#394-97 U-Turn Pace
128x168 cm (64x84 cm each panel) | Filler, oak frames
Multiple installing options
About
I did this work by pacing a U shape over four panels with wet filler. The first installing version has the title U-Turn Pace (Romanesque Arch). The second U-Turn Pace (Split And Turned)
A U-turn can be used as a metaphor for a change of heart and proceeding with opposite intentions than before. In late western capitalism, in the light of the current climate crisis and escalating economic disparities, this might seem like an urgent concept. In Norway, there are a few well-known rules for behaviour when hiking in the mountains, and one of them reads - …there is no shame in turning. This is exactly what we must do. The demand for constant expansion and economic growth is not sustainable. We have to choose a different path and return to a more basic motivation for managing our resources.
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 99% of the Occupy movement, which refers to the vast majority without capital from ownership, sometimes defined as the proletariat or the working class. The fight against oppression can be waged with major decisive blows, as well as through many small but repeated steps. The latter is expressed through the tedious work of creating a path where there is none by 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.
