Dark Matter: Dome City (closed) 95/25 bitumen, plastic locket
In 1960 Buckminster Fuller & Shoji Sadao wrote “There are persuasive arguments in favour of cities under single umbrella shells. Whether the economic advantages can overcome the antievolutionary inertias of large social bodies is, however, questionable… The established cities will probably not adopt the doming until environmental and other emergencies make it imperative. “ Continue reading
Sunset over Lake Michigan from Empire Beach, Empire, Michigan, USA.
According to the calendar I made for myself 21-27 June this year is Midsummer week. The calendar is not always completely accurate and problems still remain with the odd day or two but I’m not the first person who has struggled to organise time around celestial and seasonal events. Continue reading
Dark Matter: Cities – London (detail)
Bitumen* is a petroleum based product that feels solid at room temperature yet moves over time. It is a preservative, one of the oldest materials used in building and a subject of scientific interest.
Bitumen has been bubbling out of the ground in Southern California, Southern Iraq and other sites around the world for thousands of years. From the Ice Age to the present, bitumen has perfectly preserved things entrapped in it. Extinct plants and animals from 40,000 years ago have been discovered, preserved on site at Rancho La Brea in the heart of what is now Los Angeles.
In southern Iraq, ancient model boats from 2300-2100 BC were found in graves in the cemetery at UR. It is thought the boats may have been intended for use by the dead person or as ‘bait’ to lure away evil spirits. There is a 4000 year old bitumen boat in Room 56 of the BritishMuseum. The small boats made of bitumen and earth are similar to those used in the marshes of south Iraq today.
In 1927 Professor Thomas Parnell began the Pitch Drop Experiment at the University of Queensland. As a classical physicist, Parnell used the observable property of ‘creep’ or permanent deformation exhibited by pitch to set up an experiment to study the material’s fluidity and high viscosity. Since 1927 eight drops of pitch have fallen from a funnel into a beaker below. The ninth drop is expected to fall in 2013.
Dark Matter: Cities – London replicates Parnell’s scientific experiment with a bitumen London sited in the funnel. Like Parnell’s experiment this sculpture, comprised of 95/25 bitumen compound, will move to ground over decades. Already the London Eye has keeled over; St. Paul’s is slipping into blackness.
Dark Matter: Cities – London
Bitumen 95/25, funnel, beaker, tripod, bell jar, stand
44x20x20cm
2012
J.Mecoli
All cities change. Dark Matter: Cities – Detroit finds the city’s skyline sinking under the weight of its dark troubles. The current Detroit is a shadow of its former self. In time it will take a new form. What that form will be is uncertain. What is certain is that it will not be like the old city.
Dark Matter: Cities – Detroit
Day 1
Bitumen 95/25, 70/100, hourglass, stand, 30x12x12cm
2012
J.Mecoli
Dark Matter Cities Detroit Day 5 detail
The ‘Dark Matter’ series refers to the vast majority of matter and energy in the universe that exists but cannot be seen. In the ‘Dark Matter’ sculptures the properties of bitumen are exploited to explore work that, like nature, changes over time and moves from form to formlessness. Their descent into disorder evokes ideas of time, entropy, chaos and loss. The rate at which each sculpture moves is determined by temperature and the grade of bitumen. Sculptures made of more viscous grades will move to ground over hours, days or weeks. Eventually, all ‘Dark Matter’ sculptures will exist only as pools of pitch containing them and other things entrapped with them.
*The words bitumen/tar/pitch are used interchangeably.
My thanks to HCDS, AM Designs, and Hamilton Glass.
Self change dressing + stitches + wire cube + bruising 17 March 2011
The fingers are working. It has been over a year since the second operation to repair them. The surgery was a success. Scar tissue was cleared. Therapy and hard work paid off. A year ago this coming week the therapist signed the appointment sheet, “S.O.S. only”. Consultant and therapist sent my hand and me away with orders to continue the exercises and to massage the thin white scars and reclaimed fingers through to September of this year.
The rebuilt and restored digits are not yet really mine. Although they look like fingers they feel more like stuffed sausages, swollen, stretched, thick and tight, protruding from my hand. Like ‘meat substitutes’, reconstituted fingers are similar to but not quite the real thing: a bit conceptually flawed, usually falling down in name and often failing in practice.
But needs must during these difficult times. Everyone knows compromises must be made. We are, we are told, “all in this together”. My fingers and I must put aside our prejudices and accept if not fully embrace our differences.
The fingers had not asked to be crushed in a garage door. It wasn’t their fault they ended up this way. They are trying to do their bit. They almost straighten completely when extended and they curve nearly perfectly into a closed, crooked fist. Only the middle finger insists on making a statement, dragging up the past with a slightly twisted joint and too thick middle. “You don’t notice unless you’re looking”, people kindly say.
Post therapy III + IV + monster puppets/stitches out 21 March 2011
As children we did not usually notice what was wrong. Things happened when no one was looking. It was never clear who had done it. What was clear was that someone had done something wrong and the culprit had to be found. Continue reading