Installed Switch

Sunday afternoon, I headed over to Form + Content Gallery to install Switch with Camille (curator of the Fierce Lament exhibit) and Rosie (exhibit designer/installer). The gallery is intimate and has the feeling of a precious container - like a side chapel in a church complex. The gallery was alive with almost all the artists installing work at once. Installation of Switch went smoothly, with only a few extra holes in the wall behind it. I am always amazed at how placement in a gallery or an intended space completes a piece - like its final outer frame. And how the lighting creates new shadow layers to the work.

Switch reflects a struggle with the effects of power consumption and questions about personal power to make change. As part of Switch, I went on “pilgrimages” upstream from my electric meter to photograph five power plants that represent five types of electric generation I hope will be substantially replaced by renewables: nuclear, coal, gas, oil, and trash incineration. Switch is a ritual object, representing appreciation of the gifts of electricity from these plants, sadness at their/my impacts, and a decision upon opening of the exhibit to switch to wind power. Visitors may carefully operate the switches to experience the work.