It's here!

The crate with the LED box came in from China. It took less time than I thought it would, but a quick call to DHL said that the truck from Cincinnati where it landed had made it to NYC really fast and it had been signed for at the loading dock of where I work. Dropped everything and sped into Brooklyn before the fellas took off for the day.

Got it, but couldn't open it. Nailed together rather than screwed so my drill accomplished nothing. Grumbling, I figured I'd come back the next day with something to pry it open, and checked the mailbox instead. Found the samples from Lambdas for Less. Cool. I was set.

With my claw hammer and a $3.99 screwdriver, I got two guys to pull it open in minutes and I fired it up.

It's awesome!

Big, beautiful light, flowing through the sample Duratrans sent from Michigan. I love it. I'll include a photo in the coming days. For now, the lights cause a nasty moiré pattern that doesn't do it justice.

After a few deep breaths, here's the saner view:

Definates:

Left to right: 10ml, 5ml and 3 ml. Note
that the 3 ml bows a bit.

1) The film will have to be mounted. L.F.L sent samples of Duratrans and Duraclear with the Duratrans mounted (laminated) on 3 ml, 5ml and 10 ml acrylic (also known as Plexiglass or Lucite, their trade names). Otherwise, the film is not stiff enough to be held in place by just the suction of the front panel. Also, the laminated film forms a tighter edge to the edges, which prevents the hot spots around the rim.

2) Will not use the Duraclear. The LED points can be seen right through it. Besides—and this is for those who contacted me about using back-lit materials—the technician at L.F.L. told me it can't mount anyway. They "can't guarantee against some of the processor roller marks on the surfaces of the Duraclear, and then to add to that an encapsulating thermal lamination which may have some inherent inconsistencies (especially with the thinner 3 ml laminate) inconsistencies such as small bubbles give numerous opportunities for flaws".

Still in the works:

1. Size. I'm almost convinced that the A0 is big enough. I'll rest on it some more.

This is one corner of the space
at The ArtLab. I'll be going over
there this or next week to talk
with the exhibition staff. 

2. The thickness of the acrylic. I'll probably test 5ml. The 10ml seems too thick, though I don't see any difference in color with the 5ml. It fits just fine in the LED panel.

3. Should I have the electrical cord from the top or bottom? The supplier sent the panel with the chord from the top, so it would plug into a ceiling fixture. What if not all places have this capacity? I wonder if the option exists to make two outlets on each box and I'd plug in to whichever best suited the exhibition space.

4. I also have to take it apart to see how the cable fits into it. The ceiling of the ArtLab is quite high and I might need to add more cable.

5. How is the sound unit going to fit it? And the speakers? How will sound emanate from it?
Emails are out to the engineers.

Decision time:

1. Send a file out to Michigan and have it printed to the exact size and mounted on the 5 ml.

2. Tear the panel open and have a look inside.

3. Buy a ton of lint-free cotton gloves. The panel really picks up fingerprints.

Explosion Interrupted

Yet more on suspended pieces. Damián Ortega, a Mexican-born artist working in Berlin, creates a number of suspended works.
While Ortega's career was launched with deconstructed vehicles that are then rebuilt in mid-air, "Cosmic Thing", the exploded VW that made it to the Venice Biennale in 2003 looks little more than an instruction manual drawing, despite its underlying critical view of the nagging legacy of the Beetle.

On the other hand, the elegant "Materialista" (2008) is a 24-foot (6 m) constellation of the chrome parts of a tractor trailer. The name derives from the term used for trucks transporting cement and other heavy construction  materials; the clean, crisp chrome and glass components of the truck actively combat the weight of its imagined contents. Leeji Choi wrote of it in 2009:  "this materialism is related not only with the power of matter and antimatter, but also with the logic of values in the art market where the value is attributed to the objects not always visible".

Some are more abstract works like "Champ de Vision", a suspended mosaic of 6,000 discs in translucent colors that can be ambled through, but from a distance, form an open eye. I'll write about this piece in another post.

"Controller of the Universe" (2009) is an assembly of used hand tools Ortega acquired at garage sales. It was installed at different locations and I can't tell from the various exhibition images if the installation was identical each time. In the photograph from the installation at the Cleveland Museum of Art through September 29, the work appears to be an explosion, frozen at a decisive moment, whereas the image above gives the impression of being able to walk through an onslaught of hardware repurposed as weapons. Both send stirring, if contrasting messages on the relationship between a builder and how/what is built and the society that plays the hinge pin between the two.

References: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/30/arts/design/30ortega.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1370740330-kViBZNw9eo17o/9BBmTvDA

http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/damian-ortegas-incredible
http://www.clevelandart.org/events/exhibitions/damián-ortega