Headlands Residency & Commission: Altered Landscape
Date: 2021-2022
Medium: Static Electricity Installation
Materials: Stainless steel, glass, biodegradable thermoplastic, natural materials, and custom electronics.
Dimensions: 0.4m x 5.2m x 1.7m
(sound is being generated live by this and other sculptures in the room)
Altered Landscape was started while in residence at Headlands Center for the Arts in the summer of 2021 and then commissioned for installation at their 2022 Auction Exhibition. The work references aspects of the landscape such as roads, bridges, maps, rivers, and surf while functioning as a charged and intermittently balanced system. The suspended stainless steel chain is charged with static electricity and as negative ions move through the installation subtle sounds can be heard, resembling a chorus of electronic sparking crickets. This body of work examines interdependencies between the chosen materials and the electric charges moving through them while drawing parallels between this unstable system and that of ecological, social and emotional stability.
These sculptures exist in a state of frailty, urgency, suspense, and longing. Materials are chosen for their electrical properties, allowing the physics of static electricity to dictate aspects of the form. For instance, the glass and thermoplastic are isolating the metal chain to keep charges from leaking into the floor. The use of spheres allows like charges (static electricity) to collect on the chain rather than dissipate into the air as it would from a metal shape that has edges or points.
For a more technical explanation of this body of work please see my Zoom lecture on static electricity: https://vimeo.com/606031910/858d261c10