Flows of Relatedness (2024)
LEDs, speakers, microprocessor, cyanotypes on fabric, feathers, paint
Commissioned by the City of Albuquerque.
Flows of Relatedness change in response to real-time data on the Rio Grande water flow and regional bird migration. Online data repositories are read through IoT technology, affecting sound and light in the sculpture. Flows of Relatedness create audio and visual embodiments for the viewer of flows and migrations happening in the urban space.
Special thanks to Brian Rashap, EJ Ishman and the City of Albuquerque Public Art Urban Enhancement Division for their help and support.
The River
This work wants to create contact points, spaces for relatedness with the flows that cross the city of Albuquerque. Larger-than-human movements and breaths that connect us to the ecology of the region.
In the years I lived in Albuquerque, I saw the river running completely dry, a line of cracked mud between the cottonwood. I also saw it reclaiming the whole Bosque, kicking out the humans for a bit. The river changes everyday, every moment, and those changes are so important for humans and other species living in this high desert region.
Flow of Relatedness first aim is to connect us with this changes, witnessing them to create awareness about the vein of life that is the Rio. To do that, it focuses on real time water flow data (provided by US Geological Services, see here). The information is taken and transformed into light illuminating the sculptural piece
Cyanotypes
The sculpture itself is made by the river. Using the old photographic technique of the cyanotype, I have coated a large piece of fabric with the photosensitive chemicals and let the river water and sandy banks create the blue forms and shapes.
The Birds
New Mexico is connected to places and stories way beyond its borders. The Rio transports parts of it to the Ocean, so far away for this land lock state. Even more, the birds migrating to and through the sky. We are connected, from Sandhill cranes that spend their summers in the Arctic, to a variety of song birds that travel across the American continent. A breath that takes seasons to complete happening every year.
The installation has a motion sensor that is triggered when a human body, as a viewer, interacts with it. In the presence of someone, the sounds of some of the birds that migrate through Albuquerque resonates. The volume of the soundtrack changes on a daily base, according to the data from BirdCast (here more info) to allow the viewer to feel the presence of these traveling companions.
