Thaw
An entropic, unstable structure
2004, Ice, bricks, steel, mirror, microphones, speakers

 
 

Thaw, 2004 - Video documentation - 02'24 | 11.7MB
 
  In an empty swimming pool, a large mass of black, volcanic, basalt street bricks is interlaced with bricks of white ice. The cube will fall prey to entropy and chaos over the course of approximately 8 hours. The ice bricks fuse together and hold on to the bricks as long as possible, causing the structure to warp and sway pendulously before collapse. The brick cube rests on a steel table and hovers over a mirror, which floats above the floor. The mirror has microphones attached to it, which pick up the stochastic dripping of water and is amplified in the space, counting off the time between collapses.
 
 
Thaw, 2004
 
  The structure is improvised, non-logical and finished one hour after the guests begin arriving. Early visitors witness to a 'performance' of the build up.  
 
Thaw, 2004
 
The basis for this project was inspired by the brick as a basic unit; a literal building block of civilization as well as the scientifically proven fact that man’s industriousness is causing the Earth’s permafrost to melt. I wanted to literally conflate these two elements, along with the modernist idea of logic of Enlightenment Project. All of the ice bricks had to be hand made and took two weeks of around the clock work to produce. Boernem, the village in Belgium where the exhibition took place, is historically renowned for its bricks. Special thanks go to Smet Willy, a family run brick manufacturer, who donated the basalt bricks.
 


Thaw, 2004

 
 
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