Dissimulating and Disheveling Matter
video produced by Zain Elwakil
UE / 2021
Organized by Alec Rovensky with Thesis Advisory Group
From May 14th to May 23rd 2021, the completed artefacts and the tools used in their production were exhibited to the public in Downtown Syracuse at 337 South Salina Street. The exhibit temporarily occupied a vacant storefront, previously used by a children’s clothing store. The objects were arranged in dialogue with six other projects in the Dissimulating and Disheveling Matter thesis advisory group. The Terra Dispositions exhibit consisted of two double height shelving units holding cottled molds, fired blocks and the test objects molds. Between them, a longer, shorter shelf displayed a spread of the tools and materials used in the production of the blocks. Four explanatory posters were affixed to the adjacent wall. The centerpiece of the exhibit was a five-foot tall display rack constructed out of MDF. The rack held 49 blocks in total, in a manner similar to its deployment outside. The rack served as a post-deployment “archive” of the artefacts, displaying a snap-shot of the blocks after their erosion. Half of the blocks displayed on the rack were fired, while the other half remained unfired.
The exhibition was a collaboration between the members of the thesis advisory group and was made possible with grants from The SOURCE at Syracuse University and the Renée Crown University Honors Program.