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Project Summary:
The Vital Flow of Material (Elective Affinities) consists of an earthen mixture (see materials list) rammed into aluminum frames and installed on a billboard on the side of New Mexico highway 64. The 18 panels will slowly carbonate over the course of a year as the calcium hydroxide in the mix releases moisture and pulls in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This work is an experimental study on basic material change that mimics common geological processes like sedimentation and carbonation. Inspired by the role of road-cuts in developing a geological, and therefore deep-time, imaginary, The Vital Flow of Material seaks to transpose the Earth into the sky, connecting feelings of groundedness, aspiration, deep-time, and movement. The panels are coated in what is essentially a fatty acid, long chains of carbon that are necessary for cell metabolism, and calcium stearate, a waxy substance often used as a food additive (e470). This approach doesn’t actually seal the panels but slows the rate of exchange between the panels and the atmosphere. The title of the work comes from the origins of chemistry, when scientists began to describe how some elements preferred to bond with others under specific conditions. Elective Affinities, which is a nod to the eponymous novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, implies that matter, too, has agency.
Documentation by Jackson Mathey.
Materials:
Autochthonous clay (Brazos Cliffs, NM), Rocky Mountain glacial flour, perlite, calcium hydroxide, iron oxide II, iron oxide III, aluminum, strontium aluminate europium dysprosium, beeswax, linseed oil, olive oil, turpentine, and calcium stearate. 6'x12'
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References:
The Annihiliation of Time and Space, Rebecca Solnit, 2004.
Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings, Volume 1, 1913-1926, ed. Marcus Bullock, Michael W. Jennings, 1996.
The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World, Andrea Wulf, 2015.
Elective Affinities, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1809 (ed. 2008).
An Irresistable, Almost Magical Force, Michael Lipkin, The Paris Review, 2014.
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