The TikTok video below records part of this ongoing research and reflects on the relationship between the Kailasa Temple, subtractive architecture and my developing artistic research.
@pieterlategan.co.za #kailasa #temple #subtractive #silentmonumentalism #PieterLategan ♬ original sound - Pieter Lategan Artist & Writer
This video forms part of my continuing visual and architectural research into the Kailasa Temple at Ellora, India. What interests me most is the extraordinary subtractive process through which the monument was carved directly from living rock. Rather than constructing the building by adding material, the architecture emerged through removal - a process that transforms absence, mass and excavation into monumental form.
The study has become increasingly important to my development of Silent Monumentalism, particularly the relationship between weight, stillness, carved space, shadow and the presence of architecture that seems inseparable from the landscape itself.
For me, Kailasa is not simply an historical monument. It demonstrates how architecture can emerge through subtraction rather than addition, and how enormous visual power can be created through restraint, mass and the controlled removal of material. These ideas continue to influence my research into sculpture, architecture and Silent Monumentalism.
In the Kailasa Temple, removal does not produce emptiness alone; it reveals sacred space within mass.
- Pieter Lategan South Afican Artist and Designer.
Continue Exploring This Study
Read the Kailasa Temple - Subtractive Architecture and Silent Monumentalism Study | You are here
Read Kailasa Temple, India - Part 4: Architecture Created Through Removal | click here