Artspace
New Haven, Connecticut
Brass, stainless steel, optical glass, water, dirt, sand, uranium glass, uranium prints, inkjet transparency slides with LED light panel, 13" x 13" x 13" cube
Lead-lined scrap steel with lead paint container, 20" x 6.5" x 15"
Wooden pedestal/projection screen, 52" x 39" cruciform shape surface
Rosco gel filters set in leaded glass windows
Collaboraors: Sam Dole, Morgan Post
Gallery installation photos by John Groo
This collaborative installation creates a containment system of books and covers made of glass, brass, lead, paint and paper. Equipped with a lens to become a “magic lantern,” the book can alter its function to that of a presentation device. Containment and Spillage explores the history of the nuclear industry in Connecticut, beginning with the use of uranium as an element used in photography and the printing and reproduction of images. The artists used this technique to make images for their sculptural book, which addresses the problematic history of containing waste and the invisible threats that plague our water, air and environment. The artists delve into the rise and fall of photographic manufacture in the state and investigate specific sites of nuclear power plants and the various events, statistics and situations that reveal the possible long-term environmental and physiological impact of radioactive leakage. In alluding to the exhibition title, CT (UN)Bound, the project underscores the difficulty of containing such potent and dangerous materials and their inevitable spillage and seepage into our natural world.
-Martha Lewis
Curator, Artspace
Artist statement from press release
