We installed the Arcanum Research show on the night of Sunday, November 16th. For some reason—I’m sure vitally important to the airport authorities—the display cases are emptied at 8:00 PM and the new artists start installing at 8:30. I assume this is the official low-traffic window. But it can make for a rather late night.
Preparing for the Install
I spent Sunday doing the math for the install, gathering absolutely everything I could imagine needing, and packing the car completely full as our first snow started to fall. And then an amazing thing happened: for the first time in months I enjoyed an afternoon nap. All in preparation for the late night, of course. Thankfully I didn’t have to do the installation alone—I enlisted the assistance of Back Space star, bookmaker, and crafty craftswoman Chelsea van der Meer.
The Install
For the most part the installation went well. There were some leveling issues. Level doesn’t look level because the case isn’t level, so I had to level it according to the case and not the earth. We also had to reposition the mounting system after the discovery of some faulty math. It is not an installation without some faulty math.
But in general it went very smoothly. I was so pleasantly surprised at how putting the trophies on a glass shelf, in a display case, under lights, against a dark gray fabric background suddenly contextualizes them in such a pronounced way. Their presentation suddenly seemed so legit.
Where Did Four Hours Go?
Shocking to me was how it seemed like the whole installation took maybe two hours, but when I looked at my watch at the end it was 12:30. Where did four hours—half a work day—suddenly go? Must have been having fun.
Thanks
Thanks to Chelsea van der Meer for her installation assistance, to Sarah Zajac for her work 3D modeling the trophy figurines, and to Julia Muney Moore, the curator of art at the airport, for inviting me to show my Arcanum Research work.
A video on the giant video wall was also part of the exhibit. It was created by a graduate student of mine, Jiachi Liu, who took an independent study with me.
Here are close-ups of the trophies.
