Entropic Order

"Entropic Order"
Interactive Installation, 2011

Ever-shifting structures in politics, religions and urban migrations create new socio-political landscapes, metaphorically represented in Entropic Order. The landscapes are symbolic of power structures continuously reshaped and in flux, in reference specifically to the current political climates in the Middle East.

This interactive installation is comprised of a 2-axis machine and 3,000 pounds of Black Beauty sand. The sand while representing the terrain is in fact coal slag. The hovering machine is symbolic of the politicization of ideologies; it navigates and commands a suspended brass pendulum, responding to participant’s movements and presence around its borders. The pendulum receives commands, which it obeys and executes without hesitation. In its solitude, the pendulum’s piercing tip engraves precise geometric latticework; the presence of participants calls it to action, shifting its focus to frantic carvings of the landscape and causing the perfection of the patterns to fragment and collapse.

The terrain holds the visible remains of impressions that endure even once the machine has moved on to other parts of the landscape - reflecting and preserving a real-time history. The continuously reconstructed landscapes will, over time, create numerous possibilities of terrain, simultaneously beautiful while reflecting the complex realities in our lives.

CNC machine (12 ft x 16 ft) designed and fabricated by artist and educator, Chris Coleman. Read Less