Filter

2002

World Financial Center, NYC

with the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

 

Inkjet on vinyl of the Fresh Kill landfill, 4 minute audio track, headphones, CD player, aluminum bleachers.

dimensions variable.

 

technical: An image of a grassy mound covers a lower portion of windows overlooking the former World Trade Center site. The photographs were taken at the Fresh Kill landfill where the WTC rubble is buried. Viewers sit on the bleachers, look at the image, the pit, and the cityscape beyond while listening to a narrative on headphones.  The narrative includes a counselor guiding a patient through breathing techniques and visualizations. Views of the horizon, a pit, and a mound are described while the narrator interjects the point of view (‘from here’, or ‘from there’). Over the duration of the audio piece, the main character moves from a state of unease to calm, from trauma to normalcy.

 

content: The installation references the psychological, historical and physical forms of filtering. In addition to coping strategies, also specified is the process of filling, sieving and moving land.