We are interested in examining the ways in which virtual representations of site-specific work might become more than merely adequate “place-holders” for phenomena and interventions that a viewing public may never have immediate physical access to. This introduces new possibilities for site-based work to engage with a wider array of “sites”, timeframes and audiences.

What we Asked:

Recognizing that Amounting a Salt was intended as a temporary site-specific intervention, (limited to a duration of six weeks and accessible to a limited audience), the goal of this project was to extend the vantage point of the work beyond the original constraints of its creation, and further into “secondspace” and “thirdspace” perspectives.

What we Did:

At This Point in Time is conceived as a representational/interpretive project that incorporates time-lapse footage derived from the original Amounting a Salt intervention, juxtaposed and overlaid with additional found footage which further complicates the reading of the work.  It can be displayed in a wide variety of gallery or institutional settings.

It visually represents multiple spatial and temporal scales simultaneously: From an aerial image of salt mining in the Atlas mountains of Morocco (where much of Michigan’s de-icing salt is derived), to microscopic imagery of salt crystal formation.  The work is therefore liberated from the spatial and temporal constraints of it’s original creation.  We further reinforce its intentionally multi-centered status with complicating, quasi-didactic text, which reads:

“Documentation of public intervention with 30 tons of de-icing salt sourced from Detroit and Morocco,

Green Road Studio,

6 weeks

Documentation of rock salt mining,

Ait-Daoud (Atlas Mountains) Morocco,

35 years

Documentation of microscopic salt formation,

Unknown,

1 hour

Crystallized salt deposit,

Here,

Today

Deposited Sodium Chloride (NaCl),

Approximately 500 miles north of here,

Approximately 400 million years”

Selected stills: