GALVANIC GARDEN

Private Commission

 

This installation is a manifestation of the metamorphic and the organic elements of landscape and operates as a garden fountain or folly. The coupling of the dissimilar metals of zinc and copper, catalyzed by the saline solution in the copper bath, will induce a sacrifice of the zinc wire grid as a small, yet corrosive electrical charge is developed. In time, the zinc grid will decay, a process known as galvanic corrosion which is typically avoided by architects and artists in the design of their work but, in this installation, is activated for its metaphoric and transformative capabilities.

IF A DURABLE SUBSTANCE, HE SAID TO HIMSELF, SUCH AS A METAL FOR EXAMPLE, WERE REDUCED TO A POWDER, IT COULD BE USED TO COLOUR CHARACTERS WRITTEN IN WATER, THE ONLY LIQUID AVAILABLE - AND ONCE THIS HAD DRIED OUT IN THE NORMAL WAY, IT WOULD GIVE A STABLE AND LEGIBLE TEXT.

- Raymond Roussel, Locus Solus, 1914