I Contain Multitudes
A SCULPTURE THAT GENERATES NEW MONUMENTS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
A concept several years in the making, I Contain Multitudes is a sculpture that is simultaneously a permanent artpiece, an ongoing public spectacle, a way to transform the way that monuments operate in America, and a machine that produces a series of permanent limestone monuments for the 21st century. I Contain Multitudes carves a unique permanent monument every year, using human and solar power, and simple 19th century pantograph technology. It is designed for installation in urban plazas or parks. Central to the concept is collaboration with a new artist every year – magnifying their vision and making it a permanent part of public space.
OVERVIEW
A Human-Powered Public Art Piece that Generates New Art Every Year
A New Kind of Public Art
The idea for I Contain Multitudes came from speaking with young people in an urban location who said, ‘We don’t want a pretty sculpture. Give us something to do. Make us a machine to change the world.’ As an experienced public artist, I find this sentiment echoed in communities all over the country but rarely acted upon.
How it works and why it is different
There is nothing electronic or computerized about this sculpture. A hidden 3D model contains all the information needed to carve the block of stone. The mechanism that carves the stone in response to the shape of the model is similar to the principle behind duplicating lathes used to make axe handles and pantographs used to enlarge sculptures – both technologies that go back centuries. I anticipate that this simple durable system will achieve a resolution of approximately 1/8” in sculpture carving. A tiny diamond wheel slowly carves the block of stone into an enlarged version of the model, taking about a year to do so. I Contain Multitudes relies mostly upon human energy to move the stone around and drive the diamond wheel.
✓ Human-powered when people turn the wheel
✓ The carving wheel follows a hidden scale model that directs the carving
✓ It works slowly even when no one is around
✓ It provides visitors with something to do in a social and physical context, not just something to look at
✓ It is a permanent sculpture, but it is also a public spectacle
✓ It produces permanent monuments for the 21st century
Art with Depth and Diversity
Our nation is filled with monuments that don’t accurately tell our true history. What do we replace false monuments with? Inviting interaction, this sculpture slowly carves a block of limestone into a permanent stone sculpture approximately 5’ wide by 6’ tall. The model for each sculpture will be produced by an artist from communities that want to offer alternative monuments appropriate to a new era. I Contain Multitudes takes approximately one year to complete each sculpture. After each sculpture is finished, the same monument could be made again or an entirely different monument commissioned.
We expect people will be drawn to I Contain Multitudes initially because it is colorful and provides a social activity. Plus, there is the mystery of the secret form slowly revealed – first the tip of a nose, then the cheekbones, then the ears. But a good art piece has more than just initial appeal. When people visiting this sculpture have had a chance to reflect, we hope that they will realize that this art piece ‘works’ on many levels: the slow turning of the stone evokes the process of time, the slow emergence of the form from the stone evokes the feeling that the future is being slowly made, and the rhythmic beat of the mechanism is like a quiet drumbeat keeping time with the march of history.
COLLABORATION
Creating Endless Opportunities
The concept has been in the making for several years, but it is the collaboration of these artists that will bring I Contain Multitudes to fruition. On a year-by-year basis it becomes an ongoing program with a new artist involved every year and a new monument created.
Project Lead
Joseph O’Connell
I am the lead artist and founder at Creative Machines, the conceptual artists for this project. For this piece, I see my role strictly as an enabler and champion for the other collaborating artists; my creative voice will work in the background to support theirs.
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I approach art as a venue for exploring and expanding what it means to be human. Some of my pieces stand as individual actors: mechanical beings sharing our world with their own unique model of existence. Other works form small spaces that surround: uneasy but protected environments that grant us permission to lower our defenses and witness our own true ways of being. Projected light and human-powered motion blur the boundaries between viewer, artwork, and environment, further allowing a temporary suspension of reality and moments of internal reflection. Using beauty to disarm, these works co-opt their larger site framings into stages for moral, emotional, and intellectual self-reflection.
Year One Collaborating Artist
Cliff Fragua
I have learned the secret of the stone through my cultural and ancestral teachings. Based in Native American themes, my work shows pride for the Pueblo culture and a deep understanding of the inherent spirituality of the stone. I have chosen stone as my medium of expression because it is a combination of the basic elements of the earth. I feel the honesty and purity of this most basic of material permits me to express myself from the heart and to express the spirit that Native people respect an revere as embodied in the stone.
Since 1974, when I created my first stone sculpture, I have created a significant body of work that keeps evolving with new influences and new interests. My sculptures are featured in such public locations as the National Statuary Hall in the Nation’s CapitolAlbuquerque International Airport and in permanent collections throughout the country. I am honored to have been included in major invitational exhibitions and one-man shows in leading museums and galleries and have earned highest honors and awards for my sculptures.
Year Two Collaborating Artist
Julia Arriola
I, Julia Arriola, am a native Tucsonan of Mescalero/Mayo descent. I am an artist and retired curator from the Arizona Historical Society. I received my BFA, MFA in Sculpture and Metals, as well as a Masters in Landscape Architecture at the University of Arizona.
I describe myself as an artist with eclectic ideas, who draws on history for conceptual renderings that address past, present and future with an indigenous flair. Trained as a sculptor, I like to look at all sides of an image whether 2D or 3D. Currently, my works are drawings using colored pencils and ink on ledger paper that dates from 1859.
I am always grateful to the Arizona Historical Society, for not only the position, but throughout my career where there were many creative outlets provided for me to bring art into the interpretation of history exhibits. After my recent retirement, I am now able to spend 6 to 7 hours a day in the studio, once again becoming a full time artist.
Figurative Monuments for the 21st Century
Correcting the Course of America’s Legacy
I Contain Multitudes attempts to go redress some problematic aspects of public art in the United States. Our country is already starting to remove scores of false-historical monuments, leaving a vacuum of human forms in public spaces. This machine seeks to create new monuments for the 21st century, allowing artists from underrepresented communities to suggest new ideals for a new American century.​
If these monuments for the 21st century appeared instantly they would lack the gravity and import that occurs when they emerge after a year of work. The small motor that slowly drives the wheel chips away at the future, but things really happen when people join in. As people rotate the driving wheel, the stone rotates faster, the colors change, and the dust falls as the future takes shape.
Appearance and Placement
There are many public places that would be appropriate for I Contain Multitudes. It is tall enough to be seen from above and at night the colored shadows that surround it will be highly visible from afar.
An Interactive Experience
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I Contain Multitudes creates a semi-shaded space that is fun to inhabit. It could work equally well in an urban plaza or a grassy park. We chose a large horizontal hand-wheel as the power source for this machine. As visitors turn the large wheel, the sculpture slowly carves a block of limestone into a figure, creating colored shadows, moving lights and the rhythmic background sound of a machine at work. LED lights integrated into the art piece cast colorful shadows at night, including a strong ray of light that rotates around like a lighthouse beam as the stone rotates.
A space to hang out and work with others.
People like to work together in pursuit of a common goal, but sometimes they are alone in public space. Because of this, the wheel accommodates one to five people around its circumference, powering the machine. When no one is at the sculpture, a slow-speed gear motor slowly turns the wheel and carves the sculpture at a barely perceptible rate.
Fun and engaging lighting effects.
The artwork will glow with colorful light during night and day. The lighting effects will invite visitors to gather and will create a beacon seen from a distance.
Rhythmic and engaging sounds at all times.
A subtle drumbeat emerges from the machine as it rotates, with simple mechanical controls to modify it. This sound, like a heartbeat or a rhythm track, suggests the movement of time.
Prototyping a Monument
I Contain Multitudes can work with either a 3D computer-generated file or a hand-sculpted clay model. To demonstrate what is possible, I worked with my good friend Alex Heveri to sculpt a series of figures that express an eagerness to engage, an openness to dialog, and an inner strength and unwillingness to settle for the half-solutions of the past. While I have sculpted an example of the models that the art piece could carve, I am excited to step out of the way and collaborate with other artists to supply the many years of sculptures that I Contain Multitudes will create. My role will be to enable and support the work of other artists.
3D Model and First Prototype
We built a fully functioning prototype that demonstrates a section of a face being carved into limestone. These photos show the carved lips and upper nose of a figurative monument.
Physical Model
A close-up of a physical model of I Contain Multitudes, displaying the night time effects of its LED lighting and colored panels.
Prototype
Fully-functioning prototype of I Contain Multitudes carving the lips of the bust prototype.
Producing the Hidden Model
Once a finished sculpture is removed from the enclosure and a fresh block of limestone takes its place, a new miniature model of the next upcoming monument will be needed. The model for the new sculpture can be formed in clay, plaster or another physical medium and be digitized by a 3D scanner. Or it may be generated entirely within 3D modeling software. Either way, the form needs to become a 3D digital file that can be scaled in the X and Y dimensions by a factor of 8, but not scaled in the Z dimension. This creates the hidden model that the pantograph follows to cut the stone. This model is then broken into a series of pieces that can each be 3D printed and stacked onto the armature. I Contain Multitudes is actually quite simple and rugged – and it needs to be for deployment in public spaces. The carving is accomplished entirely by a small diamond wheel and a pantograph mechanism.
Materials and Maintenance
The frame of I Contain Multitudes is mild steel with an epoxy primer and high-quality paint. The stainless steel moving hardware resists rust. The mechanism is fairly simple: waterjet-cut sprockets, heavy drive chains, and a simple cam and roller to move the diamond cutting wheel around the limestone slab.
Infrastructure and Operations
This art piece should be considered semi-permanent. It is heavy enough that it will remain wherever it is placed. Its base is a heavy aluminum ‘waffle’ that lets it set on slightly irregular ground and be moved if necessary with a large forklift. At heart, it is a simple, rugged (albeit heavy) machine based on 19th century technology. It will require some thought regarding its location and maintenance.
A Call for Collaboration
On a day-by-day basis this art piece is a spectacle. On a year-by-year basis it becomes an ongoing program with a new artist involved every year and a new monument created. Because it makes a new monument every year, it provides an opportunity for continued community engagement and to involve artists who have traditionally been under served.
CONTACT
Interested in collaborating to bring I Contain Multitudes to life? Get in touch!
joconnell@creativemachines.com