massachusetts institute of technology
spring 2023
professor | cristina parreno alonso

this exploration formalizes , spatializes , and ultimately re.presents the process of shadow work as conceptualized by Carl Jung.
confrontation , acceptance , and integration are discretized into disparate articulations of [a] promenade in order to evaluate their viability , utility , and reality as spatial sequences.
confrontation is the initial encounter with the shadow , and can be thought of as the exposition , rising actions , and climax of a story . this narrative structure is formalized by an accumulation of inadequacies , thus as an internal constriction of an occupiable liminality , and ultimately punctuated with a cruciform of visually accessible//physically inaccessible solid-voids.
acceptance is preceded by the climax which leaves the ego in a state of denial – confrontation with the shadow was the breaking point , and now one is faced with the decision to continue on in this fractured state of existence or descend to the level of the shadow , the depths of the psyche , in order to confront those aspects of themselves which they do not consciously embody . descent is formalized via a downward spiral leading to a ramped liminality , which reaches the lowest point in the sequence before ultimately leaving visitors at a monumental stair with no obvious egress.
integration is the lifelong, endless process of becoming aware of the shadow without identifying with the shadow . formalized as a balancing act on an upward trajectory , a single path circumvents a solid-void and branches off into the in(de)finite as structure nucleates into unreachable waypoints . important to note is that one can fall off the path at any time , similar to a relapse in addiction.