News

A procession of figures representing real world casualties takes to the streets to confront and denounce the brutal systemic violence exacted upon victims of Mexico and throughout the world. With the notion that not everyone will venture into a museum or gallery, the Procession has two possible modes of engaging with its audience: a purely physical encounter when the figures take to the streets, and an emotional response when in a museum or gallery setting, where the figures come alive through striking audiovisual components to speak for themselves.

Exterior (streets)

The outdoor installation iteration engenders spontaneous encounters and interactions with the figures in and of themselves.

Interior (museum/gallery)

Featuring forty-seven life-sized sculptures underscored by striking audiovisual elements, The Procession transfigures numbing statistical data into profoundly personal, emotionally resonant encounters between viewers and victims.

The indoor (museum/gallery) iteration features both figures and audiovisual components.

By distilling the crisis into human figures representing real-world casualties, The Procession compels an urgent and empathetic response, while simultaneously drawing attention to the ongoing, overarching calamity.

Maquettes

We made the model of the small town using two-part foam, styrofoam and plaster.

Then we called Ryan of Rad Creative to come and work his magic. Making small maquettes has always been fundamental to us when exploring a particular space or site. It allows us to understand the scale and the flow of pedestrians and transit, which in turn provides us a clear understanding of how the space functions.

After bending various types of metal rounds into figurative rod sculptures, we have decided to work with stainless steel to fabricate the sculptural component of The Procession.

We have found stainless steel to be superior to the other tested metals based on the following properties:

– Corrosion resistance
– High tensile strength
– Durability
– Temperature resistance
– Formability and fabrication
– Maintenance
– Appearance
– Lower environmental impact due to it’s enormous recyclability.

We placed the finished rods out in the rain for several weeks to test the corrosion resistance, and as expected, the steel rounds began to rust after short exposure to rain. The construction rebar used in the trial was also resistant to corrosion, but the heat and stress of welding the rebar together made it shatter, making stainless steel the better choice.

Steel rod after 2 weeks of exposure to rain and sun vs stainless steel in the background.

We are back in our studio to begin work on the figurative rod sculptures of The Procession. Through this exercise we will determine which is the best material to produce the rod sculptures during the next phase of the project.  For now, the work at hand is to fabricate 5 life size rod figures, using aluminum, steel, and rebar.

The selection criteria are based on:

– Weight
– Bendability
– Resistance
– Cost

The figures will travel during the third Phase of this project, which represents costs related to shipping, transportation, and storage of the figures, screens and multimedia related equipment.

Materials:

– Aluminum round rod 1/2”
– Steel round rod ½”
– Construction Rebar
– Muslin

Tools:

Aka universal bender

We bolted our industrial bender into the floor of our studio to begin testing rods of diverse materials.

Finished rod figure, prior to welding the sections together.

Findings

– Aluminum breaks while bending, so it is not suitable for rod work in this project.
– We decided to work with a smaller steel round size. We are now using 3/8X36 steel round rods.