Infrastructure
Infrastructure/3 elements
1: Bench: The physiological shift we experience simply by sitting down in a space rather than standing or walking is subtle yet profound. The senses are free to explore without the urgency of navigation. Even thinking about sitting triggers something. We see differently.
2: Bridge: The bridge suspends in midair; over what hazard does it span? Does it lead to riches? Is it safe? “Our infrastructure is crumbling.” Life is increasingly precarious, a series of bridge-crossings.
3: Paper: The long document (a ladder-like emboss of the bridge’s arching grid) hangs from high above. It is a record of the physical structure, and also the absence of it, an attempt to archive the world. We climb, and look up- for signs, for hope, for help.
Infrastructure
Dade County pine lumber, paper
Dimensions variable
2018
This work is inextricably linked to Florida via its materiality; the wood components are made from native South Florida slash pine, commonly known as Dade County pine (pinus elliottii var. densa). The lumber comprising the bench and bridge lattice is salvaged from a dilapidated 1926 Miami home, whereas the bridge’s thick slab is a more recent victim of Hurricane Irma. This material signifies the perennial boom of developers and tourists seeking fortune and paradise in this land of tropical paradox. Much of South Florida’s natural infrastructure has been destroyed in favor of concrete and neon; this remarkable wood lives on as monument to fraught industrialism and ecological mortality.