“Elemental Spaces” by Tamiko Thiel

Title:

Elemental Spaces

Artist(s) and People Involved:

Artist Statement:

Elemental Spaces is an ongoing project that invites participants to inhabit the deep time of geologic and cosmic processes. It is an interactive mixed reality experience in which participants‘ actions release elements into a virtual world to form first the universe, then the solar system, then the Earth, and finally enable life on Earth. It also confronts our illusion that if we can describe a natural phenomenon we have mastered it: participants are in the role of sorcerer‘s apprentices who set in motion processes they cannot control.
Participants put on a VR headset and then alternately grasp one of four bowls between their hands. Each bowl contains one of the classical Greek Elements (Earth, Water, Air, Fire), and the participant’s touch releases the element into the virtual world visible in the VR headset. The artwork uses ‚Lewis structures,‘ depicting molecules with the letters of its constituent atoms (e.g. H2O), to bridge from the classic Four Elements to the contemporary atomic elements. The Lewis structures are also an attempt to understand the myriad invisible substances that are vital for life on this planet, but whose precarious balance we are upending with breathtaking disregard for our survival: CO2, CH4 (methane), O2, etc.