Ryland Cook

Balancing the human body requires an extremely delicate and complicated coordination of muscular energy. The vestibular (the balance center in our ears), our eyes, our brain and our muscles, all of these parts are responsible for ensuring balance. When even one of these systems is off by the tiniest amount, our balance is compromised. The vestibular is located in our inner ear and houses three small semi-circular tubes, each tube being in charge of a different type of motion. The vestibular as a whole is no larger than quarter and is so sensitive that if it is even one millimeter out of alignment our body will notice.

The project that I have created is an interactive art piece and perhaps more fun, a game. The game is comprised of a four-pointed flat surface that balances on one central point. Any uneven weight placed on this platform will throw off the balance of the piece and everything will come tumbling down. I chose sand dollars to act as the ballast. Originally I wanted to use sand to show that even the smallest fluctuation in placement would upset the balance, but found sand dollars to represent that in an effective way while also being a perfect game piece. The size variation of the sand dollars also provides more interesting placements on the platform as a small piece needs to be out farther from the center-point than a larger piece to offset the weight. When all pieces have been played, the sculpture is complete and balanced.

Ryan Wylie: The Body of Richard Baker

"On October 11th, 2010 Richard Baker collapsed in the emergency room waiting area of Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. He was administered pulmonary resuscitation before being admitted into the Barnes Jewish Cardio-Pulmonary wing. He remained unconscious overnight, monitored by a pulse oximeter and breathing only with the assistance of a ventilator. Baker, a technical writer 37 years of age specializing in medical equipment manuals, was initially diagnosed with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), likely brought about by exhaustion.

After 14 hours of sleep the patient awoke and regained control of his lungs, although his breathing was irregular. Pulse oximeter data showed 85% oxygen saturation (SpO2) with the ventilator and 100% SpO2 within 2 hours of regaining consciousness. The subject's lungs displayed healthy functioning while conscious, with the exception of over-breathing during times of rest. This irregularity was understood at the time to be psychosomatic.

Exhaustion was sited as the cause of ARDS but further interviews and examination on October 12th found Mr. Baker to be experiencing a broader neurological condition, leading to the degeneration of his involuntary responses and eventually autonomic reflexes. Mr. Baker failed a test of monosynaptic reflexes and pupil dilation, before passing both tests during concentrated efforts. The display of voluntary control over involuntary response was anomalous. Upon this finding, Mr. Baker was transferred to the neurological wing of the Mayo clinic of Minnesota for closer study.

A research team led by Dr. Simon Hill, concluded that 13 days after his collapse in the Barnes Jewish lobby, Baker was now under full voluntary control of all monosynaptic reflexes. In addition, he had lost his involuntary epiglottal swallowing response and unconscious lung functioning, rendering him dependent on a ventilator for sleep. Arterial Blood Gas analysis continued to show 100% SpO2. Prolonged rapid breathing episodes with full SpO2 led to an over saturation of oxygen in cellular tissue and a critical imbalance of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Dr. Hill prescribed moderate aerobic exercise to address oxygen over saturation and to reengage the reflexes and lungs.

While jumping rope two days into his training on October 26th, 2010, the subject caught fire, was quickly engulfed and after a period of less than one minute, reduced to ash. Witnesses of this event include Dr. Hill, RN Michelle Davis, and resident Paresh Rana.

Cause of death: Spontaneous Human Combustion.
Correlating factors: Over-saturation of oxygen in cell tissue, imbalance of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and ignition by static flash fire."

Lise Currie

My work revolves around the seeming contradiction between inner and outer life, which results in materialism, superficiality, and other dysfunctions of the psyche. Reformation, my project for the Imaging Energy online group exhibition, consists of a video and two photographs documenting the surprising transformation of a keepsake. The object seems to be destroyed, but returns, transformed by work and heat. The symbolism is borrowed from the 1st law of thermodynamics—that energy can be transformed, changed from one form to another, but cannot be created or destroyed.

Can energy and memory be similarly linked in the idea of transformation—with some things being lost and some retained? In my case, I needed to discard many inherited collectibles not necessary in my life and usurping my needs for space. So many people love to collect these things, collections get handed down, considerable time and energy goes into wrapping, storing, packing, and unpacking them. How much do we really need and what, in my case, would it take to elevate the state of one keepsake to truly symbolize my attachment and leave the rest behind? What happens to people who can’t separate from their things and how does that impact the world and society? This project was an opportunity to examine my relationship to these commercially manufactured items and icons, and their impact. If flip side of love is hate, and creation is destruction: where do our objects exist on that continuum? We love our things while driving the economy and the planet to the brink.

Rachel Weiss

 

Woven Bag, part of a larger practice addressing relational aesthetics, employs deep calm colors, a rhythmic weave structure, and an accumulation of bodily imagery (womb, vagina, mouth) to question the divided self, particularly by exploring the enigmatic phenomenon of sleep. Informed by research on changes in energy distribution during sleep, I attempted to capture the way in which the atonic body (rigidly held in position and without muscle control) becomes a mere shell for the wandering mind of the REM stage sleeper whose visual cortex is rapidly firing to create the dream experience. The fact that the dreaming brain (in stages 2 and 3 of sleep) operates at the same hertz measurements as the waking brain, but without the self-awareness of consciousness, explains why REM sleep is often called paradoxical sleep.

This hand-dyed and woven sculpture evokes the exterior of a sleeping bag molded around the human form, yet when the viewer peers inside this shell, the void is revealed; thus, the form and presentation of the bag refer to the paradoxical nature of dreams characterized by one’s ability to separate wandering mind from rigid body in this unique state of consciousness. Further, the sculpture’s reference to cocoon, body bag, or any sort of containing sack from which the essence of the human form has departed address a frequent inability of these elements to cohere in the human experience.

Peter Hickok: Upstream

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.

Christopher Füllemann: Accidanto

Accidanto, 2010, wood, sand, wax, plastic, acrylic paint, polyurethane, latex, 90x90x200cm

The starting point of the sculpture Accidanto is the idea that our history can be seen as an accumulation of different organic components and that each of the layers of the accumulation represent an imprint of different kind of energies that the evolution of nature as well as our civilization create. For that reason, I assembled different forms of pieces of wood and plastic leaves, from bottom to top, creating a fluid elevation. A mix of sand and wax was added as a coat of mineral component and then a large quantity of wax with different layers of color, each color representing the color of the human aura. The use of wax is relevant as a warm, skinny and living material. As the final gesture, I put a balloon filled with foam to accentuate the elevation movement and the contrast with the movement of the gravity of the wax cascade.

This sculpture aspires to expand out of its material limits, to play with the surrounding space, with the different directions that it creates through its abundant colors and shapes. The idea of being physically involved with the sculpture as well as creating an energetic sculpture motivated my creative process. The human scale of the sculpture reinforces that physical aspect.

Accidanto can be seen as an equilibrium of different ideas. The physical experience of walking around the sculpture and the various proposals of view and movement are its strength.

Kimia Kline: The Tyranny of Beauty

 Delicate Creatures, oil on panel, 24"x36", 2010

 Untitled, oil on panel, 24"x36", 2010

 Veiling, oil on panel, 24"x36", 2010

After reading A Thousand Years of Nonlinear History by Manuel Da Landa, I was particularly struck with his analysis of the “circulation of flesh”. This term conjured up countless images of female bodies, reduced to nothing more than flesh to be visually consumed. Da Landa explains that, “the main form of matter-energy flow in the biosphere is the circulation of flesh in food chains (De Landa 104).” This pattern seems to be repeated in advertising, as female flesh is the main form of “matter-energy” flow in media.

In addition to the paintings, I created a small sugar cast sculpture of the female body. This sculpture denies the woman her hands or head, serving to further objectify her. She is seen in a kneeling position, one that is often associated with submissiveness and servitude, revoking her a sense of empowerment or independence. Sugar was chosen as the medium for this casting, as it is a staple of indulgent physical consumption. The sugar sculpture lends itself to the idea that women are depicted as nothing more than “eye candy” and further plays into the notion of consumption and energy flow.