.
There are technical limitations to the piece which are slightly annoying, resetting zoom resolutions and similar requirements keep it a private experience, the tiny text requires effort to decipher, and is tiring to use. An intentional choice I suspect.
There is an instruction sheet for the site published in AARCHITECTURE 26 which provides directions, a guide which stipulates how to use this creation. A little too controlling throughout for me but an interesting exploration, and worth taking the time to look around.