Part A: Illustrations (1-5 drawings) (see attached)
Part B: Installation Title and Location:
Title: “Apparatus for Celestial Observation and Introspection”
Location: My first choice of location is one of the cells in cellblock 2 that has a round oculus. Until I work with an astronomy consultant I will be unable to determine if the north or south side of the block is preferable. I am aware that cellblock 2 is usually reserved for private tours so if it is impossible to accommodate a piece there, a cell in any of the other cell blocks with a single long skylight would be an acceptable alternative. It is important that the cellblock where the piece is located is not overshadowed by any nearby tall buildings. As a final alternative, the piece could work in a cell with two long skylights, with one blacked out.
Part C: Physical Project Description (50 words maximum):
An eight-faceted glass prism rests in a steel bezel, which is suspended with steel bars from the skylight in the cell. On the floor beneath it, surrounded by the cell’s debris is a slightly irregular semi-spherical mirror that projects the light that comes through the prism onto the walls.
Part D: Contact Information: Alexander Rosenberg 122 Arch St. Floor 3 Philadelphia PA 19106 (973) 879 7200 thetoast77@gmail.com arosenberg@uarts.edu http://alexanderrosenberg.net
Part E: Narrative (1 - 4 pages total):
Clocks offer at best a convenient fiction. They imply that time ticks steadily, predictably forward, when our experience shows that it often does the opposite: it stretches and compresses, skips a beat and doubles back.
-David Eagleman
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/04/25/110425fafactbilger#ixzz1wfaCW5p3
This project did not start with Eastern State Penitentiary in mind. I sleep in the room adjacent to my studio and this year I noticed for a few days a month, a few months out of the year, a bright light peeks between two buildings, through the top corner of my studio window, through the doorway and right into my eyes. This event would occur at around 3:00 – 4:00 AM in the middle of winter. It took me two days to realize that the light was not a spotlight on a building, but in fact was the full moon. At that particular time of year, at that particular time of night, it just happened to perfectly miss every structure usually blocking my view and shine onto my face to wake me up. For the next couple days my studio practice became waking up at this unreasonably early hour and playing with the moon. I experimented with my collection of lenses and prisms and I wanted to see if I could make something lasting out of that fleeting moment. I became interested in multiplying the moon to illustrate a long time in a short one. I made an eight-faceted prism and paired it with a magnifying lens to turn a single full moon into eight moons arranged in a circle on my studio floor. Many illustrations of the lunar cycle have eight stages: Full, waning crescent, last quarter, waning gibbous, new, waxing crescent, first quarter, and waxing gibbous. I became interested in using optics to fragment and distort the full moon so that it became an image of all of these phases: So that that brief moment could represent an entire month of lunar time. I began working on carving my prism, making polished indents in the surface that would distort the full moon and warp it into the shapes of its other stages. I researched ancient tools for celestial observation and found reflecting pools in Machu Picchu that were used to observe the sky. There would be an oculus in the ceiling of the room and the stars would reflect off of the surface of a shallow basin of water onto the walls and ceiling of the room to be more easily observed. I designed an amorphous mirror, to be fabricated out of mirrored glass or polished stainless steel to both reflect and distort the eight full moons so that the full lunar cycle would be projected on the walls around the apparatus.
I began looking for a site for this piece. There were two main qualities that I was concerned with. The first was that the site should have an oculus. It should have good exposure to the night sky so that for a few rare moments a year, the full moon would align with the architectural opening. The second quality was that it should be a place for introspection or quiet contemplation - a place where minutes might drag into hours or days. Where hours might become months. After doing the artist orientation at Eastern State, I became convinced that it was a very appropriate site. A solitary confinement cell seems to be an apt place to represent the stretching of time, and there is also something appealing about using an optical device to project distant celestial bodies onto the walls of a space whose occupants might have been unable to leave for extended periods of time. This is somehow akin to fitting a very large space into a very small one.
I will be working with an astronomer to determine the exact times that the celestial conditions will work with the apparatus based on the specific location of the cell I am given, and the angle of the oculus in the cell. I am certain however, that the event will never be visible when visitors are present. I am interested in a precise and visually dazzling event that no one is able to see. All that will be visible to viewers will be the apparatus (which might make projected images with the sun at certain times of day, but will only be calibrated to function properly with the moon). I am quite interested in using the audio tours as a way to tell the story of what happens momentarily on certain nights in the cell. The event only existing in a narrative resonates for me with the rest of the historic site as a place where things have happened but now we can only hear or read about them.
The piece will require little to no maintenance. All of the steel structure will be mild steel, so will rust, but this is expected and desired, blending the material with the older steel structures around the prison. The only maintenance that could potentially be needed is the wiping down of the glass prim and reflecting semi-sphere on the floor if either get dusty or wet. Those surfaces will need to be kept clean for the object to function properly.
The piece will be silent.
I attended an artist orientation on Wednesday, May 30th.
Part F: Requested Funding/Budget: Detail how the funds will be spent. $7,500.00 maximum.
-Steel rolling / forming / fabrication $3500 -Professional consultation – Astronomer $500 -Glass studio rental / cold-shop supplies $750 -Cold-working assistant $1000 -Raw materials / Steel / Hardware $750 -Assistant for documentation / installation / calibration of device $1000
Part A: Illustrations (1-5 drawings) (see attached)
Part B: Installation Title and Location:
Title: “Apparatus for Celestial Observation and Introspection”
Location: My first choice of location is one of the cells in cellblock 2 that has a round oculus. Until I work with an astronomy consultant I will be unable to determine if the north or south side of the block is preferable. I am aware that cellblock 2 is usually reserved for private tours so if it is impossible to accommodate a piece there, a cell in any of the other cell blocks with a single long skylight would be an acceptable alternative. It is important that the cellblock where the piece is located is not overshadowed by any nearby tall buildings. As a final alternative, the piece could work in a cell with two long skylights, with one blacked out.
Part C: Physical Project Description (50 words maximum):
An eight-faceted glass prism rests in a steel bezel, which is suspended with steel bars from the skylight in the cell. On the floor beneath it, surrounded by the cell’s debris is a slightly irregular semi-spherical mirror that projects the light that comes through the prism onto the walls.
Part D: Contact Information: Alexander Rosenberg 122 Arch St. Floor 3 Philadelphia PA 19106 (973) 879 7200 thetoast77@gmail.com arosenberg@uarts.edu http://alexanderrosenberg.net
Part E: Narrative (1 - 4 pages total):
Clocks offer at best a convenient fiction. They imply that time ticks steadily, predictably forward, when our experience shows that it often does the opposite: it stretches and compresses, skips a beat and doubles back.
-David Eagleman
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/04/25/110425fafactbilger#ixzz1wfaCW5p3
This project did not start with Eastern State Penitentiary in mind. I sleep in the room adjacent to my studio and this year I noticed for a few days a month, a few months out of the year, a bright light peeks between two buildings, through the top corner of my studio window, through the doorway and right into my eyes. This event would occur at around 3:00 – 4:00 AM in the middle of winter. It took me two days to realize that the light was not a spotlight on a building, but in fact was the full moon. At that particular time of year, at that particular time of night, it just happened to perfectly miss every structure usually blocking my view and shine onto my face to wake me up. For the next couple days my studio practice became waking up at this unreasonably early hour and playing with the moon. I experimented with my collection of lenses and prisms and I wanted to see if I could make something lasting out of that fleeting moment. I became interested in multiplying the moon to illustrate a long time in a short one. I made an eight-faceted prism and paired it with a magnifying lens to turn a single full moon into eight moons arranged in a circle on my studio floor. Many illustrations of the lunar cycle have eight stages: Full, waning crescent, last quarter, waning gibbous, new, waxing crescent, first quarter, and waxing gibbous. I became interested in using optics to fragment and distort the full moon so that it became an image of all of these phases: So that that brief moment could represent an entire month of lunar time. I began working on carving my prism, making polished indents in the surface that would distort the full moon and warp it into the shapes of its other stages. I researched ancient tools for celestial observation and found reflecting pools in Machu Picchu that were used to observe the sky. There would be an oculus in the ceiling of the room and the stars would reflect off of the surface of a shallow basin of water onto the walls and ceiling of the room to be more easily observed. I designed an amorphous mirror, to be fabricated out of mirrored glass or polished stainless steel to both reflect and distort the eight full moons so that the full lunar cycle would be projected on the walls around the apparatus.
I began looking for a site for this piece. There were two main qualities that I was concerned with. The first was that the site should have an oculus. It should have good exposure to the night sky so that for a few rare moments a year, the full moon would align with the architectural opening. The second quality was that it should be a place for introspection or quiet contemplation - a place where minutes might drag into hours or days. Where hours might become months. After doing the artist orientation at Eastern State, I became convinced that it was a very appropriate site. A solitary confinement cell seems to be an apt place to represent the stretching of time, and there is also something appealing about using an optical device to project distant celestial bodies onto the walls of a space whose occupants might have been unable to leave for extended periods of time. This is somehow akin to fitting a very large space into a very small one.
I will be working with an astronomer to determine the exact times that the celestial conditions will work with the apparatus based on the specific location of the cell I am given, and the angle of the oculus in the cell. I am certain however, that the event will never be visible when visitors are present. I am interested in a precise and visually dazzling event that no one is able to see. All that will be visible to viewers will be the apparatus (which might make projected images with the sun at certain times of day, but will only be calibrated to function properly with the moon). I am quite interested in using the audio tours as a way to tell the story of what happens momentarily on certain nights in the cell. The event only existing in a narrative resonates for me with the rest of the historic site as a place where things have happened but now we can only hear or read about them.
The piece will require little to no maintenance. All of the steel structure will be mild steel, so will rust, but this is expected and desired, blending the material with the older steel structures around the prison. The only maintenance that could potentially be needed is the wiping down of the glass prim and reflecting semi-sphere on the floor if either get dusty or wet. Those surfaces will need to be kept clean for the object to function properly.
The piece will be silent.
I attended an artist orientation on Wednesday, May 30th.
Part F: Requested Funding/Budget: Detail how the funds will be spent. $7,500.00 maximum.
-Steel rolling / forming / fabrication $3500 -Professional consultation – Astronomer $500 -Glass studio rental / cold-shop supplies $750 -Cold-working assistant $1000 -Raw materials / Steel / Hardware $750 -Assistant for documentation / installation / calibration of device $1000