untitled, or rather surrendering resistance to your own force, 2025.

This work features a hand-cranked mechanism that lowers and raises a raw graphite block. Graphite is a semi-resistive material, meaning that while it conducts electricity, some of the current does not pass through and instead dissipates into the air in the form of heat. The mechanism itself is resistive, as some bodily energy does not get pushed through to the machine, and instead is dissipated into the air in the form of heat and sweat. As the graphite block is lowered, it meets a conductive nail that is electrically attached to a humble synth instrument. The contact of the graphite with the nail triggers the instrument to sound, but as the graphite is resistive, the sounds emitted are squeaky, quiet and abruptly loud, and otherwise imperfect. Over time, the sounds will change as the graphite hits the nail and leaves a residue on the wood block. The nail is corrosive to the graphite block, causing it to shed material and leave traces on the wood. In this way, the wood block holds the archive of the combined labor of the people operated this machine, while the sounds emitted by the synth are directly impacted by the compiled history of this labor.

This work was exhibited in Low Tech, co-curated by myself and Ollie Goss, at Huddle in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the Spring of 2025.

untitled, or rather surrendering resistance to your own force, 2025.

steel conduit pipe, birch, nylon, custom electronics, graphite, steel wire, concrete, brick. dimensions variable. Installation view from Low Tech, an affiliated Electronics Faire exhibition, at Huddle, Philadelphia, PA.