Bread and Circuses
Bread and Circuses investigate socio-political issues surrounding food staples as a primary food source, it’s role in food sustainability and food politics and the multiple effects of technology through areas of genetic engineering. This is expressed through the application of a variety of materials from printed X-rays to grains of rice and corn kernels in the installations, sculptures and photography. Pictured below is a selection of the works from this series. The title “Bread and Circuses” originating from the Roman poet Juvenal from the first and second century CE, references the bread handed out to the masses as a form of appeasement to their ongoing problems and grievances. See Brooklyn Rail and Artefuse.
Images:
Umbra, 2015, Archival C-print, 56" x 40" - The ghostly, robotic appearance of the corn root that attaches itself to the earth. Corn represents a prime example of a heavily engineered food staple that has brought much attention and controversy to the role of food safety associated with DNA engineering.
From here is everywhere I, 2016, cement, glass, mirror, copper, aluminum, metal, adhesive, resin, plastic, rubber, paint, mechanical parts, installation 12' x 14'. Engineering food staples begin in controlled greenhouse lab environments, Building corn stalks out of the material used to make these greenhouse labs bring a jewel-like transparency to the crop of corn stalks that may seem brilliant and alluring to some, while dark and foreboding to others.
Detail, From here is everywhere I
River (Yangtze) 2016-2019, grains of rice, pigments, paint, adhesive, metal, filament, canvas, 118” x 26” x 8” - This kinetic sculpture/painting constantly moves with the flow of the people walking by, thereby changing its shadowy “painted” shapes on the canvas behind. The Yangtze River, the “golden goose” of global rice production is under threat of the effects of climate change. The consequences of increased pollution, salinity and current low water levels will impact food sustainability in the near future.
Detail, River (Yangtze)Untitled, 2016-2019, Printed X-rays and photographic images, LED light, Plexiglas, metal and plastic, 14” x 23,” 14” x 17,” 11” x 12
AC TG, 2016, corn kernels, adhesive, varnish, room installation. Size variable - Using corn kernels as braille to spell out segments of the bee genome through DNA sequencing. Standing in the silence of the room allows us to reflect on the sharp decline in the bee population and its possible connection to engineered pesticides in the food genome. The presence of the braille indicates we may be blind to the possible consequences.
From here is everywhere II, 2016, metal, Plexiglas, rubber, 55" x 48" x 4" and From here is everywhere II 2016, wall detail, copper, size variable - changeable. The pieces “grow” out of the wall throughout the period of the exhibition. Experimenting with nature can be seen as beneficial growth or otherwise. The journey is always full of unexpected surprises. The tubes and fluids create highways and continue to grow from hidden spaces in the lab as extensions of experimenting.
Untitled, 2016, Printed X-rays and photographic images, LED light, Plexiglas, metal and plastic, 14” x 23,” 14” x 17,” 11” x 12 - Colorful representations of the body within. Pictured are segments of the circulatory system that beam a rotation of different colors that calm or excite. What results from what we consume is not always immediately evident, but is inevitably important.
“Bread and Circuses: Naomi Campbell,” Center for Contemporary Art, curator S. Karbin, NJ
