Progress, Regress (a proposal)

Using real-time unemployment and labor market data to animate a kinetic sculpture.

Unemployment rates since 2008 have been and continue to be very high. But if you study a chart of unemployment data gathered by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics since 1948, history shows that “business cycles” (recessions and recoveries) have occurred every 10-15 years. The most recent recession was particularly severe, and the ongoing recovery period is markedly slow and painful. But this is not the first time we’ve suffered through a recession, nor will it be the last. 

Fluctuating unemployment rates, 1948-present

While the unemployment rate has constantly fluctuated between as low as 3% and as high as 10% over the course of time, the labor market is actually much more dynamic than these numbers suggest. Hundreds of thousands of people are either losing or acquiring jobs every month, and new people are continually entering the labor force. The U.S. economy must add $150,000 jobs every month just to keep the unemployment rate stable. And the unemployment rate doesn’t include people who are disabled, involuntarily working part-time, or who have lost hope and stopped looking for a job. 

Push button toy (inspiration for the sculpture's kinetic mechanism)

My goal is to humanize these statistics by using them to animate an object we typically associate with employment and success: a ladder. The ladder will be cut it into pieces that will be drilled and threaded with steel cable, and then reconstructed to function much like a push-button toy. The tension of the cable, and the subsequent position of the ladder, will be controlled by a motorized winch. A computer will collect real-time unemployment data from the web and use a microcontroller to activate the winch. If the unemployment rate rises, the winch will unwind the cable, and the extra slack will allow the ladder to begin to slouch over. As the unemployment rates drop, the winch will wind the cable back up, and the increased tension will pull the ladder into a more erect position. The ladder will become a kind of body, the rungs like its vertebrae, and the numbers will bring it to life.

Restating myself

Every time I write an application - to a grant, residency, or exhibition opportunity - I write a new artist statement. I am always so happy with and proud of my new statement at the moment I complete it. I always feel like I finally expressed what my work is all about. This feeling usually coincides with re-falling in love with writing and re-identifying it as a crucial component of my art practice. But both of those feelings are unfailingly and extremely short lived. It doesn't take long to hate writing again (it's so frustrating and inflexible) or to feel embarrassed by that statement I wrote a few days or weeks ago. Nevertheless, I just finished writing a new artist statement, and I'm really proud of it, so I'm going to share it. And I hope that every time I rework my statement I get a little bit closer to hitting the nail on the head. But give me a few days and I'll probably have a different perspective. I'll eventually see that mark on the wall that's several feet from the nail that shows me how far off I was...

"I received a bachelor’s degree in design and practiced at an architectural firm in New York for several years before earning an MFA in sculpture. My artwork remains strongly rooted in design, and primarily takes the form of electronic, kinetic and interactive sculpture. Inspired by highway billboards and neon signs, my work often imitates these familiar forms of communication, co-opting strategies typically used to advertise products for the production of meaning. I think of words as found objects and I manipulate language as if it were a sculptural material, constructing words and phrases in three dimensions and then assembling and disassembling them over time.

Because my work is driven by concept as opposed to process, my practice is collaborative and interdisciplinary, and I often explore the same idea in many mediums, including drawing, photography, video and installation. My work’s most common recurring theme is an exploration of the aesthetics of time. I believe that art can and should be affected by time, as opposed to frozen in it. Like everything else in the world – our bodies, the seasons, machines – my work often moves, changes, deteriorates, and in some cases, dies."

Present Perfect

I want to make a series of sculptures based on works of art that other people tell me about having seen, but that I've never seen myself. This one is based on a piece Mike Fleming saw in the MoMA a few years ago. He said a marble-sized metal sphere was placed on a keyboard's letter G so that the computer was continuously typing GGGGG... and that you could see it had been typing G for a long time based on the page # displayed in Microsoft Word. He can't remember the name of the original artist.

So, I placed a large rock on my old laptop's keyboard so that it types the letter Y continuously and infinitely.

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

I think that if I ever show this in an exhibition I will use a rock that I find in that local area. When the exhibition is over, I will print out the document (however many pages, depending on the length of the show) and then display the stacked pages with the rock on top, as an artifact. Each exhibition at all the different locations will then produce its own unique artifact.

AHA

A thing I made real quick in my stewdio the other day... Feels good to be back at work!

TED2013

One of the many perks of being a TED2013 Fellow was the opportunity to attend TED2013 in Long Beach, CA. This year's theme was "The Young. The Wise. The Undiscovered." I gave a 4 minute talk about my work on the fellows stage. I've also recently been interviewed for a Fellows Friday feature on the TED Blog. Check it out!

You are (on) an island in Sydney, Australia

For the next 14 months, You are (on) an island will be prominently displayed in downtown Sydney, Australia. It can be seen in the ground floor reception area of Optiver, a financial institution at 39 Hunter Street, in the central business district. Here is an image of the work being installed. More images to come soon!

Artist Talk at the Hepworth Wakefield on 3/15

Mike Fleming and I will be giving an artist talk at the Hepworth Wakefield in the UK this Friday, March 15 at 3:30pm.

"In 2012 Wakefield's Neon Workshops invited American artists Alicia Eggert and Mike Fleming to bring their collaborative neon project to the UK and present it as a mobile venture to an unsuspecting audience around Yorkshire. In January 2013, Eggert and Fleming arrived in Wakefield, installed their poignant statement on the back of a hire van, sparked up the delicate gas-filled glass with a small generator and took to the road."

Eternity included in O'Clock exhibition at the CAFA Art Museum in Beijing

Eternity is included in the O'Clock. Time design, design time exhibition, which was originally held at the Triennale Design Museum in Milan, and is on view at the CAFA Art Museum in Beijing until April 10.

"Compared to the display in Milan, the exhibition in Beijing includes an expanded, updated selection of works which take account of China’s newly emerging and already established design potential. A wide-ranging display of original site-specific works, installations, design objects, works of art and videos by international artists and designers seek to answer questions such as: “How is time measured?”, “How can passing time be shown?” and “How can time be experienced?”. All the works exhibited tackle subjects such as the passage of time, time’s evolution, and decay over time, in ways that are sometimes ironic, sometimes poetic, sometimes meditative and sometimes critical."

You are (on) an island - Digital book is online!

Mike Fleming and I are about to return to England for the opening of our exhibition and book launch party at Neon Workshops. We recently uploaded a digital version of the publication, which you can see online at this link. Please email me at dearestalicia@gmail.com if you'd like to purchase a hard copy of the book when it's available (after March 15th).

The Best of 2013

A student of mine at Bowdoin just informed me that I'm in the running for Portland's "Best Visual Artist of 2013." Thanks, Portland Phoenix! I'm flattered. See the other contenders and cast your vote here.

Interview featured on Big Ben

Click on the image to read a short interview featured on the design zine, Big Ben.

Upcoming exhibition at Neon Workshops in Wakefield, England

Thanks to an invitation from Neon Workshops' founder, Richard Wheater, and to 152 individuals who backed our Kickstarter project, Mike Fleming and I spent two weeks in January taking our You are (on) an island sign on a guerilla sculpture tour of West Yorkshire, in the UK. On March 15th, we will return to Wakefield for an exhibition at Neon Workshops. The neon sign will be mounted to scaffolding on the building's roof, photo and video documentation of the work on tour will be on display in the interior gallery, and the limited-edition book we are publishing about the project will be officially released.

If you'd like to get a sneak peek of some photos from the tour, check out Mike Fleming's Flickr page.

More info to come soon!

Artefact Festival 2013 in Leuven, Belgium

Eternity is currently included in Artefact Festival 2013: A City Shaped. The festival is taking place February 13-24 at the Stuk Arts Centre in Leuven, Belgium.

From their website:

"A CITY SHAPED examines and questions new aspects of contemporary and future city development. Sustainability and ecology seem to have become structural parameters in thinking about future urbanity. Do those concepts and focuses lead to a new fundamental view on the city and urbanism? And is its impact comparable with the integral visions of the likes of Le Corbusier, Haussmann, Ebenezer Howard, Walter Jonas, Archigram, Bauhaus, …? It is clear that the ecological approach puts new emphases in developing urbanity, and yet those sensitivities prove to appear already in early architectural projects and utopian visions of the city. Artefact makes thus way for encounters between different positions and propositions within this complex context.

Above all, the urban environment of the future will be shaped from several policies: international, national, urban, provincial, … But during Artefact, we want to create a dialogue between those visions and the voices of artists, the individual citizen or activist. Quite often, they are responsible for testing and intervening with the ‘official’ urban fabric and related environmental, functional, economic and sociocultural aspects."

I am a TED Fellow!

I am extremely proud and excited to announce that I have been chosen to be a TED2013 Fellow!

According to their literature, the TEDFellows program “is designed to bring together young world-changers and trailblazers who have shown unusual accomplishment and exceptional courage." As a TED2013 Fellow (one of only 21 people world-wide, and of only eleven from the US), I will have the opportunity to attend this year's TED Conference in Longbeach, CA, and to present my artwork in a four-minute talk on the Fellows Stage on February 25th.  This year's theme is "The Young. The Wise. The Undiscovered."

Read more about the program and the other Fellows here.

"Sculpture By the Sea On Seven" in Sydney, Australia

You are (on) an island (2011) was recently included in the following exhibition:

"Sculpture by the Sea, partnered with David Jones, is proud to present for the first time an exciting exhibition of over 20 local and international contemporary artists available to view On Seven at David Jones in Sydney's flagship Elizabeth Street store. Sculpture by the Sea On Seven brings together a diverse range of highlights from past Sculpture by the Sea exhibitions in this iconic indoor setting, in the heart of the city.

With a pop-up cafe supplied by Pearl Catering, this exhibition is open to the public for opening night 6pm – 9pm on 11th January and then during store trading hours from 12th January – 20th January, 2013."

A photo of the sculpture taken during the opening reception

Maine Women Pioneers III: Vanguard

My work was recently included in a selective group exhibition at the University of New England Art Gallery, Maine Women Pioneers III: Vanguard, from Oct. 12 - Dec. 16, 2012.

About the exhibition:

"Maine Women Pioneers III is co-curated by Anne B. Zill, Gael May McKibben, and Andres A. Verzosa. This exhibition is the third on this subject in the history of The University of New England Art Gallery. The four categories - Vanguard, Homage, Worldview and Dirigo - have four distinct conceptual frameworks.

Vanguard, the first exhibition in the series, featured avant-garde, experimental and innovative works by nine Maine artists who offer insights into the future using mixed media, conceptual installation, performance and video elements. The artists featured were: Susan Bickford, Diana Cherbuliez, Amy Stacey Curtis, Alicia Eggert, Lauren Fensterstock, Lihua Lei, Julie Poitras Santos, Carrie Scanga, and Ling-Wen Tsai."

Read more about my work in the show in the following reviews:

Portland Press Herald: “Postcards from the cutting edge,” Bob Keyes, 18 November 2012 

Portland Phoenix: “Getting Women Right: UNE’s Impressive Third All-Female Exhibit,” Nicholas Schroeder, 14 November 2012 

Artscope: “Maine Women Pioneers III: Vanguard,” Taryn Plumb, November-December, 2012

"Alicia Eggert Speaks in Tongues"

For the opening reception of my exhibition at the Coleman Burke Gallery, Speaking in Tongues, I collaborated with the Rhythm and Sole Tap Dancing Company to stage a flash mob-style dance performance. The tap dancers choreographed and performed a dance that communicated the phrase "I'm trying to tell you something"in Morse Code. You can watch a piece of the performance that an attendee recorded with their cell phone below. Read the article the Bowdoin Orient wrote about it here.

Speaking in Tongues - A solo exhibition at the Coleman Burke Gallery

Below are some images of my solo exhibition, Speaking in Tongues, which was on view 12 October - 30 November 2012 in the 2,000 square-foot Coleman Burke Gallery in Brunswick, Maine.

“Speaking in Tongues” featured work in various media that utilizes text to explore the grey area between a simple truth and a profound insight. Flashing neon signs explore the subtle difference between obvious and existential statements, photographs document absurd and ineffective attempts to communicate a message, and sculptural installations manipulate the physical structure of language to mix up meaning and material. The exhibition featured a new large-scale neon sculpture titled “Everything You Are Looking For,” made in collaboration with Amy Jorgensen.

View from entrance

Installation view

Installation view

White Lie, 2012

Everything You Are Looking For, 2012
Made in collaboration with Amy Jorgensen

Persistence of Vision, 2012

We Are Have Yes Here, 2012

Panorama, 2012

Cyberfest 2012 in St. Petersburg, Russia

Eternity (2010) was included in the 6th International Festival for Cybernetic Art (aka CYBERFEST), held in St. Petersburg, 23-28 November 2012. Mike Fleming and I had the opportunity to travel to St. Petersburg to install the sculpture, and we had an amazing experience touring the city and meeting the other artists. Here are a few photos. Learn more about Cyberfest on their website.

Photos from the Art Moves Festival in Toruń, Poland

Three of my artworks (All the Time, NOW and Eternity) were exhibited on billboards in Toruń, Poland, as part of the main exhibition at the Art Moves Festival 2012 (September 12 - October 16). I was one of 10 artists from the US, Poland, Russia, Belarus, England and Canada invited to visit Toruń for the exhibition opening. The festival directors, Joanna Gorska and Rafal Goralski, asked the artists to present images of our work to one another and discuss why we make art and why we believe it is important. It was an amazing experience, to say the least, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to meet and form relationships with artists from around the world. Here are a few images that document the trip.

All the Time (2012) on a poster billboard in the park

All the Time (2012) with work by Egor Kraft, Anatol Knotek,
and Christine Wong Yap

Festival directors Joanna and Rafal being interviewed by the press

A video of NOW (2012) interspersed with ads on an LED Billboard

Artists in conversation