Anthropocene Marker - Installation/Multiple 35mm slide projection

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An Anthropocene Marker can be defined as a marker that indicates the evidence and extent of human activities that have had a significant global impact on the Earth's ecosystems. In this case it is the title for a piece of work that was produced over a two-week residency at the Cow House Studios, a rural residency program based in Wexford, Ireland.

 

A minimum amount of technology was used to produce a work that while present is almost imperceptible in its placement in the local environment. While in the Artist Studio my attention was drawn to the mechanical noise of an electric pencil sharpener. For me it was extremely intrusive within the environment. This was to be the only tool used to create Anthropocene Marker, which consisted of a pile of sticks collected from a small pine forest planted on the land to produce wood for burning as part of the buildings heating system. Essential to the management of these woods is accessibility, which entails having them thinned-out every few years. The remnants of this action are large piles of sticks evenly scattered throughout the woods. These were the source material for Anthropocene Marker. I used the same electric pencil sharpener to sharpen one end of each stick before placing it back on to the pile of altered pine branches, which was then placed back into its original environment. Anthropocene Marker draws attention to issues relating to ever changing environments through human intervention. The piece, presented as a slide projection, is both an artistic intervention and a meditation on the ethical and aesthetic parameters of coping with our ecological future.