Sensing Your Place

MFA thesis exhibition, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY, 2003

Mill ends lumber, installed into a 20 x 20 ft gallery

Sensing Your Place is a large-scale installation that engages the viewer through a participatory kinetic experience. Viewers interact with the piece as they traverse a specially constructed floor. Long thin boards - called mill ends - are installed along the floor of the gallery. This scrap wood is the byproduct from sawing trees into lumber, having 3 cut edges while the fourth edge retains the bark of the tree. Installed with the bark edge up, the wood creates an undulating surface that subverts the rigid structure of the architectural grid. The disruptions of the flat floor plane engage the viewer’s sense of balance and the manner in which they navigate the space. As physical balance is compromised, perceptions and preconceptions of the space are challenged. Audience-turned-participants are forced to consider the relationships within the physical structure as well as their own kinetic capabilities. Viewers participate in the completion of the piece, balancing visual comprehension with physical and spatial sensations: real-time and real-space experiences.