Link/Line, 2001
Site-specific, interactive installation
60, 000 feet of red thread, 93 community volunteers
Commission,
Susquhanna Art Museum, Harrisburg Pennsylvania
A continuous
line of red thread was run 4.5 miles through the city of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
On its route the thread line went through a school, churches, synagogues,
an army reserve barracks, places of business and private homes that volunteered
to "host" it. Hosts provided a home for the thread while serving as watch-keepers
over its safety, tending their designated section of thread for the duration
of the exhibition by retying it in the event of breakage.
The piece
was made for a show responding to a series of hate crimes in the city.
Due to the show's context, I wanted to make a piece that occurred directly
within the community, beyond the walls of the museum, something that entered
people's everyday existence and brought an opportunity for mental or physical
action.
