I've been profiled on a cool blog!

Cees Egas, author of the blog Bagger, made a great little post about my work. The blog highlights work by some really interesting artists from around the world, so be sure to check it out!

a windsock that needs no wind

I want to make an indoor windsock that moves like it would if it were outside.

No wind. Only magic.

(And if magic doesn't work, then maybe an Arduino, a servo motor, a small hidden fan, and weather information derived from the internet...)

Do you know where we are? We're right here on this very spot.

(title from The Phantom Tollbooth)

You certainly must be very old to have reached the ground already.

(title from The Phantom Tollbooth)

I appreciate wavering lines but I do not make them

"I like things that are handmade and I like to see people's hand in the world, anywhere in the world; it doesn't matter to me where it is. And in my own work, I do everything by hand. I don't project or use anything mechanical, because even though I do spend a lot of time trying to perfect my line work and my hand, my hand will always be imperfect because it's human. And I think it's the part that's off that's interesting, that even if I'm doing really big letters and I spend a lot of time going over the line and over the line and trying to make it straight, I'll never be able to make it straight. From a distance it might look straight, but when you get close up, you can always see the line waver. And I think that's where the beauty is." -Margaret Kilgallen

Lately I've been trying to figure out why I like to hire people to make things for my artwork instead of doing it myself (for instance, my inflatable self-portrait was made by an advertising company). It's not that I think I'm incapable. It's almost like it's more fun to let other people make some of the decisions. The outcome is more of a surprise that way. And also, I think I'm too much of a perfectionist. I'd never allow my own lines to waver, but I always appreciate the way other peoples' do. So perhaps by giving some control away I allow those beautiful imperfections to occur that would otherwise be erased by my anal retentive instincts. 

I think I also like the idea of hiring people because it gets more people involved in the project. It feels lees like a selfish, solo enterprise, and more like a community undertaking. The people who do work for me are forced to care about the work, at least to a degree, not only because they're paid to but because they contributed some of their creativity to it. So, if the final work of art is like an umbrella (metaphorically speaking), the more people that are involved in its making, the bigger the umbrella grows, and the more people can huddle together under it when it rains.

waves of people energy

(Images taken with a Holga camera on a recent trip to Spain)

my new home: vacationland

This week I packed up my life and moved to Portland, Maine. I have been appointed as an Assistant Professor of Art at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, where I will be teaching sculpture and architecture beginning in the Fall. I am honored to join the ranks of esteemed artists and educators such as Mark Wethli, James Mullen, John Bisbee, Carrie Scanga, Michael Kolster, Meggan Gould and others. Check out my faculty profile and image gallery!

my friends are fantastic

This is my favorite image from a new series of photographs by my Philadelphia-based friend, Jeff Stockbridge:

Magic Marker Digital Clock

Does anyone happen to know the name of this artist? A friend of mine said he saw this piece at Art Basel... (thanks, Mark!).

Eternity, 2010

Eternity from Alicia Eggert on Vimeo.

Eternity (full 12 hours) from Alicia Eggert on Vimeo.

Imagine Eternity in Times Square

Imagine eternity in Times Square. Eternity, by definition, is “a state to which time has no application.” Eternity is timelessness.

Eternity is a wall-mounted kinetic sculpture that employs 30 electric clock movements and 36 hour and minute hands. Once every twelve hours the hands align to spell the word ETERNITY, which in this case only lasts a mere split second (video documentation available at vimeo.com/aliciaeggert).

We propose to bring Eternity to Times Square in one of many possible forms. The ideal realization would be to fabricate it at a much larger scale and erect it on an existing billboard. High-torque motors would be rear-mounted to the billboard’s structure and large, black, custom-made clock hands would rotate above the blank white surface of its front. The hands would be designed to align exactly at noon and at midnight every day, creating two events that would attract an audience eager to witness a fleeting moment of timelessness in Times Square. A potential addition to the work would be an LED countdown clock indicating the time “until eternity,” reminiscent of the countdown that occurs every New Year’s eve.

An active digital component of the piece would be a website featuring a live video feed, making it accessible to Internet audiences. Time-lapse photography would also be taken for the duration of the exhibition, resulting in a dynamic stop-motion animation of the work in relation to the flow of traffic in Times Square.

Other possible installation sites include vacant storefront windows, building facades, and the lobbies of office buildings, theaters and hotels, where the scale of the available location would determine the sculpture’s size and construction methods. The universal nature of time and its relevance to commerce, communication and culture ensures that any location in Times Square would be an appropriate site for Eternity – an ever-changing piece for an ever-changing place.

Imagine Eternity in Times Square.

Sincerely,

Alicia Eggert & Mike Fleming

(from our letter of application to the Times Square Alliance)

having fun with Holga

I'm not finished with colorful flags quite yet...

This is a photo that Mike took in Pittsburgh that I can't stop thinking about. I want to recreate this in a gallery with solenoids that make the flags bounce up and down. Maybe this will be the continuation of A Grand Opening for Gravity...

"One Minute Sculptures" by Erwin Wurm

I saw (and loved) these photos in a show in Madrid called "Between Times: Instants, intervals, durations", which was part of PhotoEspana:

I've recently discovered that in some circumstances the work is also shown in an interactive way:

"Visitors can become objects of art by holding a variety of household items in Erwin Wurm's One Minute Sculptures (2006)... These works suggest that "participation" is when art and audience are in a symbiotic relationship, mutually calling each other into being and giving each other purpose. And it cannot be an audience of just one; there has to be a crowd/collective/community for the works to find form."
(quote from here) 

Here is a gallery shot of an interactive exhibition:

I spoke to a friend who saw this interactive version of the show and she said people actually did participate (I was skeptical, thinking that people might be shy). She said they were nervous at first, having to step on the pedestal and become the art, but all it took was for one person to grab an object and do something silly, and then everyone else followed suit. Erwin Wurm is now my hero.

"Whoa"

by Jeanine Woollard
(found here)

timelessness

Eternity, by definition, is “a state to which time has no application". Eternity is timelessness.

(my brain is exploding)

still working on eternity

The video is almost done! We took 1800 pictures of it over a period of 12 hours which will be made into a stop-motion animation. Hopefully sooner than later....

Snappy Shirts

Always pack a jacket. And I mean always. Even if you travel to Spain in the summer. Otherwise, you will have to layer up...


Snappy Shirts from Alicia Eggert on Vimeo.

my next next medium of choice: rainbows

This picture is of an installation at the Crystal Palace by Kimsooja. She covered all the windows with diffraction grating film (which makes rainbows!) and all the floors with mirrors.

my next medium of choice: googly eyes

(I have no idea where this picture came from originally, but it truly is an inspiration)

Eternity's debut in Philadelphia

Eternity in Philadelphia from Alicia Eggert on Vimeo.

Roman Signer's "Action Sculptures"