My research for this installation developed around ideas of entropy, futility, labor, and equilibrium. On a base level all life is a structured struggle against forces of entropy threatening to break it back down to its inert state. Though always fighting against entropy – and always ultimately loosing the battle – life creates levels of equilibrium which allow it to sustain itself and develop over long periods of time. Popular ideas of catastrophe and entropy are common elements of contemporary thought due to our experience of ecological destruction. We live in a time where we see and feel the entropic results of our actions.
Unlike popular conceptions of entropy as a chaotic and destructive force, I tend to think of it as state change from one level of equilibrium to another. This is evident in the behavior of whirlpools where water moves from a stable state to an unstable and entropic state and in the process creates a new behavior based on a new model of stability and equilibrium. This can also be seen in the idea of Cultural Entropy. Cultural Entropy is the theory that cultures change over time at an accelerating rate which coupled with technological advancements and population growth create heightened levels of complexity until the culture is unable to sustain itself in a functioning manner. As it breaks down it reaches new levels of equilibrium as people assimilate into existing or new modes of being.
Unlike popular conceptions of entropy as a chaotic and destructive force, I tend to think of it as state change from one level of equilibrium to another. This is evident in the behavior of whirlpools where water moves from a stable state to an unstable and entropic state and in the process creates a new behavior based on a new model of stability and equilibrium. This can also be seen in the idea of Cultural Entropy. Cultural Entropy is the theory that cultures change over time at an accelerating rate which coupled with technological advancements and population growth create heightened levels of complexity until the culture is unable to sustain itself in a functioning manner. As it breaks down it reaches new levels of equilibrium as people assimilate into existing or new modes of being.
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