Beef Crystal
How far can composting go? Matt Herrmann, Henry Peller, Zachary Weinberg Three dominant, creative personalities all somehow working together on a project that was constantly evolving and developing and changing, the patience everyone possessed rivals that of the saints. It was like playing a semester of jazz, and missing a planning or construction session meant not knowing what was going to occur next. The physical undertaking was no less impressive than any of the design work. The spool was large, unwieldy, heavy and designed for a long, brutal and hard-wearing life. To deconstruct and then reconstruct such an item into something new was no small undertaking. All too often the legacy of post modernism is simply the act of deconstruction. That’s only half the formula. After deconstruction the artist or maker is obligated to then reconstruct the piece to share his or her unique narrative. It is fitting that this process of deconstruct/reconstruct has been applied to a piece centering on vermicomposting. Vermicomposting is an interesting process that evokes an emotional response: some positive, most less so. It is a cyclical process, one of decomposition, and as such is messy. Like life. It’s fitting then that a microcosm representing human interaction be housed in a reconstructed cable spool with the new narrative of “dining table” placed upon it. The dining table being the center of family life, a place of social interaction, of life; in all its messy splendor.
33