A single white line of video light moves slowly over a pile of stones and debris. It is unclear whether the pile is made from the raw materials for building, the remains of a demolition, or the product of decay. Whether pre- or post-construction, the pile represents a position near the bottom of the arc of becoming: an entropic assembly of material either to-be-composed or decomposing. Across this, the white line of light cuts a kind of index mark, a way of traversing the material’s topography in time.

The line of light is “playing” the rough material that it glides across, like the perforated scroll of a player piano, or the long white cursor that is ubiquitous in audio software interfaces. At the same time, the line is being deformed by that material texture and form, like the undulating lines of a topographical map. This dual function remains suspended in the work: if the line is a cursor, the pile becomes a composition-in-process, while if the light forms a line of topography, the pile is its landscape, its given environment.

Untitled (band pass)
2011-2015
installation with video projection