Pile

With all good intentions a pile tends to start off neat but eventually something gives. Perhaps sheer numbers, a lack of a need for neatness or uncontrollable external elements take the form into its disarray. Maybe a pile is just the messy form of a stack or a wall? The neatest form of Jenga blocks would be a stack or wall, knock it over - you’ve got a pile, maybe a neat pile.

Piles in the urban space might give us a sense of the impermanent. Something placed for further use nearby. The form showing the result of a quick action, something moved to a space & tossed by hand, a true pile taking form unconsciously. Contrived piles don’t seem right, they must be born from the individual elements moving to their own position. Dropped or thrown onto one another & sliding into place, pushing out at the edges, heavy, the mass pushing outward. The pile might build to a rough peak but overall its shape wants to slump & sprawl outwards.

Stack

Much neater, this form is often planned or convenient. Likely made from a regular shape that can be built upward. Stacks take up corner spaces, the spot near the door, by the bins, over there. Made from the thing that we have used & plan to return, reuse or take away. Any parts that go wrong in a stack could quickly lead to a pile. Conversely a pile could be neatened into a stack.

Stacks display a certain amount of discipline, as an artistic form they could convey a level of collection, repetition & process. Stacks hit social cues like housing, capitalism, storage/space, bulk, demand, the unwanted or unused.

Wall

Another neat form, walls are generally long term or permanent forms. Purposeful, functional, divisive, strong, practical, containing, excluding… The sum of a wall’s parts could easily be made from materials in a stack or pile. It might also be reduced to a pile & stacks.

Temporary walls or fences in the built environment are interesting as it might suggest something is changing on the other side. What is more interesting is when this barrier is transparent, or has gaps or holes. The inner voyeur can take over & a peek inside could be hard to resist.