Jonathan Schipper

We are delighted to welcome Jonathan Schipper who will speak on his practice and the installation exhibited at New Media Gallery; Detritus.

Jonathan Schipper focusses on the desire of humans to shape, and reshape the world in a bid to find permanence. Detritus shows an environment being actively constructed from rock salt and technology. The installation consists of nine tons of salt heaped in a terrain that covers 1000 square feet of gallery space. A large 3D printer connected to a robotic extruder is suspended from the ceiling by cables. By varying the length of the cables, the extruder is able to move around the room and print small objects out of the salt mixed with water. Schipper has noted that these salt constructions represent the human-made objects in our physical world. They are fragile and unstable constructions, crumbling almost as soon as they are built. With sisyphean effort, the extruder labours; constantly building new constructions to replace those which have fallen. Those which have collapsed return to their natural state only to be scooped up and rebuilt again.