Detritus

An artificial, continuously changing environment based on trash, salt, human will, and hot water bathing. The piece consists of a few tons of salt and a mechanism suspended by four cables. By varying the length of the four cables, the mechanism can move to most locations within the room. The mechanism has the ability to extrude crude representations of average objects from salt. These objects can be things like old chairs, toilets, tires, washing machines and many other human-specific objects we take for granted as part of our world. The viewer was able to view these objects being created from the comfort of a hot water tub.

We, as a collective species, are continually reshaping our world to suit us. We are filling it with things that are important and meaningful to us. While we strive for permanence, thankfully, the mechanisms that govern the universe beg to differ. Things we make are not permanent, and forces beyond our control constantly make simple the complex objects we devote ourselves to. This piece is a reflection of that process abstracted and combined with processes of geology. Things will appear that look like things we recognize, but due to the fragility of the salt crystals used to make the piece, things will deteriorate at the same rate they are built.

The piece attempts to create a vantage point that is impossible in the real world—a vantage point that both condenses and speeds up time and provides an abstract overview of the detritus we value.