Caitlind r.c. Brown

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Art

Two Curtains of 30,000 Prescription Lenses Cast a Distorted Water-Like Glimmer Across a Beijing Gallery

Suspended from an undulating metal rod, two translucent patchwork curtains of prescription eyeglasses evoke the gleaming shimmer of a waterfall. The disorienting installation is the second in a series of optical works by Canadian artists Caitlind r.c. Brown and Wayne Garrett (previously), who created a smaller kinetic piece centered around the concept of collective vision back in 2015.

Larger in scale and greater in material than the first, “And Between Us, An Ocean” utilizes 30,000 recycled polycarbonate plastic lenses sourced from a Beijing factory and Calgary recycling center. The dual installation bisects a gallery at Times Art Museum and distorts the space as visitors move amongst the glimmering curtains. A pixelated, contorted view emerges through the various prescriptions in each lens, skewing perspectives and proposing questions about the relationship between single and shared vision. Brown and Garrett write in a statement:

What faint ghosts are carried by such intimate objects—windows on the world for the audience of one? How is our shared reality shaped by so many perspectives of the same place and time? Removed from their original purpose, the eyeglass lenses implicate something specific about the mass and scale of our human experience, and the power of our desire to see the world (and each other) more clearly.

“And Between Us, An Ocean” is on view at the Beijing museum through September 12 before it travels to its next location. See the process behind the construction, which happened between Canada and China, and find more of the pair’s ocular works on their site.

 

Art

Suspended Hourglasses Visualize the Complexity of Time in ‘Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow’

One-hundred five hourglasses dangle from the entranceway ceiling at cSPACE King Edward in Calgary. Every day at both noon and midnight, the sand-filled vessels flip in tandem and reset. They’re part of a 2018 project called “Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow,” a site-specific installation created by artists Lane Shordee, Caitlind r.c. Brown, and Wayne Garrett (previously), that visualizes the intricacies of how we experience collective moments, individual memories, and history.

Each hourglass has a unique correlation to time–half document how hours slip by like a clock, while others reflect more personal relationships to the passing seconds in a series of notes submitted by the public. “Ranging from ‘the time it takes to call mom’ to ‘the time it takes to realize it was just a dream and you are no longer lying next to me,’ you can read the brass tags attached to various hourglasses to understand the increment of time being measured in sand,” the artists tell Colossal.

Every vessel, though, represents a year of the King Edward building, from its construction in 1912 to its transformation to the cSPACE area in 2017. “‘Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow’ uses the hourglass as a symbol of non-linear time–both mortal and immortal–drawing a relationship between the sandstone school’s past, transitional present, and the uncertain future yet to come,” they said. Visualizing the otherwise abstract concept, the suspended project invites people to consider how all moments are interwoven.

For the project, the creative trio ground the sandstone bricks from the original building. They then sifted and measured the substance into the hand-blown glasses that measure zero seconds to four hours. Motors, sensors, microcomputers, and an internal clock using GPS ensures that each vessel flips on time even if there’s a power outage.

To keep up with Shordee, Brown, and cSPACE King Edward, head to Instagram. You also might like Brown and Garrett’s interactive lightbulb sculpture and Carbon Copy, their installation that flipped a car on its front bumper

Art

Carbon Copy: A Glitched Vintage Plymouth Stands on End in a Canadian Parking Lot

Calgary-based artists Caitlind r.c. Brown and Wayne Garrett (previously) create large, public installations that invite people to engage in a shared experience. Their latest work cruised into Edmonton’s Brewery District late last month—a blue 1988 Plymouth Caravelle balanced perfectly on its front bumper and headlights. At first glance the car appears to have stuck a perfect vertical landing after a tragically wrong maneuver, but upon closer inspection one notices glitched segments that protrude from the vehicle’s body and front wheel.

These vehicular manipulations were formed from fiberglass to make the car look as if it had been hastily copied, thus the installation’s name, Carbon Copy. The title is also a comment on mass production and consumer culture, reminding passersby of the rate at which cars are marketed and produced, especially in the car-obsessed cultural of North America. The parking lot is a fitting environment for the 30-year-old vehicle, and makes its position all the more jarring when viewed.

Carbon Copy was commissioned by First Capital Realty and Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada’s Arts Program Initiative, facilitated by Zebra Public Art Management, and fabricated by F&D Scene Changes. At night, the car’s signal and tail lights illuminate, and a scanner bar strobes the surrounding parking lot every 20 seconds. You can take an in-depth look at the inspiration and instillation behind the public work on the vehicle’s blog. (via Edmonton Journal)

Art

New Moon: An Interactive Light Installation Made from 5,500 Repurposed Light Bulbs

New Moon is an interactive shadow and light sculpture from artists Caitlind r.c. Brown and Wayne Garrett (previously) that was installed twice in Lexington, Kentucky back in February of last year. Built from 5,500 burnt out incandescent bulbs donated by the community, the sculpture allows viewers to manipulate phases of the moon using a large turnstyle. The piece is the fourth in a series of installations using re-appropriated light bulbs, more of which you can explore on their website.

Art Design

Cloud Ceiling: An Interactive Cloud Made with 15,000 Light Bulbs at Progress Bar in Chicago

Calgary-based artists Caitlind r.c. Brown and Wayne Garrett (previously) swung by Chicago this month and installed this amazing interactive lighting solution called Cloud Ceiling at Progress Bar. Constructed from hand-bent steel, reflective mylar, electronics, motion sensors, LEDs, and 15,000 re-appropriated incandescent light bulbs, the cloud is now a permanent fixture in the bar which opened earlier this week. Motion sensors embedded in the ceiling cause the cumulous surface of light bulbs to illuminate, effectively ‘mapping’ a lit path through the cloud as bar patrons move through the space.

Brown and Garret were featured in this space last year, for a similar interactive cloud installed at Nuit Blanche Calgary. You can learn more about Cloud Ceiling here.

Art

An Interactive Cloud Made of 6,000 Light Bulbs

CLOUD is a large scale interactive installation by artist Caitlind r.c. Brown that appeared September 15th as part of Nuit Blanche Calgary in Alberta, Canada. The piece is made from 1,000 working light bulbs on pull chains and an additional 5,000 made from donated burnt out lights donated by the public. Visitors to the installation could pull the chains causing the cloud to sort of shimmer and flicker.