Condensation Cube – Exterior
Steel, Water, Air Currents, Refrigerator, Climate in Exhibition Situation
Hans Haacke states, “The process of condensation does not end. The box has a constantly but slowly changing appearance that never repeats itself. The conditions are comparable to a living organism that reacts in a flexible manner to its surroundings.”
Condensation Cube – Exterior, is derived from Haacke’s Condensation Cube, 1963-65, where he critically and politically challenges the interior system. He uses plexiglass so that we transparently analyze the space. I am taking the aspect of post-industrial urban landscape, as steel separates and discourages transparency within our politically derived culture. In this work, the unseen interior space is chilled which creates condensation from the surrounding air that will break down the steel structure. Within the second law of thermodynamics, this visually acknowledges that the seemingly non-penetrative system can and will be penetrated, slowly, drip by drip. It is inevitable that it will mix itself back in with the dirt, like living organisms.
PDF:
Haacke’s Condensation Cube: The Machine in the Box and the Travails of Architecture
Mark Jarzombek