Filed under: Morphology Field Station for Sensing Place
Morphology Field Station for Sensing Place, an installation by Bartow+Metzgar at the deCordova Sculpture Park+Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts from August 2009 to October 2010. The Field Station was utilized 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. This project was an experiment with time, scale, materiality, and difference; it 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.
In November 2010 the Morphology Field Station was reconfigured for an exhibition titled Stratimentation: investigations of a metamorphic landscape in the Dewey Gallery of the deCordova Museum. The Field Station and its follow-up exhibition are part of deCordova’s Platform program, #5. The structure’s shape was derived from the topography of the deCordova site (see Installation, Research Station category below). This Stratimentation blog chronicles the development of Bartow+Metzgar’s activity with the Field Station during its exhibition in the Sculpture Park+Museum. Bartow+Metzgar can be contacted at stratimentation@gmail.com.
Interior of Morphology Field Station, August 2010.
Working in the Morphology Field Station, June 2010
Working in the Morphology Field Station, February 2010.
Morphology Field Station in June 2010.
Morphology Field Station in February 2010.
Morphology Field Station in November 2009.
Upper portion of entrance door raised in “awning position”.
Detail, upper portion of entrance door.
East view of Morphology Field Station.
Window opening into archive area of field station (Northwest view). The shape of the window and the entrance were determined by overlaying all of the major fault lines in Massachusetts onto the structure. Where two fault lines joined became the openings respectively. Other fault lines signified where the structure would ”break” apart when moved to the Dewey Gallery space in the deCordova Museum, November 2010. The drawing below represents a plan view of the structure with the fault lines (blue) overlaid onto it. The red lines signify the topography of the deCordova site from which the structure was derived.
Major fault lines in Massachusetts (dark blue) laid over structure (red). The small green circles represent collection points that correlate with the deCordova site map. See Environmental Collections category below. The light blue rings represent footer locations for the structure. The plan view of the structure is also a site map of the deCordova Sculpture Park. To state simply, the Morphology Field Station is a scale model of the deCordova site.
Adding collection point numbers onto the structure. The placement of the numbers on the structure correspond with the location of the collection points on the deCordova site. The numbered shingles utilize seven different colors which relate to seven different site zones. The same color scheme was used to organize B+M’s Fall exhibit when the Field Station and its archive were moved into the deCordova Museum (November 2010).
Detail of collection point numbers on structure.
While the Morphology Field Station is in place a series of tree drawings are being produced. These drawings utilize wind, a tree branch, and atmospheric conditions e.g., dry weather, humidity, temperature, etc. to produce nonhuman documents with qualitatively different outcomes for several locations and periods of time. Drawing stations were placed throughout the deCordova site while B+M were in residency. The tree drawing is an experiment with time, not as a metric but rather as a qualitative event. A typical drawing station is pictured below. Other examples of tree drawing (from a previous project) can be seen at Colloquiseum and at nonhuman drawing apparatuses.
Detail of tree drawing station. A mobile drawing platform (aluminum) is positioned up-right from the ground with a sheet of 8-1/2″ x 11″ vellum attached to its surface. A fine permanent marker is attached to a string which is attached to a tree branch above the drawing platform. The drawing is activated by movement of the branch from the wind. Variables affecting the quality of the drawing are wind intensity, type of tree, humidity, and location. Drawing duration varies for each drawing and is determined by arrival and departure times when B+M visit the deCordova site.
Setting up a tree drawing station in June 2010.
Tree drawing, 6-9-10, 2 hours-5 minutes
Tree drawing, 6-8-10, 5 hours-6 minutes
Tree drawing, 3-21-10, 2 hours-12 minutes
Tree drawing, 3-20-10, 5 hours-35 minutes
Tree drawing, 2-14-10, 2 hours
Tree drawing, 1-14-10, 4 hours-44 minutes
Tree drawing, 1-12-10, 6 hours-7 minutes
Tree drawing, 11-08-09, 3 hours-22 minutes
Tree drawing, 11-08-09, 3 hours-48 minutes
