Preparations for the show! Tumble weed and barbed wire piece

This is my studio, Chris and Kenza's garage. One of my pieces is intended to be installed in the basement floor of the arts centre at UNM. Its a bit of a bureaucratic night mare and is taking a lot of head space to get approval from the powers that be. Basically I want to wrap tumble week in barbed wire and install them under a stair well in the building.

My proposal:

Stair Well Installation: Barbed Wire and Tumble Weed

The installation will be installed under the stair well on the main steps going down from first to basement level in the Pope Joy hall. This location has been chosen for 2 reasons. Firstly, the artist is interested in working within the pre-existing architecture of spaces. The space under the stairs forms an excellent structure reminiscent of Robert Morris minimalist sculpture. Secondly, the piece itself will be constructed from barbed wire and tumble weed and the location will evoke the idea that, like in disused and abandoned spaces throughout the west, tumble weed blows in and gets stuck. The use of barbed wire within the piece also relates to other concerns within the artist’s work regarding borders, spaces where access is allowed and denied.

Underneath the stair well there is a steel border delineating the space directly under the stairs. The work with be contained entirely within this space and will not infringe on the passing corridor spaces around the immediate vicinity. Should the tumbleweed be considered a fire hazard the artist would be happy to meet with the fire safety officer at the site to do a risk assessment and to contribute to costs to include extra safety measures if necessary.