|
Magnetic North
an installation for
rusted photographs and sound
2003
Magnetic North has shown at Works / San Jose
and at the 1100 Demonbreun Building through Zeitgeist
in Nashville, Tennessee.
click on images for details
|
|
|
|
Magnetic North
is an installation that investigates, explores, and documents
the morphology of a corrosive process contextualized by a geometric
structuralism, cyclical sound elements, and metaphoric ephemera.
Central to this installation is the slow-motion chemical process
that occurs when a solution of water, cupric sulfate, aluminum
chloride, and rust is applied to a black and white photograph.
Initially, this solution -- possibly in reaction to the silver
nitrate intrinsic to the black and white photograph or perhaps
to the residual chemicals left behind from the development of
the photograph --fixes onto the surface as vibrant cupric greens
and encrusted blood reds. However, over time, these colors shift
towards far more muted tones towards purplish grays, off whites,
and autumnal browns. The timeframe for this color shift is directly
proportional to how much direct sunlight these chemically treated
photographs are exposed to. For example,with an average exposure
to indirect sunlight within an enclosed space, this process
can take up to three to six months for dramatic changes to occur.
As my interest is in this project is only tenuously connected
to chemistry, I am not entirely concerned with the forensics
of this specific chemical process (i.e. why cupric sulfate reacts
with silver nitrate). Rather, the purpose of Magnetic North
is to present a network of information with a broad possibilities
for metaphoric interpretations which, like the aesthetic objects
themselves, shift through time. Thus, Magnetic North
insists upon a mode of perception that is mutating beyond that
of a linear, static set of objects.
For this installation, I have chosen to assemble large scale
images out of a series of small photographs. Each of the smaller
images is a 16” x 16” chemically treated photograph,
housed within a black matte frame. When composed in groups of
25 or 40 elements, the large image emerges behind a structuralist
grid, an intended byproduct of the regular repetition of 16”
x 16” squares. These large images range in size from 90”
x 90” (when comprised of 25 elements) and 90” x 144”
(when comprised of 40 elements). Such a strategy of installation
has evolved out of a neccessity to contextualize a vocabulary
of decay (i.e. the chemically corroded photographs) within a
ordered system, and to balance such a vocabulary of decay with
an equally powerful semiotic opposite. These larger assemblages
describe shadowy landscapes dotted with the totemic icons of
technology (i.e. airplane vapor trails, aerial antennas, and
architectural structures), lurking behind the application of
rust and chemical corrosion.
It would be naive to assume that the casual observer would notice
this subtle color shift within these altered photographs over
such a long period of time; thus, I’ve contextualized Magnetic
North with a sound installation as a strategy to shift the
standards of perception away from the experience of a static
object on a white wall to an experience with varying degrees
of acceleration and velocity. This sound installation incorporates
a series of speakers connected with thick, black wire which
define a network of calligraphic lines, counterpointing the
rigidity of the photographic grid. The sound that is broadcast
from this speaker construction is a composition from shortwave
radio, close looped feedback generation, electric disturbances,
and field recordings that coalesce into fluctuating drone punctuated
by nervous striations and organic textures.
I believe that this installation with all of its formalist conceits
works as a collection of semiotic fragments which lend themselves
towards an open-ended poetry. Or perhaps it is better stated
within the geophysical metaphor that the true magnetic north
in the arctic is constantly altering its position ever so slightly.
Jim Haynes - 2003 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
