Stoked, 2010

Detail / far left set of windows.  See entire installation plan and other details below.

Site-Specific / Smack Mellon Gallery, New York

Intended for installation on the interior of the twelve north facing windows of the larger gallery, Stoked is composed entirely of black tape.  This drawing will exist physically on the panes of glass, and ephemerally in the shadows that will shift over the floor and columns, dependent on weather conditions and time-of-day.  The tape will obscure portions of the park, river, and bridge beyond the building, replacing ‘the view’ with a fictional tableau.

Stoked consists of a massive split iceberg which ostensibly floats down the East River, past the smokestacks of a power plant, while fire envelopes the surrounding area.  All of this is witnessed by news helicopters, which will ‘capture’ the footage that, while fragmentary, will come to represent the event.  Encouraging the viewers inside and outside of the gallery, the ‘Peep Show’ sign suggests the spectacle that will be made of the event.   This work asks viewers to consider the power industry, its relation to global warming, the role of news media, and the voyeuristic lens through which the mass of society views most events. 

Stoked is meant to examine the space that is Smack Mellon, physically and historically, including its relationship to the nearby East River and its history as a power plant.

Installation plan.

Detail / left four windows.

Detail / middle four windows.

Detail / right four windows.