TReiA STUDIOS
working at the confluence of art & ecology
S.OIL (2012) is a human-powered installation that examines the history of industrialization and energy use in relation to farming, biofuels and topsoil erosion. Mechanical and electronic systems are combined with living plants (experimental perennial food crops) and digital video. Using bicycle parts as the main chain-drive in the mechanism, the project entrusts visitors with operating a railway handcar to water the plants and power the videos for viewing. Borrowing simultaneously from the Earth's living systems and industrial processes, the installation creates a space that is part laboratory and part farm. Click here to watch a video of S.OIL. To read the exhibition statement click here.
Click to enlarge photos.
S.OIL
On exhibit at the AGSM, Brandon, Manitoba, Oct 4 - Nov 24, 2012. Thank you to Jennifer Woodbury, Natalia Lebedinskaia, Kevin Conlin and all the staff and assistants at AGSM. Thank you especially to Gabriella Levine and Alessandro Contini for their invaluable assistance with the electronics, Jesse Jimenez for lighting speed work with the video, and the following organizations for their support: Canada Council for the Arts, Eyebeam Art and Technology Center, NYC, Sculpture Space, Utica, NY, the Prairie Center of the Arts, Peoria, IL, Metal LOGIX, Utica, NY, The Green Spot, Brandon, MB and many, many more people and organizations who were part of this project over the last 3.5 years. A very special thank you to The Land Institute, Salina, KS for providing the experimental perennial seeds and whose work inspired much of this project.