Over the past four years I have been engaged with a series of public interventions under the title “Basics,” exploring an abstracted notion of form, space, and temporality in public sculpture. Each object in this series of work is unique to its site but shares a constructive language derived from 2” x 4” lumber. The work wants to be experienced both as an abstract sculptural gesture in dialogue with its environment and an interactive spatial installation in the public realm.

While the body of work set out to interrogate notions of temporary public sculpture, a performative aspect emerged over the course of close to 40 installations, all assembled on site, in a public setting over the course of multiple days. The public was engaged by watching, helping, and interrogating the artist. “1-Hour Sculpture (Basics #35)” condenses this aspect of the work series and the temporality of the sculptural installation through a performative act, enacting the 600 pound sculpture as an ephemeral event within the time frame of one hour. The performance has three parts: assembly, temporary existence, and disassembly. 52 pieces of 2” x 4” construction lumber are each carried individually to the center of the room, and stacked to a sculptural assembly measuring approximately 8’ x 8’ x 8’.

As the sculpture grows, I remain on the inside of the piece, eventually being entirely encapsulated by the installation. During assembly I wear headphones listening to a loop of “The International” in 34 languages; I am at liberty to whistle along intermittently and off key during construction as I please. Once the work is assembled I take off the headphones, which makes the music faintly audible to the audience. I sit down and rest within the structure for about twenty minutes. The third part of the performance disassembles the structure and is a performance of the first part in reverse. An original score by composer John Moran accompanied the performance (“Clock – 1-Hour”) with a sound event every fifteen minutes.