FLOE hanging from the ceiling at Plug In ICA 2014.

FLOE 2014. Detail. Acrylic, metal, motors, electronics. Data with custom timing. View looking up to ceiling.

FLOE is a kinetic sculpture that uses climate data to move a sheet of clear plastic arrows. A jointed sheet of arrows hangs from the gallery ceiling, the arrows are grouped in sections hinting at directional flow. Lit from above, the sheet reflects light and casts shadows as its different sections move. Driving this movement are six motors rotating in a synchronized pattern, the numbers from the climate data are randomly inserted into the motor controller software disrupting the pattern by changing the motors speed and rotational direction, as this happens the sheet begins to squeak, clink, and fold in on itself emulating the breaking up of ice on a body of water.

The data set used in this work consists of 30 yearly measurements of the sea ice extent -area- in the Arctic Sea from the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) open databases the measurements are from 1982 to 2012. (Data, NOAA GFDL CM2.1)

In this work the distortion of the set pattern is the main element. The data, the software, and the motor controllers work with and against each other in moving the sheet, at times making a pattern and other times deviating from the pattern. This process of creating deviations within set patterns follows my interest in exploring physical processes and the human effects on such processes. In this instance, it is the altered thaw and freeze patterns of the Arctic ice cap within our human time.

FLOE 2014. Exhibition install. Sensing the Future: Moholy Nagy, Media and the Arts. Plug In ICA. Winnipeg. Acrylic, metal, motors, electronics. Data with custom timing.

FLOE 2014. Exhibition install. Sensing the Future: Moholy Nagy, Media and the Arts. Bauhaus Archiv. Berlin. Acrylic, metal, motors, electronics. Data with custom timing.

FLOE 2014. Detail projected shadows of arrows on wall and floor. Sensing the Future: Moholy Nagy, Media and the Arts. Bauhaus Archiv. Berlin. Acrylic, metal, motors, electronics. Data with custom timing.