Exercise & Futility
Art Residency: Aktuelle Architektur Der Kultur - Spain,
Blanca, Murcia, Spain, June 1 - August 1, 2019
Open Studios Installation, July 2019
These photos and artifacts document an ongoing project begun during a two month residency in Blanca, a small town in the region of Murcia, Spain. Exercise & Futility depends on a series of processes including collection, documentation, cataloging, imitation and relocation of rocks discovered on daily hikes about Blanca and the surrounding desert landscape. Through the creation of uncanny replicas and flawed scientific processes, I aim to simultaneously raise questions of the value of the art object, the significance of the artist’s hand, and the objectivity of data.
Additionally, I have planned to build a public sculpture in the town square of Blanca. This piece will house the original rocks and provide viewers with GPS locations for their clay counterparts. Visitors to Blanca are invited to locate the replacement rocks, in whatever state they may now be, on hikes of their own.
01. Begin a hike
(distance and route are variable)
02. Collect clay found in soil along the route
03. Collect a single rock
(rock is chosen based on subjective, circumstantial criteria)
04. Photograph the rock in context
05. Record the location of the rock in context
06. Carry the rock and clay to the studio
07. Repeat steps 1-6 fourteen times
08. Hydrate the clay
09. Filter the clay
10. Dry the clay
11. Repeat steps 8-10 until all clay is workable
12. Photograph the rock in studio
13. Record dimensions of the rock
14. Record the weight of the rock
15. Repeat steps 12-14 ( X 14)
16. Model a replacement rock in clay
17. Burnish the replacement rock
18. Allow the replacement rock to air dry
19. Weigh the replacement rock
20. Repeat steps 16-19 ( X 14)
21. Repeat a hike
22. Deposit a replacement rock where the original was found
23. Photograph the replacement in context
24. Repeat steps 21-23 ( X 14)
Process yields 15 clay rocks
