Anja Ulfeldt

Constructed from cast iron drainpipes, found objects, plumbing and audio equipment, these installations exists as a life-size working models brought to life by the act of listening. Microphones and hydrophones placed inside the pipes amplify gurgles, drips and flushing sounds of water moving in real time. Intentionally unfinished repairs in the form of shop rags tied around the joints are unable to stop water from leaking out and dripping down the sculpture, revealing a sense of anxiety through disrepair. The Domestic Infrastructure Series makes visible a system often hidden behind walls and magnifies the common sounds normally drowned out of everyday life.  

 

Ulfeldt’s interactive, sound-based installation, Domestic Infrastructure #3 is the 3rd in a series of autobiographical sewer portraits compiled from configurations of drains found in the artist’s own residence and local neighborhood. The installation draws parallels between external infrastructures in the built environment and the circulatory and digestive systems of the human body. Exemplifying an aesthetic of necessity, this work looks at water as a metaphor for the needs of a population and draws parallels between the simple life support systems surrounding us and the human race as a dysfunctional superorganism.