EDIFICE OF ACCUMULATION

Abstract

EDIFICE OF ACCUMULATION is an exhibition comprised of a sculpture and a two- channel video, which includes a biographical interview. The interview examines one man’s accumulation habits that developed in response to the financial collapse he experienced in the late 70’s. In this project, a story of loss, rebuilding, and adaptation also becomes a parable for the economic challenges facing our current generation. The sculptural element of the show resembles a corncrib structure. Built from 2X4’s and filled with some of the “stuff” this man has been stockpiling on his property over the years, the structure contains both broken and usable objects ranging from woodstoves and oil lamps to windows and doors. It offers the viewer an embodied experience of the way he builds edifices to store his “stash” of resources for potential shortages. Its walls are absent to reveal the edifice as a vault or a container for storing material wealth as opposed to monetary wealth. This document illustrates the process behind the thesis project, what the intentions were in creating it, and some of the discoveries that came through its development. It also reveals the historical and contextual information most relevant in the creative work.