GLIMPSE, Elsewhere, Greensboro NC, February 2018
Pulverized museum collection objects, wood, glass, masonite, metal armature, Raspberry Pi. 10″ x 33″ x 42″ in. (Documentation demonstrating interactive elements of sculpture)
Past-life viewing station Glimpse gives viewers the ability to experience and speculate on the past, present, and future forms of Elsewhere collection. Four objects were intuitively chosen by artist Carolyn Clayton to undergo a process of digital immortalization using 3D scanning. Or perhaps, as Clayton believes, maybe these objects wanted to be selected, desiring a release from the forms they have held since entering 606 S. Elm St.
After three-dimensionally preserving these objects in full-color Clayton pulverized them using a variety of hand-tools and blenders. Transformed into indiscernible piles of colorful material, they were then individually layered into ornate encapsulated vessels with corresponding 3D files stored on internal USB flash drives.
In a space where nothing new enters and nothing existing leaves, the building itself functions as a giant grinder, slowly churning its contents into new arrangements and inevitably smaller pieces. While Clayton speeds up the material breakdown process, the objects’ digital preservation welcomes future potential and the promise of a longer, everlasting presence among heaps of objects in a constant decay. The viewing station displays these object urns and is equipped with single ‘future-life’ downloading, re-printing, and animating capabilities.
Sponsorship from Pendragon 3D Arts, with special thanks to owner Heather Pendrak and employee Adam Bowers. Production Support: Adam Bowers & Steve T., The Forge makerspace.
Process photos from the making of GLIMPSE while in residence at Elsewhere
