Jordana Maisie

Liminal Space 2010

Project description

1300 Litres of soil, LED lights, copper, zinc plated steel, conduit wire, alligator clips, plastic pots, black plastic sheeting, timber

The work, Liminal Space, invites the audience to enter an enclosed, solitary environment that houses an amalgam of the electronic and the organic. Scattered LED light bulbs connected by an intricate circuit of wires protrude from a carpet of soil, a natural substance composed of broken rocks that have been altered by environmental processes including weathering and erosion. No mechanical generator of electricity appears within the installation; rather, the soft luminescence of the LED bulbs is powered by the friction between positive and negative charges occurring naturally between the copper and zinc conductors and the high levels of copper and zinc contained naturally in the soil.

Where Maisie's previous works including The Real Thing and Potential Energy, have encouraged viewers to interact and be saturated within spectacular technological matter in order to draw attention towards notions of interconnectivity and embodiment in relation to physical and digital space, Liminal Space engages its audience in a silent sensory immersion in order to shed light on pertinent issues of global crisis. By considering 'electronic technology' in a much broader 'environmental' sense, the work represents a pivotal departure in Maisie's practice.

Words by Timothy Maybury.

Many thanks to Kim Fasher and Dylan Palmer for their help with the installation.