Alembic I
2011
Alembics are alchemical vessels; this intervention in the Allis Art Museum (the collector’s home) imagined collecting as a set of physical, economic, and social alchemies. Museum cases and contents were rearranged according to idiosyncratic taxonomies. Pools of iron slag were added (the Allises began in iron manufacturing), and contemporary objects with iron patina were slyly inserted amongst the collections, as were replicas of documents from archives, including some text fragments cast in iron. Large golden drawings replicated 19th century Allis patent diagrams, transmuting iron into gold literally and figuratively, as such items provided the wealth to amass the collection. Finally, the center table featured a lens that presented the world upside down.
- Materials
- iron, gold ink, glassine, found objects, lenses, marble, wood, gold leaf, iron patina
- Dimensions
- 12’ x 25’4” x 12’2”
