red oculus: our year of the preposterous

(on view at the Bennington Museum 6/21-11/21)

“Red Oculus: our year of the preposterous” is a collector of stories.

It is a whimsical, 3D representation of the COVID 19 virus. The large steel dome framework is woven with looping yards of red surveyor’s tape to create an intimate, warm and slightly claustrophobic interior space. It’s just big enough to hold one person at a time.

Inside the sculpture viewers will find a vintage cassette tape recorder under a glass cake dome. People are encouraged to lift up the glass dome, push a button on the recorder and play the tape. They will hear my musings about a wide variety of things, COVID and non-Covid,

People are especially invited to record their own messages. I want to hear every story.

People can record the highs and lows of COVID experiences, complain about remote learning or talk about how much they missed seeing the faces hidden behind masks. They can talk about whatever they feel like talking about. There is no wrong story.

We have all experienced an unmistakably remarkable period in our lives. COVID has taken much from us and possibly it’s also revealed just how resourceful we can be when we pull together. Just quite possibly.

But one thing is true.

We are different people now and many of us have something to say about it.

When you look up through the top of the dome, you can see through the “Oculus” to the sky. Through the hole at the top which opens to the sky, you can see the shifting clouds, birds flying and the movement of the stars.

This opening to the sky, the “Oculus “is a reminder that pandemics and politics, like weather, come and go. Time passes and by raising our gaze we have the opportunity to ponder the magnificence of our universe. It’s right here, it’s beautiful and it’s beyond our comprehension.

2021
steel, vinyl, glass cake dome, vintage Sony cassette recorder, wooden table
88”x78”x72”

red oculus videos