February 2019

Scaffolding is a term used in educational and therapeutic practices to describe the processes of moving a person towards a state of independence. The support that is initially given slowly tapers off as it becomes unnecessary, much as a physical scaffold is removed from a building.

Scaffolding itself isn’t primarily a form of support. The scaffolding, which is part of the process of construction, far from being a support for the building, is a means to get the building in a position in which it is able to support itself. It is a platform to construction, essentially based on the builders relation to gravity, without it you could not build above your own height. What the scaffolding does is opening up otherwise hidden relations, and as such allows the entry of the object into a certain kind of subjectivity. The scaffolding initially is a subjective object because it is not a support the building, but a prosthesis for the builder.

On Support, Mark Cousins in (Support Structures by Celine Condorelli)

©2019 Phoebe Eustance