Site-specific Work
I begin each site-specific work with a research into attributes I observe, discover, am curious about or impressed by, within and about the physical site and within my self. Each site has its own unique qualities, functions, materials, contexts and history. A number of my works are directly related to historical events. For me, the final piece should illuminate or reveal some essential, if sometimes hidden, attribute/s of the site, in hopes of eliciting or provoking viewer responses. The following are examples from 1992-2018 and include two commissioned pieces, which can be considered site-specific, in how they relate to their particular commissioning sources.
Tessuti
includes variety of linen, sheets, blankets, voile, pillow cases, coverlets, gowns, dining chairs, oak and birch seedlings, spoons, porcelain bowls, clothes pins
approx 8.5 x 4.5 x .8 meters
VEWA, Dudelange
Luxembourg
2023
Tessuti * is a temporary sculpture installation created for the VEWA/DKollectiv project « Cicatrice Urbaine » (Urban Scar). It mimics the formation of human tissues responding to a physical wound where the body’s automatic responses to begin healing come from within the body; the beginning of a self-made membrous scab.
Tessuti points to the recuperative nature of rest, of home, family, community and inferentially to the vital roles and influence of women in maintaining and cohering the many personal and social fabrics of the steel industry.
* fabric or biological tissue in Italian
Anthem and Decorum
Archival pigment print on canvas, photographs and 20 minute taped loop 3m x 25m over 8 walls
Dudelange, Luxembourg
2016
Decorum is a vast visual representation of the astonishing, gruesome statistic of 16 million (estimated total) civilian and military dead. Anthem (with Elisabeth Flunger) accompanies Decorum as an aural presence of edited and manipulated contemporaneous national anthems and sounds from nine participant countries.
Anthem and Decorum does not aim to celebrate national triumph or sacrifice. Rather, it hopes to generate emotional responses and questions about those killed and the circumstances of this massively destructive, grotesque global war. It asks for serious reflections on the dangers of nationalism and the elusiveness of presumed order. The installation also included collages, manipulated photographs and postcards.
Loft
voile, thin steel rods, nylon cord
about 11m in length
London, England
1993
Loft is a temporary sculptural installation made and sited specifically for the Rosslyn Hill Unitarian Chapel. The title refers to the existing, unseen architectural space above and beyond the chapel ceiling, as well as the act of being tossed into the air. The sculpture uses the dimensions of the loft scaled to one half and is made of voile, a material selected for its properties of lightness, transparency and strength.
My interest was in revealing this hidden, unacknowledged space above us and in reincorporating it into the nave: to re-present it, suspended, as a new place to be entered visually and as a vehicle to consider what is seen and unseen.
Mine
sheet rock, fir, wood, screws
3 structures, each about 4 m x 5m x 2 m
Centre d'Art Dominique Lang
Dudelange, Luxembourg
1994
The title refers to ‘my possession’ of the old railway station, now a converted contemporary
art gallery, which in earlier years relayed workers and material to feed the prospering iron mine/steel industry in southern Luxembourg. I became intrigued by the renovation architect’s decision to block up a number of windows. The shapes of these windows, the historical references to mines and passing railroad cars converged as complementary ideas and forms, finally realized in three built structures. Each structure was physically connected to a window opening, but with restricted visual accessibility. Gallery lights were
shut off to accentuate the structures’ effects on the gallery space.
Still Site
tracing paper, wooden lathe, tape, three slide projectors
room dimensions 30 x 20 x 15 feet
duration one day
Wimbledon, England
1992
The concept of conversion played a primary role in framing my initial questions about the site and eventually provided the basis for my subject and method of presentation. Bare oak paneling from the old town office, a concrete floor, plus the lack of any furnishings or discernible function contributed to the room being neutral, in a state of limbo. However, once the grey clouds cleared, the room revealed itself as a simple box with light activating its volume. The sunlight's slow and deliberate advance across the walls and floor-the size and shape being determined by the exterior window frames-made the room come alive, gave it its "purpose." The large clock just outside both juxtaposed and complemented this ingredient of time passing. This conversion of the room by the natural light was the element I chose to focus on. I wanted to somehow capture this phenomenon taking place within the site using the built structures. I then recast it back onto the walls afterwards using projected images.
Tribute to Irving Berlin
Luxembourg American Consulate
Irving Berlin House
New York City, New York, USA
2009
Two from a set of 20 drawings made for an exhibition (with wife Diane Jodes) at the long time home of the famous American composer Irving Berlin. The drawings were specifically made in tribute to the man and his times. Below, Berlin's earliest memory was of his family's home being burned to the ground by Russian Cossacks.
"The Old Home (ain't what it used to be)"
Below, the hair profile of Irving Berlin is superimposed with that of his wife, Elin.
"for Elin (Behind every great man)"
Hell
photocopied flames on paper, tape
room off square, about 4m x 2,4 m
Konschthaus beim Engel
Luxembourg
1994
The building's 750 year history reveals that it was often referred to as a place called "Hell", in Luxembourgish meaning brightness/clarity, as well as the place of eternal damnation. Each of the 15,000 photocopied flames is set within a passport-size format; the figure of 15,000 was the then most recent statistic given by the UNHCR for the number of children killed during the on-going Yugoslavian war.
Volley and Anthem
Bert Theis Pavilion
Kirchberg, Luxembourg
2018
Both of these recorded sound compositions marked the anniversary, exactly 100 years ago this day at 11h 00, of the signing of the armistice that ended World War 1. They are in tribute to the millions who suffered from all wars and to those who are resolved to promote peaceful solutions to conflict around the world. Volley (21' 52") is all acoustic percussion. It advances slowly in complexity before retreating backwards at its mid-point. Anthem (20'47") is a collage composed of fragments from nine of the participants' national anthems at the time of WW1. Created together with Austrian sound artist Elisabeth Flunger, the piece was an integral part of the installation Anthem and Decorum in 2016, an auditory and visual homage to the 16+ million civilian and military deaths around the world.
Nice Day
Two battery-operated tape machines,
each with 6 minute loops
Cannizaro Park
Wimbledon, England
1993
The machines and loops were placed in the bushes within 10 meters of the park's proper white Victorian bird aviary. The intermittent sounds heard were the hisses, snarls and growls of actual native regional wild cats researched at the British National Sound Archive, orchestrated/composed to incite surprise, dread, doubt or humor in passers by. I was responding to the park's tightly controlled man-made environment, from the strictly manicured lawns and flowerbeds, to the sweetly singing, caged birds.
Ledgerdomain
commission for PricewaterhouseCoopers
Luxembourg
2005
Precise, coded markings have long been recorded meticulously by hand in credit and debit ledgers, the special domain of accountants, such as at PwC. The large graphite drawings (75 x 75 cm each) are meant to mimic the classic left and right sides of an accountant's ledger book. I also wanted to call attention to the human hand and its practices, honorable or not, through its manipulation of numbers. The domain of ledgers can also involve legerdemain- the clever, harmonious sleight of hands.
Cube 1
computer-machined aluminium
30 x 30 x 30 cm
LACC Business Award commission
to Husky Corporation, Dudelange, Luxembourg
2010
Cube 1 ("won") summons the simple cube as the central, stable form within which pivot five different sets of intruding cylindrical voids, each entering at different angles and to varying depths. These cylindrical forms derive from Husky's "pre-forms", a staple of its international manufacturing product line. Cube 1 is meant to elegantly reflect the company's commitments to precision, quality and collaboration. Employees there were instrumental in realizing the sculpture's completion.
