INSTALLATION
- The entrance room (RIGHT on the video below).
In order to achieve the correct atmosphere for presenting the four remnant sculptures, I wanted to lead the viewer through a preliminary entrance room containing 4 groupings of concrete pillars (in a grid arrangement) with abstract forms, representing the ruins of a city. The 6″ cubed architectural forms will stand at chest level for the viewer, establishing a strong relationship with the horizon plane. The grid of sculptures receding into the horizon establishes the sense of landscape.
This room is neutral, (grey concrete). The floor is covered in a thin layer of chards (perhaps glass). The viewer feels the chards crush under their feet. They can hear the high pitch sound of their steps as they walk. Microphones installed at foot level, pick up the sounds of the crushed chards, abstract it and feed it back into the room for additional audial impact. In this room, each viewer enters the room alone. They are left to experience this space as a lone observer, in this abandoned hallow space.
2) From here they enter/transition into the black room (LEFT on the video below)
This room contains the four remnant sculptures hanging just above the viewer’s head and dripping downwards unto their torso. This room is dark and soundless and the objects are lit in isolation, creating a sense of suspension and disassociation from place and time. I want to take the viewer out of his environment and context by placing them in a black-box.
Hanging the 4 archetypal forms just above the viewers heads will create tension, representing the evasive nature of our global challenges, where the problems are bluntly before us but the solutions always slightly out of reach. I am presenting our mortality. I want my audience to be grounded to confront their vulnerability.
Unlike the entrance room where only one viewer can enter at a time, this room can include other viewers that have lingered behind. In this room, they are barely visible in the darkness but are silently aware of each other. Any kinship felt from sharing the same experience is not defined by identity.
The 4 Remnants
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Overbuilding (featured) Need to Conquer Nature Concrete Jungle Overconsumption of Resources Society/Politics/Control Trade/Commodity/Wealth Fuel/Energy Infrastructures |
Aggression Warfare Conquest Violence Incarceration Enslavement |
Technology Invention Resource Consumption Waste/Bi-products Plastics Electronics |
Ego/Id Greed Narcissism Need to Explain |
I worked on one of the remnant sculptures during this semester: “OVERBUILDING”
Note:
The bottom of the ceramic sculpture is unfinished. I plan to include found objects, fibers and cables to cover the bottom of the piece and obscure the wooden structure that bares the weight and supports the upper and lower hanging mechanism.
Questions:
I have created various versions of room one with different densities. The featured version has 196 sculptures in groups of 49. I have modeled a version with 144 and one with 100 sculptures, but I am still leaning towards the more dense grid. All versions still have a 3′ gap separating the four quadrants so that the user can move within and experience the piece form the center. I would appreciate any thoughts on how the current configuration feels.
My intention is to have the second room be as dark as possible while still being safe to navigate. I think this provide the desired feeling of suspension and disassociation from time and place. However, while documenting the project, I find that the pieces can cast very dramatic shadows specially when projected at a very large scale. I welcome any ideas on how to incorporate these shadows without loosing the isolation of the dark room. How would projecting them in the first room alter the experience?
Room 1 (Entrance):
This is prior work from the piece “Aftermath” that will inform the types of objects that will create the sense of landscape in Room1.
greenware:
fired in soda kiln.