THeater of the Absorbed
Commissioned by
Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission 2% for Art Sacramento Public Administration and Utilities Building Sacramento, California 1997
Materials and Dimensions
Cast bronze Draped cloth: 3'H x 2'W x 7.5'L Double Balloon: 4.5'H x 4'5"W x 9.5'L Deflated Balloon: 8"H x 4'W x 7.5'L Workers hands: Lifesize Description
Theater of the Absorbed, a series of water-based pieces, take staged frozen poses around the 60' x 30' courtyard. A velvet cloth cast in bronze is draped over a bench and limply flows into the water. Plumbing is tucked into the folds from behind the cloth, allowing water to sweat through the surface and create disturbances in the black bottomed pond beneath it. In two other ponds sit cast bronze inflated forms from which water appears to be leaking. The sound and shape of the leakage and how it breaks the pond's surface is a primary concern. Mounted on the wall encircling the rotunda are groupings of thirteen hands that are holding windblown cloths. A pile of bronze gloves sits nonchalantly on one corner of a bench. The hands, arms and gloves are casts taken from the water treatment workers over the course of several months. These are the men and women who work in the field during floods, performing maintenance and construction. The cloths that are loosely caught in their hands echoes the flow of water and its resistance to being encapsulated. |
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