Surface

Audio/visual installation, presented at Jaaga Creative Common Ground, Bangalore (2010)

This installation is composed of nine offcuts of wood from the Jaaga grounds. Jaaga is a space which is constantly reforming (the flexible construction allows rooms to be reshaped quickly). As a result there are often discarded materials, and in this case those materials became the basis for this installation.

The light and sound projected into the space maps perfectly to the various geometries of the wood as laid out, and runs on an approximate 9-minute sequence. During this time the patterns go through distinct phases, but within the scope of each phase they are free to generate themselves uniquely. As such each performance is unrepeatable.

The first phase is the birth, in which the patterns grow from nothing into a confident stride. The second phase is the transition to a bold forward march, and the third is refinement and exploration. The final phase is the gentle winding down, as the inevitable precursor to the end.

This piece was inspired by the context of it's creation: the reforming, repurposing, re-envisioning and eventual reuse of different spaces at Jaaga. In this way, Surface questions the value we place on objects as utilities to support human values, and the lifespan we allow this value to have.

<< Back to listing page