A Gradual Stiffening is an ongoing research project which Eleanor Wright utilises to shape her ideas into artworks. This title references a ‘pattern’ within the philosophical and practical building manual A Pattern Language (a research project spearheaded by Christopher Alexander and published in 1977), which suggests that flexibility within building practices should be maintained into the very last stages, analogously described as the ‘gradual stiffening’ process of weaving a basket.

Composed in the space between looking and making, A Gradual Stiffening draws together imagery and sounds that explore subjects of civic life through the lens of two buildings designed and built by the unknown Athenian structural engineer Yiannis Kontodimas: the vacant Rea Shopping Centre and an apartment building which is also his home.

Throughout 2016 Wright spent time in Athens exploring the city, the legacy of its histories and its current state of economical and political crisis. A Gradual Stiffening considers the narratives we tell about the histories of civilisations and the histories of human beings in their individual and collective identities.

Wright’s publication An Athens City Reader, published by Drop City and M HKA Museum of Contemporary Art in a special edition of 100 with newly commissioned texts by Tilly Fowler and Christian Jendreiko will be launched as part of Drop City's finissage at M HKA on 12th October 2017 at 19:00.