Stratimentation: investigations of a metamorphic landscape, an installation by Bartow+Metzgar in the Dewey Gallery at the deCordova Museum in Lincoln, MA from November 13, 2010 to April 22, 2011. 

This exhibit  presents 1-1/2 years of field collecting on the deCordova site as an archive of more than 500 specimens accompanied by environmental audio and video, tree drawings and microbial drawings.  The conceit of this project centers on an experimental engagement with an urban site; to locate in it variations of scale, difference, time, and material relations for both the human and nonhuman.  This exhibition is the second phase of a two-year long program by Bartow+Metzgar. 

The first phase of this program was titled Morphology Field Station for Sensing Place, which utilized the structure pictured above as a provisional research space where environmental samples collected from the deCordova site were processed and registered into an archive for the study of human and nonhuman agents.  The archive acts as a virtual fingerprint of the deCordova site with potential relations to its future across time, i.e., it is a geographical record of a specific place in time with historical import.  B+M consider the deCordova Sculpture Park+Museum a unique urban environment where the human and nonhuman are fully entangled at varying scales and intensities.  B+M’s field research focused on unassuming agents that produce specific qualities of place through the forces of event, e.g., deep time geology, bacterial action, localized atmospheres, mycological networks, auditory phenomena, etc. 

The images in this exhibit have removable face frames so that the work can be reoriented as an articulated set of relations between specimens or collection groups.  A reorientation of the work will happen with the collaboration of a biologist, dendrologist, mycologist, geologist, or geographer.

Stratimentation: investigations of a metamorphic landscape is part of deCordova’s Platform program, #5.  This Stratimentation2 blog presents the process and installation of this exhibit.

Above: The Field Station positioned in one of two alcove spaces of the Dewey Gallery in the deCordova Museum.

The west wall in the Dewey Gallery.  View of site map (painted) and collections: scanned specimens, geologic samples, microbial cultures, and art work selected from deCordova’s permanent collection along with microbial cultures produced from the surfaces of the selected pieces.

View of art work selected from deCordova’s accession history (top gray portion).  A microbial culture (image) is placed beside each art work; the cultures were produced from swabbing the surface of each piece.  The art work was randomly chosen using the same system that produced the field collection points on the deCordova site.  Likewise, the system was also used to determine swab collection points on the art work.

View of collection #6-292, collection #14-288, and collection #12-286 on west wall

Detail of collection #12-286 on west wall

Detail of collection #1-213, Geologic specimen with microscopic scan, lithic bacteria culture, and soil culture

Site map (painted) with collection #18-292 and collection #21-318, east wall

Site map (painted) with collection #4-281, collection #3-302, collection #7-350, and collection #8-292, east wall and south wall

Detail of collection #18-292 and collection #21-318, east wall

Tree drawings displayed in the west alcove space where the Field Station resides.  A total of 47 tree drawings were assembled for this exhibit.  These were captioned as time documents with the shortest time for a tree drawing being just under 1-1/2 hours and the longest time being just over 8 hours.

Detail of tree drawings

Detail of microbial drawings in the east alcove space.  A total of 10 microbial drawings were prepared for this exhibit.  Each drawing was captioned as a time document, with the shortest drawing process occuring just over 1 month and the longest drawing process occurring just over 1 year.  More on nonhuman drawing processes here.

A row of collection point videos in the east alcove space.  Each monitor plays three collection point videos that share an elevation range (10′ to 15′ differential).  Each video was recorded using a topographical perspective and utilized one of three different camera heights: eye level, waist level, and foot level (determined from the roll of a die).  The total length of each collection point video was derived from the elevation where each video was recorded, e.g., an elevation of 345′ would be converted into a time of 345 seconds, or 5 minutes-45 seconds.

Field Station fully assembled in west alcove with north wall partially painted

Assembling walls of Field Station, west alcove

Assembling walls of Field Station, west alcove

Assembling walls of Field Station, west alcove

Assembling deck of Field Station, west alcove

Work in process: painting image frames and painting the site map onto the gallery walls 

Preparing archive boxes for geologic specimens

Geologic specimens fitted to foam for archive boxes

Assembling west wall with image frames and archive shelves

Painting color scheme on west wall

Taping topo rings and painting color scheme on west wall

Starting the taping of topo rings on west wall

Installing image frames for collection #7-350 and #8-292 along east wall

Ccolor scheme, building outlines, and topo rings, east wall

Painting topo rings and color scheme, east wall

Taping topo rings, east wall

Starting the taping of topo rings on east wall