visible infrastructure (brutalism revisited), 2008
Sewage systems serve a purpose analogous to the digestive tract of the human body and parallel its biological function in many ways. Each serves a critical function, the regulation and processing of waste, and each is typically ignored until something goes wrong.
Talking about sewage and biological waste is especially taboo in American society, in spite of the fact that Western civilization was practically built on sewage, and in spite of the fact that wastewater treatment facilities are among the most spectacular and complex manmade structures in the world.
This installation is meant as a gesture towards exposing the systems on which our cities and bodies depend. Through the use of a wireless camera installed in the sewage line leading from a restroom and a projector installed in said restroom, the viewer is able to perceive connections between their body, its waste products, and the sewage system.
This piece was featured in Capsule Gallery's Objectophilia show as part of the 2010 Denver Biennial of the Americas.