Ocean
DETAILS
October 23, 2011 - July 21, 2012
Caroline Lathan-Stiefel
Installed on the exterior of a historic Atlanta building that was once a department store, Ocean is a site-specific installation by CarolineLathan-Stiefel that will grow and transform over time.
Inspired by the classic Polish science fiction book, Solaris (by Stanislaw Lem, 1961), Lathan-Stiefel has created a large-scale sculpture consisting of pipe cleaners, fabric, thread, fishing weights, and plastic from an abundant variety of shopping bags. In the book, the planet Solaris is almost completely covered with a sentient ocean that remains a mystery to the humans who attempt to understand it. Focusing on descriptions of the ocean as an elastic, expandable body of water that creates enormous, unimaginably intricate forms, Lathan-Stiefel’s installation will be a lightweight, complex textile construction made up of many components. Overall, Ocean will also be a kind of parasite–a transient form that will have a dependent relationship with the building to which it is attached. Specific lines of text from a recent translation of the book will also be incorporated into the work to create an additional link.
Different phases of Ocean will be installed in October 2011, December 2011, January 2012, and finally in the spring of 2012.
Artist Thanks
Caroline Lathan-Stiefel would like to thank the following people who have helped her with this project: Amy and Ivan Reyes, Joe Desimone, Carolyn Biel, Astrid Bucio, Susan Bridges, Sandler Hudson Gallery, Anna Hepler, Van Stiefel, The Lathans, Kief Schleifer, Emily Fisher, and Derek Dondeville.
Artist Talk: Thursday, July 19, 7pm
Whitespace Gallery
814 Edgewood Avenue
