#356-67 Ellipse Pace (Arches)
256x252 cm (64x84 cm each panel) | Filler, oak frames
About
I did this work by pacing a large ellipse over twelve panels. See a video of the whole performative production event here.
The work can be installed in multiple ways. When mounted as it was produced, the title is #356-67 Ellipse Pace.
Ellipse is the shape of the orbit of celestial bodies. The speed is faster where gravity is stronger and slower at the ends. It is a bit like a swing that comes to a complete stop at its highest until it turns and returns towards the ground. It can be an image of human development, not in a steady circular pace, but with intense and turbulent periods followed by slower and prolonged. This is also how capitalism works. Internal contradictions slowly build up a tension that releases in abrupt crises. Different remedies are introduced to keep the system on track, and a new orbit begins. But these turning moments can also be opportunities to change the system more profoundly. At the tipping point, the slightest push can have a heavy impact. They bear the possibility to be a gateway, an opening to something new.
Pace
Pace is a series of works consisting of two slowly paced tracks in wet filler. The process is repeated 99 times, reminiscent of the "We are the 99%" slogan from the Occupy movement. We fight against oppression with major decisive moves or through small but repeated steps. The works in the series try to express the latter. To create a path by tediously walking it over and over again.
Sabotages
The shoes worn to produce this work is a modern variant of clogs, made in plastic. In French, clogs are called "sabot", which is the basis for the word sabotage. The soft ambience of the bourgeoise was shattered when the working-class entered a room with their wooden shoes. Another reason is perhaps that the workers alledgly threw their clogs into the automatic looms when they were introduced in France, to protest they making them redundant.
In another way, you may also call this work a sabotage (in the sense of a collage, or frottage) as it is made by clogs.
This is the shoe of the common people, the shoe of the working-class. Historically made in wood for use in factories and on the fields, but today, for example, healthcare workers widely use the plastic version. It is also popular as leisurewear for the mainstream, or the so-called masses.
Res Ipsa
Res Ipsa is a compilation of works made by an act shaping the filler once it is prepared inside the frame. The works thus function as a recording device and give a statement of the event taking place while the filler was still wet.
Res Ipsa is Latin for "the thing itself" and is part of the juridical term "Res ipsa loquitur" (the thing speaks for itself), used when an injury or accident in itself clearly shows who is responsible, such as an instrument left inside a body after surgery.