Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, 1998
A second stage of the installation Erratics Net was
developed in collaboration with Waterloo architect Caroline Munk,
fall 1998. The second state responds to extended times of deep fog
where the air stills and the ground is soaked in vapour. Responding
to this state the net can expand into multiple layers, each outward
facing peak formed within a matrix layer in turn serving as the
foot for an inward facing valley of the next layer.
A foam-like cellular lattice results, a filigree extending throughout
the thickened atmosphere. The natural growth encouraged by this
armature is froth-like, filling space with infinitesimal mass. The
material is marked by regular intervals, momentarily thickening
and making a porous stratified border then opening again. A striated
penumbra emerges, an aura floating outward from the land. Like plankton
phosphorescing in the ocean, Erratics Net offers dissociated space,
an absorption into ether. In this state, the textile is organized
in a pillowed form of alternating peaks and valleys, presenting
barbs outward catching new material and inward for anchoring beneath.
These anchors hold the net just above the bare rock, making a shallow
film of still, sheltered air allowing delicate growth to emerge.
The net is made with wire joints clamped by sliding flexible tubes
that lock each link to its neighbour making a tough, resilient structure.
