"It's Been Days, Weeks" (2008)

This past week, I installed "It's Been Days, Weeks", quite possibly the first sculptural representation of the social data that I collect. I installed the piece in The John Riepenhoff Experience:

http://flickr.com/photos/94058374@N00/1064873223

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ0uWYfs2YeRuY9AeXV6wQ3rHCIm1TCZrIMp-wKFzpUcYlNZ4PlllCB5A17LvCNoFD4PJyoBXtq9_fUys-17oshfirc-JKgFaVPC7NRTl0AbPGMU7ZYTnwU93wdy9uHRUuxweS/s1600-h/IMG_1132.jpg

I experienced a lot of fun and frustration in creating the piece, which is made out of pegboard, styrofoam, jute, eyehooks, tape, paint, paper and pen. The fun parts: selecting materials (especially the string), using a jigsaw for the first time (thank you Sarah, thank you Frank), staying up, and diving into the data.

I had originally conceived the piece to include "who I spoke to" data from 2004 up to the present. The pegboard offered up an elegant way to represent each day of the year, so I made the decision to use only data from 2007 and 2008.

An annual performance I make, The Umali Awards, highlights people with whom I speak most often. For "It's Been Days, Weeks", I wanted to highlight people that I do not speak to regularly. I was moved in this direction most likely by talking to Cinnamon Rossman earlier this year. Rossman had been involved in the art community in Milwaukee years ago. In 2002, I was in a show that she helped organize. (Incidentally, the second night of that show helped garner November 16, 2002 the Umali Award for Best Day of the Year.) It turns out, Rossman and I hadn't spoken to each other since January 9, 2004, a span of over 1500 days. I certainly wanted to visualize that, but my decision to just use data from this year and last precluded that.

Even with lessened impact of what I think is the most compelling aspect of the data - the ability of sheer fact of reconnecting with a person over a long span of time - the piece is still effective. It was originally titled "It's Been Months", but now a few days are also represented.

In general, I'm happy with the outcome and look forward to working with jute and pegboard in the future. It's a shame that the shiny and clean twisted mason line did not work out.

The show opens tonight, October 17th (Friday) at the Green Gallery (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) and runs for about a month.