hanging in the balance
Ekserserhus, Kristiansand, Norway, 2019floor text: salt
paper text: list of mammals that have become extinct in my lifetime, 1990 through to 2019. sounds of the extinct animals no longer heard in nature.
Hanging in the Balance unfolds through three elements placed in relation: a single word on the floor made of salt, sheets of paper listing mammals that have become extinct between 1990 and 2019 (my lifetime), and a speaker playing a continuous loop of the animals recorded sounds though they are no longer heard in nature.
The word on the floor sits on the ground. Salt carries multiple associations, preservation, erosion, the body, the sea from which we all came. on the wall the list marks a different kind of language: one that names, records and counts. Each species appears as a line, accumulating into a sequence that suggests time passing and loss being registered.
The sound introduces another register. The calls, movements and atmospheres of these animals continue to circulate through the space, even as the bodies that produced them no longer exist. The recordings repeat, persisting without change, held in a loop that neither progresses nor concludes. Between these elements, loss is felt between naming and sounding, the floor text signals a reality and a warning.The work lingers in this space of suspension where loss remains as an ongoing condition.
