Site Specific Project, "Existence is Futile"

Once again, this project has consumed most of my every waking thought. I got a lot of good ideas, but couldn't act on them. So the project was about site specific.

I couldn't very well reach a desert or a skyscraper's roof so I had to settle for my own back yard. For this piece I pulled inspiration from several artists, but the two that had the biggest influence were Robert Smithson with his "Non-Site" pieces and Andy Goldsworthy with land works. I pulled ideas from them on accident. I never sat down and planned out an elaborate scheme with them in mind. I decided to just start working on something and right after I did that, their ideas began to push mine into different directions, so here it is.

Keep in mind, I don't have money. Or time. Or knowledge. So I couldn't hire anyone to do this piece and I couldn't find a more suitable location that would give the piece a more pronounced meaning.

For this piece, I decided, once I started working, that it was going to take a very cliche but important subject matter and explore it deeper than I had ever before. I decided to base my piece with the theme of global warming. I started thinking about how we think about how global warming is and is going to affect us. We know were fucking up the planet with our shit, and we are collectively trying to avoid submergence of our major cities, here and all over the world. but I didn't really want to focus on that. I wanted to put myself in another cultures shoes to see how I would think about what we're doing to our planet. The first group I thought about was the Inuit people living near the north pole. You think we have it bad here when our coast line raises three measly inches. What if you were an Eskimo and all of a sudden you have to completely change your way of life because you're entire house, land and life melted, right out from under your feet. Your food swims to different bodies of water. Your transportation dies because it's getting to hot or you have nothing to move around on. I imagine it would be hard to adapt.

That's when I thought about Smithson's non-sites, or, as I like to call them, his double-displacements pieces. I, in an Inuit shoe, built an "igloo" out of unconventional timber. Because of the warm weather, I cannot bear the heat and I'm forced to remove my clothing. I don't know how to hunt or eat this food. Every asshole on the planet has polluted the earth, and I have to suffer the consequences first.

Existence Is Futile. found lumber, coat and naked body. "Igloo" - 4' x 4' x 6'