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Project orthogonal

Simon Penny, Mimi George, Mario Borja

The term orthogonal refers to forms that are at odds with one another, but which are also interdependent. Project Orthogonal builds upon an earlier phase in which artist Simon Penny engaged in transdisciplinary critical technical practice by learning vessel design in dialog with experts including engineer and master carver Sakman Mario Borja of Che'lu, the San Diego Chamorro society, and anthropologist Mimi George of the Vaka Taumako Project, an organization that preserves Polynesian seafaring culture in the southeast Solomon Islands.

The collaborators each present "orthogonal" ways of thinking and doing around indigenous seafaring design via Sakman Mario Borja's historic Sakman Chamorro, built in San Diego, California in the 2010s, Mimi George's presentation of the Taumako proa vessels, and Penny's unique combination of Naval ship engineering and micronesian design in Irvine, California.

Background video: 3D modeling and animation of Orthogonal, Simon Penny and Michael Delessio, 2020.
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