Living Places/Our Spaces

 

Capital Community College, Hartford, CT,  June 2004

Mill ends lumber, TV, DVD player, pedestal, video, framed digital photo

 

Living Places/Our Spaces references the daily habits of our society – how we live in our spaces, how we define space and how we measure time. This room-sized installation creates a scenario of domestic environment and action in an absurd reversal of inside and outside. New structures are created to challenge the logic and assumptions of human activity and the built environment. Mill ends – the byproduct of sawing trees into lumber – are installed along the floor and wall. These long thin boards retain bark along one edge, preserving close ties to their exterior origins. Cut edges allow the wood to be installed as wood flooring and paneling while the bark edges defy structural utility. The use of scrap lumber addresses the commodification of building practices while a framed black and white photo of trees archives the source of one of the oldest materials used to create dwellings. A TV sits atop a pedestal and plays a looped video of a figure moving from behind one tree to another. A ritual re-enactment of daily routines, the action mimics moving from room to room as we go about our daily business. The prominent position alludes to the importance we place on the simplest aspects of our daily lives. Re-contextualizing this activity encourages viewers to question what it means to be in a living space from a physical, psychological, and social perspective.