Orange Jungle
Fall 2007 | Material Assemblage
Instructor: Michael Oatman
Working exclusively with found materials, a 10’ x 8’ x 4’ installation was created and exhibited in the Greene Gallery on RPI campus and at the Capital Center for the Arts in downtown Troy, NY. The installation was made out of 700 feet of orange construction fencing, which was cut into strips and reformed into modules of intertwined tracks that could be locked together to create larger sheets. The modules create the larger configuration of a deformed box, which is meant to be experienced not only from the outside, but also while inhabiting the space. The material takes over the frame like a virus, covering the floor and spilling out of the sides due to the weight of the material and varying levels of density.
The new configuration of the fence allows the material to take on a new meaning. The fence is classically used for protection and prevention of inhabiting danger zones, but this resulting space is both inviting and foreboding. The installation encourages inhabitation while keeping the user aware of danger, ultimately merging pleasure with a sense of unease.
- post-exhibit takedown – the project takes on a new use as a lounge
- looking into the project from a void in the material
- the orange jungle situated next to a project constructed with medical gloves
- the project was constructed in sheets – this one took up the entire hallway
- the process of construction took over the studio like a rapidly spreading virus
- a team member inhabiting the interior of the project, showing different levels of opacity and transparency depending on the density of the construction
