Saturday, February 14, 2009

Model: Making con't. part deux



Hallo. I have new photos of the 'model for washing contaminated soil and excavating hidden artifacts'.

What's new?


I have installed the plexiglass container on a table in studio. It is hooked up to the water circulation system: Water comes into the model over two slate tiles, and it exits at the other end through valves. Both the output and input water is served from glass fish tank next to the container.



I have glued the foundation pieces inside the plexiglass container, and covered them with a wet clay.





I have suspended a camera and two lights above the table. The camera is fixed into a cradle that is held up by a plank of wood spanning between two beams in the ceiling grid. The plank platform is a central space for hooking-up all my electrical devices from a power source in the grid, and away from the water! I can also use the plank later on to install a projector, or any other devices that may come into play with the model's development.



About photographing the model.


I have begun to take timed lapsed pictures of the model in plan view. The camera I installed in the cradle is hooked up to my computer and by way of a a software program, I can continuously record the model, adjust the camera's settings, image quality, etc... With the photographic data, I may create a video of the models progress, and, later on, project onto the model a video of what it once was.








Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Model: Making con't.

Please see below recent photos of the model making process.

Model template -
The files were drawn up on the 'puter
then sent to the milling machine for
cutting.




Framing the Plexiglass Box - 1/3

Framing the Plexiglass Box - 2/3

Framing the Plexiglass Box - 3/3

Interior View of Plexiglass Box.
I have also sealed the interior joints
with a bead of silicone to make the
frame watertight. I have nightmares
that it might explode when it is full of
water.




Sanding the clay model:

Sanding Detail



Coating the clay pieces with shlack:
this will make them waterproof.

FURNACES


VIEW 7

VIEW 6

VIEW 5

VIEW 4

VIEW 3

VIEW 2



VIEW 1

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Model: Re-excavating A Section Of The Site: Testing The Soil Remediation Process

Can the soil remediation process be a way to make sense of the cultural artifacts hidden within the toxic soil? I believe it can. Soil washing can be an alternative form for removing the earth around the hidden artifacts. By running water continuously over the ground, solid earth turns into sludge, the landscape begins to move, and artifacts formerly underground become distinct materials punctuating the fluid wetland around it. As the next stages of the soil remediation process come into play - screening the soil for large objects and then introducing bacteria to "bio-remediate" the carcinogens contaminating the sludge - the foundations of former factories are used for situating the mechanics used to proceed with the remediation process.

I have begun to make a model of this process, by taking the area where the Glenora Mill foundation have been excavated on the Pointe-des-Seigneurs. This documented excavation site is the only ones I have found, and it clearly show the scale and details of the artifacts. In my model they are still undergroud, awaiting to be releaved by soil washing.