SACO 1.0 Contemporary Art Biennale Chile: Mooring

In 2021 I was invited to create an installation in the city center of Antofagasta, Chile at the Antofagasta Regional Library. The concept for the 2021 Chilean Biennale (SACO 1.0) was Aluvión/Flood. For the outward facing part of my installation titled Mooring, I initially thought of using these large-scale underpants to literally represent the result of a catastrophic event — belongings disrupted and found out of place or moved up and out of harms way or aired out after the “waters” had receded.

After thinking about it more and talking to the people around me, I began to see these tighty whities relating to vulnerability and acceptance: underpants raised up a flagpole — a negative act of humiliation transformed into something positive and celebrated; a rescue beacon; a flag of surrender. Ultimately I wanted to emphasize the beauty and importance of this historical library building in the center of Antofagasta through various contradictions: public vs. private, absurd vs. reasoned, chaotic vs. ordered.

Making the inner part of installation began with a process of abstracting larger figurative sculptures I had made in the past. That was a starting point, along with the idea of a mooring, tether or anchor. As I slowly added clothing and fabric to the structure, I began to see it as a fragile community of tangled scraps, or a ship finally returned home after an ordeal. I thought about it like a big bower bird’s nest signaling to someone or something beyond, or as a hodgepodge farewell.