The Wheel of Law, 2009-2011.
The Wheel of Law aims to reinvent the wheel and consequently torque the codes of law assigned to it—ancient and modern alike. Through this work, I quest to transform the wheel from a transportation aid
operated upon a flat plane into a kinetically rotating aerial mechanism capable of transporting its operator to any number of points in time and space, phenomenological and metaphysical alike. The Wheel of
Law is a flying dreamachine.
Suspended from a climbing truss, The Wheel of Law hovers over a concentric pyramid-ramp installation, lit from within. A combination of black lights and strobe lights illuminate this inner circle, flashing through
the pyramid’s uppermost Plexiglas platform, onto the hovering sculpture above. The Wheel itself is illuminated from within by strobing LED lights. Each medium of light intensifies the operator’s movements as
he circumambulates closer to the key vehicle of the machine’s activation--the centralized aerial tissue soaring upward.
Through the employment of such devices as counterweights and swivel bearings, the increasing velocity of the sculpture’s aerial circumambulation should be able to intensify to the point of lift off. Through the
exertion and exchange of oppositional forces between the operator and apparatus, it is the very unity of centrifugal and centripetal forces that creates the action of flight. Upon the eventual neutralization of
these exquisite forces, both human and mechanical organisms return to the point of the action’s origin: The stillness of the center. The action ultimately seeks transcendence through the challenge of
gravitational defiance, toward a meditative state of consciousness.
Very special thanks to Elizabeth Streb and the Streb Lab for Action Mechanics for awarding the commission of this work and providing artistic support and inspiration; to Don Porcaro and Ernesto Pujol for their
wisdom, guidance, support and encouragement through the duration of this project.
Installation:
Wood, Plexiglas, cast-concrete, steel, aluminum, lycra, nylon tricot, aircraft cable, LED lights, black lights, strobe lights, electrical components, rigging components, miscellaneous hardware.
Audio:
Stars of the Lid, “Dust Breeding (1.316)+,” “I Will Surround You.” (Avec Laudenum, Sub Rosa, 1999)
Wardrobe:
Deer pelt, Tibetan lamb belting components, kilt, compression shorts, jockstrap, athletic socks, wrestling shoes, crystal/leather necklace, feather accessories, lycra tunic, essential oils.
The Wheel of Law aims to reinvent the wheel and consequently torque the codes of law assigned to it—ancient and modern alike. Through this work, I quest to transform the wheel from a transportation aid
operated upon a flat plane into a kinetically rotating aerial mechanism capable of transporting its operator to any number of points in time and space, phenomenological and metaphysical alike. The Wheel of
Law is a flying dreamachine.
Suspended from a climbing truss, The Wheel of Law hovers over a concentric pyramid-ramp installation, lit from within. A combination of black lights and strobe lights illuminate this inner circle, flashing through
the pyramid’s uppermost Plexiglas platform, onto the hovering sculpture above. The Wheel itself is illuminated from within by strobing LED lights. Each medium of light intensifies the operator’s movements as
he circumambulates closer to the key vehicle of the machine’s activation--the centralized aerial tissue soaring upward.
Through the employment of such devices as counterweights and swivel bearings, the increasing velocity of the sculpture’s aerial circumambulation should be able to intensify to the point of lift off. Through the
exertion and exchange of oppositional forces between the operator and apparatus, it is the very unity of centrifugal and centripetal forces that creates the action of flight. Upon the eventual neutralization of
these exquisite forces, both human and mechanical organisms return to the point of the action’s origin: The stillness of the center. The action ultimately seeks transcendence through the challenge of
gravitational defiance, toward a meditative state of consciousness.
Very special thanks to Elizabeth Streb and the Streb Lab for Action Mechanics for awarding the commission of this work and providing artistic support and inspiration; to Don Porcaro and Ernesto Pujol for their
wisdom, guidance, support and encouragement through the duration of this project.
Installation:
Wood, Plexiglas, cast-concrete, steel, aluminum, lycra, nylon tricot, aircraft cable, LED lights, black lights, strobe lights, electrical components, rigging components, miscellaneous hardware.
Audio:
Stars of the Lid, “Dust Breeding (1.316)+,” “I Will Surround You.” (Avec Laudenum, Sub Rosa, 1999)
Wardrobe:
Deer pelt, Tibetan lamb belting components, kilt, compression shorts, jockstrap, athletic socks, wrestling shoes, crystal/leather necklace, feather accessories, lycra tunic, essential oils.
