DOMESTIC SCIENCE

Faraday Suit /woven copper jacket by Shelagh Young

DOMESTIC SCIENCE
by Shelagh Young, Doug Back and Ursula Pflug


For this animated exhibition, running until April 27, artists DOUG BACK, SHELAGH YOUNG and writer URSULA PFLUG have taken inspiration from many sources, including Pflug's short story about an alternate reality created by Nikola Tesla, The Wizard of Wardenclyffe. first published in Leviathan 4.

Other influences include Nikola Tesla's writing, The Fairy Tale of Electricity, published in 1928, and Jussi Bjorling singing an aria from Gounod's Faust. This is pertinent as Tesla was reciting lines from Goethe's Faust as he saw, for the first time, the schematics for the polyphase system, without which we would not have alternating current, on which, for better or for worse, our current lives depend.

For those unfamiliar with Tesla, he is the Serbian-American genius inventor who gave us incandescent bulbs, alternating current, the design for harnessing Niagara Falls, and wireless technology, to name a few of his contributions.

The exhibition consists of Back's devices which pick up and render audible electrical spill from lights and outlets and all other sources, constructions by Young inviting exploration of the gallery space by visitors, and a Tesla copper screen jacket, worn in evening and weekend performances by BILL JAMES, RYAN KERR AND KATE STORY. The audience can look forward to mysterious technological surprises as Back's scanners pick up invisible emanations from cell phones, watches, appliances and the human body.

Performance Schedule

Thursday April 10 Bill James 8:00 pm
Friday April 11, Kate Story 5:30 pm
Saturday April 12 Kate Story 3:00 pm
Friday April 18 Bill James 5:30 pm
Saturday April 19 Kate Story 3:00 pm
Sunday April 20 Ryan Kerr 3:00 pm Friday
April 25 Bill James 5:30 pm
Saturday April 26 Ryan Kerr 3:00 pm
Sunday April 27 Ryan Kerr 3:00 pm