11/7/07 updates
I've had a setback with making the finished version of the "and" piece. I screwed up the lamination process and need to rebuild the base once again. While this is a pain, it'll give me a chance to make improvements I had thought of along the way. Also, the supplier for the high voltage wire is quite elusive (perhaps due to the small quantity I need).
The River Ball is growing steadily (and even survived an accidenral fall from it's hanging position during the recent sculpture show in the Surplus!)
"Speech!" is also moving along, though in a slightly altered state that ties in with some of my found signage work...(thanks to all who stopped by my studio over the past weeks to give their thoughts)
I'm starting anew piece for this class that will require the participation of each member of the class including colleen (just one hour from each of you...anytime, but in my studio). I should have it thought through enough to talk about Thursday for those who are around.
I'm currently working on a few seperate yet intertwined projects.
1) Mississippi river ball.
After doing some filming on the banks of the Mississippi last semester, I returned and began to collect all the plastic bottles I found washed up on the shore, which I proceeded to hot glue together. Utilizing a car battery and a power inverter, I was able to collect and work entirely on location, which added another level to the connection I enjoy with my work. My goal is to create a "ball" approximately 8' across, which I will them "reintroduce" to the river and chart it's journey via a nextel phone with GPS tracking implanted within the sphere.
There are many facets to this piece, including:
• the obvious ecological issues as well as the dialogue concerning the detritus of our society.
• the spectacle ... the experience of onlookers as a huge ball of used plastic bottles floats by
• questions regarding just what is "recycling" ... and the repurposing of materials
Issues I'm having:
Surprisingly, I've had to move my location on the river as I picked up all the bottles I could find/use at my original spot, (I guess this is a good thing). I'll be relocating a bit further south at a bend in the river where I am more likely to find debris.
Originally I was proposing to launch the "ball" back into the river at the point where I was collecting, but now I'm considering transporting it north of St. Louis in order to engage it with a larger audience (and perhaps more chaos!)
The first one that I started (which got to be around 2 1/2' round was gone upon my return. I can only assume that someone found it and threw it in the river, which is fine, but I wish I could have been there to document it. My current sphere is in my studio and I'll work on it there until it's too large to fit out my door.
10-1-07
The river ball is no up to 4' round and growing.
I've decided that I definitly want to retrieve it after it's time in the river so I can display it. I've also been playing with the idea of slicing it at the waterline and inserting lights to illuminate the portion that was under water while it was in the river. I'll sketch it up.
2) speech!
A large scale (approx 4' x 5') speech balloon, the kind we are all used to seeing in comics. Instead of text being displayed inside the balloon, there will be an array of speakers. When the participant speaks into the appropriate spot, their voice will be broadcast via the speakers and the whole assembly will illuminate in response to their voice, giving them both an audio and visual recognition of their actions.
10-1-07
Thanks for all the input during my crit. I've decided to stay with the "flat" speech balloon as it connects to the history of communication that I'm referencing. I do like the idea of the "orb" like one though, and may pursue it in the future
3) Skinned/Alive
For a while I've had a fascination with the inner workings of mechanized children's toys. In this piece, I am striving to "skin" as many of these toys as I can get my hands on and re-sew the skins into the form of a large teddy bear that could be used by participants as a place of rest and comfort...adjacent to this would be a corresponding teddy bear form made up of all the inner workings (still functional) of these toys. Contact with the "comfy" bear will result in the mechanized remains to be activated in what will hopefully be a cacophony of sound and action.
It's a look at the underside, a behind the scenes of innocence and comfort.
