Slow Motion Plane Crash
We, as humans, are a collective. We share a planet, share thoughts, desires, and have a common human destiny. When we fly in a commercial airline, we share the extended body of the airframe. We are children of the Jet Age. Planes have become an extension of our bodies, giving us the god-like power to fly with ease at 600mph, but the pull of gravity is always trying to return the plane to the ground. The extreme energy in a plane flight can, in a moment, express itself in destruction and death.
The world stops when a plane crashes.
Our faith in the system is questioned.
Our fragility and vulnerability as individuals and as a society are exposed.
In an instance, a state of very high order is reduced to a state of considerably lower order.
A plane crash is an inherently fascinating moment. It's a failure; it's a loss of control. We know our death is always coming, but to see it in such a dramatic collective event is difficult. We live in a society that avoids death. To avoid death is to ignore a very real part of life. This piece is about respecting and contemplating that moment.
A plane crash is an almost invisible moment; it happens in seconds and is not easily documented. There are snapshots and videos, but they are limited by perspective and time. This piece is a crash; the plane will crash into the ground with one change, time will be expanded. An airplane's primary function is to reduce time. The time it takes to get from one place to another. Our society is always in search of the new, the faster; this sculpture is specifically about slowing down. The expansion of time and perception allows for catharsis, examination, and thought. The viewer is asked to examine basic physical principles like power, gravity, force, entropy, time, and death.
This sculpture is more than a plane crash; it is also a portrait of the enigma of time itself.
