grasstrainsky
site-specific recordings from matfield station
grasstrainsky is a site-specific installation and series of recordings created for and at Matfield
Station.
The work uses slit-scan
techniques to simplify the surroundings and environment to
the basic colors of the land and sky and forms
of the train when it passes by.
The project was originally created as a site-specific installation at Matfield Station, a
historic bunkhouse for rail workers, where the projection reflects on the sounds and silhouettes of the
industrial railway within the context of the natural environment of the Flint Hills.
In the recordings, one can observe the contrast between the ambient sound
of birds and wind
against the mechanical buzzes and rumbles when the train arrives. At other times, it is interesting to
notice the clouds and various grasses come in and out of the frame,
simplified and semi-abstracted to basic blocks of color.
some of
these recordings are posted here!
Created through the Tallgrass Artist Residency in June 2023.
Selected for Mapping Perspectives at Throughline Collective, Houston, TX (March 2024). The exhibition was juried and curated by Samantha Johnston as a part of FotoFest Biennial 2024: Critical Geography. Mapping Perspectives explored power structures, inequalities, and dominant ideologies within and across marked boundaries.
Tallgrass Artist Residency recordings FotoFest Biennial 2024 Throughline Collective Mapping Perspectives
grasstrainsky installed at Throughline Collective (photo: Jake Eshelman/Throughline Collective)
grasstrainsky installed at Throughline Collective (photo: Jake Eshelman/Throughline Collective)