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George Bures Miller Simple Experiments in Aerodynamics: 6 & 7 Main Gallery Sept 10 - Oct 31, 1998 |
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George Bures Miller's Simple Experiments in Aerodynamics series are less propositions for actual scientific experiments and more points of departure, preparatory works that represent and inform the sentiments of surprise, daring and crisis that accompany the experimental and subsequent experiential process. The mixed media sculptures are spare, ambiguous works that shirk the responsibility scientific experiments have to acknowledge proof, through the reproduction of quantitative results. Experiments #1 and #2 have been described by writer Charles R. Acland in the text below as investigating the fine separations between stillness and movement. The reason I refer to a written description is that it is a revealing starting point, highlighting the calculated loss and uncertainty running through Bures Miller's quirky sculptures:
Two works, one at either end of the gallery, sit not quite facing one another. Experiment #1 includes a metal rack holding a video monitor aloft and a rear projection scrim connected to the raised monitor, extending to the right. Below, a dim light bulb swings, propelled by an electrical pulse upon the wiring. The video shows a hand gently waving; its mirror image appears synchronously in the rear projection. Together they make a very odd winged creature. At times, the video-wings wave hesitantly. Sometimes they appear lively and confident. They feel the air, as though through familiarity alone flight will occur. The trajectory of the swinging light suspended from the rack throws thin spider-legged shadows upon the walls. The oscillating shadows of the apparatus create an eerie sensation of movement, igniting a slight decentred or off-balanced feeling in the spectator. With the suspended, swaying light bulb casting spindly shadows, the video hand-wings look like a caged bird perched on a swing. Experiment #2... includes a similar metal rack structure. A dim light is stationary, sitting on the rack, while a video monitor dangles below. An electrical pulley, arranged like a hospital gurney, nestles the monitor. A sound pulse on the videotape controls the pulley's operation in a sporadic fashion, raising, lowering and tilting the monitor. In this way, the pulse keeps the monitor and image off-kilter. As the monitor jerks up, down and sways from side to side, the video shows a pair of feet stretching, on tip-toes. It is unclear whether they are trying to leave the ground, or trying to resist doing so. The pair of straining feet never for an instant find themselves apart from the earth, let alone airborne. This only accentuates their earth-bound status. 1
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I am less interested in how the sculptures may or may not illustrate aspects of Bures Miller's alleged experiments in movement / stillness and am more impressed by the effects they generate. In his sculptures Bures Miller heightens the constants of loss, uncertainty and potential enlightenment. These elements have a particularly frigid and unnerving presence and it is precisely this presence that is my concern here. Imbalance .4 features a simple metal rack approximately eight feet tall standing near the middle of the 12, cubed room. Between two vertical support bars a light bulb hangs from the end of an electrical cord. The low wattage light bulb hangs just above the base of the rack, resting 12 inches or so from the floor of the small, dimly lit room. The stand, which resembles a clothing rack is about 4 feet wide. It has been altered so that its footings are loose and flexible, as if sitting inside aluminum boots. The rack's feet are connected by a maze of translucent hoses to an industrial air compressor hidden behind a wall. A computer program monitors the compressor, regulating the amount of air sent out through each tube, one to each of the rack's four legs. In an alternating pattern of hissing and snapping, the hoses transport sharp doses of compressed air causing the legs to quickly lift, momentarily hold and then depress again, eventually sending the cord and light bulb along a wobbly trajectory swinging back and forth between the vertical rods of the rack. The light bulb is jerked back and forth at an ever increasing rate, its arc path driven to greater lengths by the mechanically produced bursts of air. The light bulb jumps dangerously close to the walls and the gallery viewers who are forced to consider their proximity to the swinging light and menacing shadows. Just before the light bulb appears to graze the eye lashes of the viewers in the compacted space, the computer shuts down the compressor and the light bulb and cable is left swinging in near silence, the menacing shadows slowly receding against the walls, floors and ceilings, mesmerizing the eye. The disengaged bulb and cord eventually end up inert and lifeless until some minutes later the process begins again.
Notes
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| Image: George Bures Miller #6 (Escapre Velocity), 1998 mixed media with compressed air, pneumatic pistons, electronic circuit
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