Power Basket Progress

I've been using coil form basketry techniques to create "Power Basket" out of reclaimed electric wire and switches and outlets. I love the material, but it is stiff and hard to weave and my fingers are tired. The basket is incredibly heavy already, and I'm only part way done. I like the repetitive motion of basket weaving - the process is therapeutic in itself, whatever the outcome it takes in its final form.

I think about its meaning in an open ended way. What would a power basket hold, really? Electric memories? Is it the material or the space - like they say about pottery - in which its value lay? How will it feel to flip the switch (woven into the basket walls) and see no reaction - no change in light?

Here's a sketch of it's planned finished form, and other photos of the progress to date.

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Material Channels

The wire and conduit that was removed during our remodel is more than material waste. The conduit and even the wire, was a channel, a physical or conceptual space through which our enacted power decisions flowed - from the light switch or power outlet through these wires within the conduit to the circuit panel to the electric meter to the power lines, substation, transmission lines - out many directions to the network of power plants beyond. And from those power plants, to the sky through the chimneys that release combustion pollutants that can't be captured.











Another way they are more than material waste is as sculpture. Just the heaps of them, un-self-conciously stacked by the electrician are wonderful crazy sculptures of copper wrapped in colored vinyl or galvanized metal spirals.

 

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Welcome

Welcome to this blog about a body of work in progress called Power Contemplations.

Begun April 2015, Power Contemplations is a series of artworks and writings inspired by my ongoing interest in exploring infrastructure as a hidden/shadow architecture of interconnection. I believe infrastructure, such as power lines and water mains, tells a story of how our daily lives are interconnected with nature—whether from a sink through pipes to the river, or from a light switch, through wires, to the sky. The artwork for Power Contemplations began with the demolition of electrical components during our home remodel and my feeling that they held memories of electric uses and impacts from our own and prior owners’ lives. I decided to use this remodeling waste as art material to reflect on my relationship to electrical power. The writing for Power Contemplations includes past essays and exploration about electric power, and new writing.

I welcome your comments and reflections on your own relationship to the electric landscape.

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