Bartow + Metzgar

In the Pull out of the Loop

In the Pull/Out of the Loop, an installation that is part of a curated exhibit titled State of the City: In the Loop at the Rochester Contemporary Art Center, Rochester, NY, August 5 – September 25, 2011.  B+M experimented with movement, speed, and bodily engagement for their investigation of Rochester’s Inner Loop (inner city expressway).  B+M also investigated nonhuman agents that qualify this urban infrastructure as a unique urban/natural environment. This installation consists of environmental samples in the form of video, specimen photographs, and nonhuman drawing.  It is a glimpse into the space of the Inner Loop from the hybridized perspective of the human and nonhuman.  This project was made possible with the assistance of Jim Downer , a film maker from the Rochester, NY area.  Read a review  of this exhibit in Rochester’s City Newspaper.

The drawing machine was placed in the bed of a pick-up truck which was driven on the Inner Loop at various speeds derived from eight elevation points pulled from its geographic footprint.  The different elevations were converted to speed differentials, which in turn affected the qualitative outcome of the drawing, e.g., line length, line bleed, line direction, etc.  The drawing machine video is an experiment with a perspective that captures the forces affecting an event; two cameras were used, one to record the road surface and the other the action of the drawing machine.  The two views were synchronized to produce a strangely abstract, yet completely literal narrative of the Inner Loop.

Collection points were based on pulling vectors between public parking areas in and around the Inner Loop and where these vectors intersected its path. A total of eight collection points were produced for this project which produced 175 individual organic and inorganic specimens.

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