© Amelyn Ng 2025
Planetary Exposure: On the possibility of drawing with the sun
conference / forum, publication, representation
YEAR:
2025
EVENT:
UNFRAMING KNOWLEDGE: Artistic Research Beyond Theory and Practice, 27–29 October 2025, Naples, Italy
TYPE:
Conference presentation and double-blind peer review publication
TRACK:
New Ecologies in Artistic Research
RESEARCH ASSISTANT:
Arissara Reed
LINKS:
conference website
![]()
2025
EVENT:
UNFRAMING KNOWLEDGE: Artistic Research Beyond Theory and Practice, 27–29 October 2025, Naples, Italy
TYPE:
Conference presentation and double-blind peer review publication
TRACK:
New Ecologies in Artistic Research
RESEARCH ASSISTANT:
Arissara Reed
LINKS:
conference website
INFO:
This paper explores planetary exposure as a method and an aesthetic position for architectural drawing. In architecture, exposure refers to the orientation of a building towards the sun, while in photography it connotes the indexical capture of images in photochemical contact with the environment. Architectural blueprints were historically made this way: an example of camera-less exposure where the sun participates in the image-making process. Exposure also signals severe weather conditions and bodies in public, veering into physical vulnerability.
These multiple meanings are an invitation to think planetary warming through drawing practice. What can speculative architectural drawing learn from the documentary impulse of exposure? Can objects become orthographic documents, and vice versa? How might artistic and architectural research work with the sun as a means of in-situ mediation between digital drawing and physical environment?
This paper explores planetary exposure as a method and an aesthetic position for architectural drawing. In architecture, exposure refers to the orientation of a building towards the sun, while in photography it connotes the indexical capture of images in photochemical contact with the environment. Architectural blueprints were historically made this way: an example of camera-less exposure where the sun participates in the image-making process. Exposure also signals severe weather conditions and bodies in public, veering into physical vulnerability.
These multiple meanings are an invitation to think planetary warming through drawing practice. What can speculative architectural drawing learn from the documentary impulse of exposure? Can objects become orthographic documents, and vice versa? How might artistic and architectural research work with the sun as a means of in-situ mediation between digital drawing and physical environment?