These are part of an as-yet indeterminate series, each describing peculiar, little-seen and hidden-away uses of the earth. Built into new 1950 brown Bakelite instrument
cases, each contains layers of
information; the windowed cover tilts up to reveal an etched brass
panel with inscription encircling the
electro-phosphorescent-illuminated chamber holding the landscape.
Dim, yellowed lamps inside the cover partially illuminate the brass
panel, visible through the circular window.
WPS-LE1 is yet another way to look at the Trinity Site in New Mexico, cleaner than the tourist vision, with less detail to confuse. A green glow illuminates the terrain equally from all sides providing an apparently impartial view. The ringing in the ears leftover from the 1940's is still present, this time with a volume control for your convenience.
WPS-LE2 is of a place to the north and west of Las Vegas, Nevada; west of Saint George, Utah whose residents know not quite enough of, or maybe too much. Not a lunar landscape, and not craters really; these are subsidences , mere visible dips in the surface over a huge molten/crumbled rock bubble in the earth below, the whole thing a nice model of Cold War political/technological development: obscure results hidden from far-overhead enemy observers, allowing plausible-deniability to its citizens; the results of "testing" "devices".
WPS-LE3a is a reference to yet another place of damage and beauty, a ring of islands made by tiny water-bugs over millennia. More or less completely forgotten, except of course to those that were relocated before the utilization, these balmy islands have peculiar histories; one no longer exists, and another had a bathing suit named after it.
Encapsulated landscapes are best experienced mounted on a wall, in a dark room or hallway. When hung as a group, and it is extremely quiet, and you listen carefully, the singing/ringing boxes cause beat interference, audible as undulating low, sad tones.
Mixed media (Bakelite, brass, plaster,
watercolor, shellac, electronic components), 8"x6"x4", approx.
4lbs
