For two weeks this summer, I was hyper-pleased to be a Collaborator-in-Residence at a killer multi-use arts space in downtown Bloomington, Indiana called The Collaboration Room. Founded by artist Matthew Searle in 2009, TCR hosts smart and adventurous collaborative workshops, boasts ample gallery space, and features a store which shows/sells work made excusively for TCR. I was invited to "collaborate" with the physical space before it was open to the public and contructed a number of site-specific pieces in and around the house. I also had the chance to prepare a lecture that had been building steam in my mind for months and months. Starting with an overview of the beautiful and enigmatic work of Vija Celmins, I offered a song by both Karen Dalton and Townes van Zandt as opposite and equally valid points of entry. We focused not just on the lyrics, but on the particular ways their voices crack, likening the vocal fissure to a visual phenonenon called Skewed Vision. The lecture was delivered during the first TCR Open House. I hope to revise and revisit the talk for a San Francisco audience in the near future.
BEFORE AFTER
The left hind of the house was covered in an anomalous and mysteriously curved white wooden panel, it's foreground overgrown with weeds and vines. I matched the wood with ply most susceptible to warpage and cut it to size. Once mounted, the new ply was subject to Bloomington's exciting weather conditions and began changing shape almost immediately. The foreground was cleared to create a dirt shadow/grave to heighten intentionality.
BEFORE (sort of) AFTER
The fireplace was capped at the top and totally barricaded at knee level when I arrived. We knocked out the wooden shell and discovered this handsome, narrow chimney. Resolving to do something about it, we decided to paint the entire fireplace matte black, custom cut a mirror to sit at its base, install a fluorescent tube up in there, and wire a phone jack to the light. When you call The Collaboration Room, the light is triggered, sending illumination straight up for a second at a time. Viewing the situation in the mirror, it appears as if one is looking into a deep, dark well.
BEFORE AFTER
Matthew is a manic materials collector. The house is nearly entirely fabricated from salvaged wood and most workshop materials are found. Once we got all this stuff out of the corner, I discovered an air duct. We custom built and installed a tray made from plex and wood, and filled it with India ink until it was flush was the black wooden floor. An impossible black hole.