www.philipbeesleyarchitect.com
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Synthetic Earth
Waterloo/Toronto, 1996 - invited
The collaborative installation Synthetic Earth with glass artist Katherine Gray contains a mound of stacked wax-sealed glass vessels holding dark fluids. Each vessel bears a long collar with a holster of crimped wire joint details. These junctions form roots for fronds of intertwining twisted wire links that slide and lock together making a helical geometry of ropy strands. Each link contains outflung arms detailed with hooked barbs, acting like burrs grasping and tangling with neighbouring links. A dense mass of these strands make a tangled shroud engulfing the glasswork contents of bile and blood. These contents are partly natural, from human donations, and partly synthetic, fermented soy and salt solutions.