countdown

a slight delay in production this week due to a pretty heavy road accident - fortunately Lucy and I came through relatively unscathed, but my car is still being assessed for repair or write-off status. some idiot ran a red light on dandenong rd and plowed into us.

anyway, i always ensure my production process has certain time flexibilities, usually due to my sculptures having technical components that can be susceptible to glitches in the build phase. this flexibility has allowed for me to absorb a few days off to deal with the crash and stay on track with my sculpture for the 'Experiments on Plant Hybridization' at Dianne Tanzer Gallery.

a quiet saturday in the studio with the soldering iron.

today i completed a counter that will form part of the 'detonation device' in the sculpture. 

the plan is for the counter to form an interactive component in the work. it will be connected (hopefully, my amateur electronic skills are being stretched here) to a sensor that detects a viewer getting close to the work. the conceptual idea is that this detonation device will get closer to arming itself when anyone gets close to it. so, with live plants eliciting an energy that looks as if it is charging a 'bomb', any attempt to disarm the bomb only brings it closer to detonation. the implications or evocations of this idea are open for the viewer to consider.

i've selected some plants too - typical household plants, purchased from a large warehouse retail chain. the plants are little symbols of 'the natural' but really are quite removed from nature. propagated and cultivated via techniques of mass production more aligned to factory production than the natural cycles of life, these plants straddle both natural and cultural worlds.

the plants are pilea cadierei or aluminium plants. they work nicely in name as there is aluminium conductors in the soil of the plants for the sculpture and the foliage of the leaves echoes the patterns of the circuit boards of the electronics.