2022; Multi-disciplinary installation
Works included in installation:
Photocollages 1-7 (Embodying Albers)
10” x 16”
Archival pigment prints on board
Sketches: 10 Attempts to Paint Without Paint (Mimicking Albers)
Various sizes
Paper, graphite, ink, markers, charcoal, oil pastel, color pencils, tape, archival pigment print
Quoting Albers/Promised Land
Video projection of two films (8mm and 4K)
Sound (electromagnetic frequencies recorded on site
Running time: 11 minutes
***
Statement
In 2022, I embarked on a project called “Joseph Albers Wasn’t Here.” It was inspired by Albers’ encounters with the archeological ruins of Mexico, his interest in photography and his experiments in abstract art. He took thousands of pictures on his travels, later combining many of these images to produce photocollages with grid-like compositions. This body of work illuminates the indelible impact Josef’s time in Mexico had on his practice; however, Albers hid and archived this process.
I approached this project as a performance—an embodiment of Albers as a Modernist from a distant future. I went on excursions to discover the built environment in Chicago’s South Side. The main question became: “How would I, as an archeologist from the future, treat modernist ruins?” I took more than 1,000 photos, cut them up and arranged them in photocollages. I made abstract drawings by extracting the lines and forms suggested by the collages. Through a process of quotation, I aimed to recycle and break down an existing form, and to construct a new text, a counter-archive, with the debris. I took it even farther. I filmed the Modernist buildings, explored them with an induction microphone, and recorded their electromagnetic sounds. The result is a moving collage entitled, “Promised Land.” (see Film section)
