2018

Found rocks, aluminum, waste plastic, acrylic board, stereo sound composition

Mediterranean saltscapes are ancient production places located mostly in estuaries and within relative proximity of cities. Their fragile nature, ecological and cultural transformation, mostly as a consequence of global restructuring processes, has led to the implementation of specific measures aimed at the preservation and safeguarding of salinas as repositories of artisanal, ecological and socio- economic paradigms.

The installation Salt Process is comprised of stones collected from the site of the salinas, dressed in foil skirts that mimic the salt deposits seen on all objects resting at the surface of the salinas. A black base connects the viewer to the unknown depths below the salt surface, one that is illuminated through an imaginary soundscape created from hydrophone recordings made at the salinas.

BLANCA, SPAIN

After coming to Blanca, Spain and immersing themselves in the environment, the landscape and the people of the Murcia region, Tyler Lewis and Mara Marxt Lewis became acutely aware of the immediate threat of desertification: a process caused by climatic variations, globalized industrialization and urbanization processes. Desertification stands as a major barrier to meeting basic human needs, affecting the livelihoods of the local people who depend on the dry land ecosystem for farming and agriculture. It is one of the greatest environmental challenges today, occurring in dry lands throughout the world and affecting biodiversity, water reserves and soil quality.

The desert is one of the most symbolic and meaningful territories we have on our planet – still not entirely understood. An empty place but full of physical and spiritual resources. The desert is also the memory of our planet and a symbol of adaptation and regeneration, where seeds and plants may remain inactive for a long time and then regenerate with the slightest presence of moisture.

The desert can be as well a site of altered perception, the place where we lose orientation and where we experience the mirages. In Blanca they created works in response to ideas about water, a lack thereof, and what happens when it’s gone.

Salt Process is an installation of found stones in the vicinity of an abandoned salt mine. Hydrophone sound recordings form a murky pool of water at the mine offered a rich variety of sonic activity at an otherwise apparently ‘dead’ place.

Work developed during the Residency program of AADK Spain.