FAQs for the Invitees
To watch a 1.5 minute explanation of a mud painting, click here.
This post is meant to answer questions the invited Thinkers (to the gRift) may have.
If I agree to participate in the gRift, what is the process for having a mud painting installed?
How is the mud painting displayed?
How do I care for the mud painting once it is installed?
What else should I know about?
When will the mud painting be installed?
What is the goal of this project?
What is the process for installation?
The installation involves 3 decisions:
WHEN is a mutually acceptable time for Jeni to visit and install at your preferred location?
----Installation could take as little as 1 day, but should not take more than 3 days.WHERE do you want it installed?
----on your living room wall, at your office, your new spot on Sabbatical, your aging parents' back porch, your grandkids' playroom, a public wall at work. We can discuss your interests or limitations by email or phone.WHAT mud would you like Jeni to collect?
----Consider diverse ecosystems within a 20-mile radius of your install; Jeni will collect soil samples from those landscapes and construct a mini-landscape painting for you.
How is the mud painting displayed?
The frame design was based on the dimension of a Robert Rauschenberg 1953 piece entitled "Erased de Kooning Drawing", in which Rauschenberg erased a Willem de Kooning drawing (16.5" high x 14.125" wide). Your plexiglass frame will have the same internal dimensions. Just as Rauschenberg erased de Kooning, each new wave of microbial pigmentation will incorporat the previous matter in its new composition. That is, this gifted box of finite materials is poetically claiming infinite expression (unless some of you theoretical physicists disagree!). This work takes on a re-composition deposition!
Other Details of Installation
The wall mount requires 2-4 screws.
The piece weighs less than 15 lbs.
There are 2 energy efficient LED lights that angle out ~10" to each side.
The lights require a regular outlet and there is a timer for the lights.
It is intended to be indoors (it is not water, wind, or wild animal proof).
If necessary, Jeni could design a self-standing table version.
How do I care for the 'mud painting' once it is installed?
It's really simple!
LIGHT: In order to *photosynthesize* pigment, the microbes need natural or synthetic light. The frame is designed with energy efficient LED lights and a timer to ensure 4-12 hours of light/day. The timer will be set to your preferred schedule but you may change it at any time. To note, even if you chose to use only natural light, consider keeping the lights as they really improve your personal viewing experience (the shiny plexiglass over dark mud creates a highly reflective mirror).
WATER: The frame is designed to be completely saturated with a vent to allow air exchange. The water will evaporate. You will need to add small amounts of water to maintain a saturated system. Don't worry if it 'dries' out - you will change the course of the evolving landscape! Just add water (if chlorinated, let the water sit out overnight and add the next day).
BASIC HEAT: While of course microbes can live in the arctic and in hot springs, a non-freezing condition is necessary to prevent the plexiglass from cracking. That said, warmer temperatures generally afford faster growth.
What else should I know about?
What is added to the mud?
At least 1 egg (it provides a source of sulfur - an important element for energy production by microbes).
Newspaper (it provides cellulose - cheap calories the microbes chomp up).
Some chalk (it provides pH buffer).
What are some issues?
Winogradsky Columns are projects that 2nd, 6th, and 12th graders make in science class to learn about soil, ecology, succession, energy systems, etc. Soil is a living landscape!
Think of this as a glorified flowerpot that doesn't drain, is see-through, and grows pigments (the microbes harvest energy and humans harvest surplus color).
There can be a 'biological' odor from the sulfur in the eggs at around week 2. It is short-lived.
The mud expands in the first couple of weeks and can overflow (so it will be underfilled at day 1 of the installation). Please don't choose to hang it over your favorite rug or paper print.
It can dry out. Water sets up the +/- oxygen gradient in the column while reducing dust. Please water it when it gets >0.5" below the top. Jeni will supply you with a pippetor to add or subtract water.
It can seem neat in the beginning, but many can become 'bored' and stop looking. Consider taking photographs or notes or whatever to keep your attention/memory. Or not. This is to point out there is a *doldrum* in this process because it moves at such a different cadence then humans.
Jeni will never be able to predict how yours will turn out. She has had subtle nuanced pieces (read: duds to human eyes which is not to say they are actually duds), but most are surprising.
The plexiglass scratches and can turn white with the wrong cleaners. Jeni will supply you with tools to clean it.
The lifespan of the LED strips is unknown. Holler if you need a replacement.
If you have any questions/concerns, please email Jeni.
Documentation?
Ideally, Jeni would like to document (and possibly blog about) the installation process with you. She would also like to return to document how your painting has developed (>1 year after install). However, these artifacts of our process will only occur with your permission; your privacy to explore this muddy process in your preferred space is all I ask.
What if I don't want it anymore?
Just contact Jeni and she will work with you to arrange a suitable solution (refine, relocate, remove, regift, recycle).
What is my responsibility for my 'Response'?
Only you know!
Think of it as a conceptual dinner party - and you were invited! Just bring your thoughts, your hands, or your materials to the larger discussion. Lee Marchalonis —a talented printmaker, book and box-making colleague— is going to compile all of your differing responses into a) a beautiful catalogue? b) a sculptural display object? c) TBD—we don't know yet! She's up for integrating sculptures, paper napkins, peer-reviewed articles, photographs, equations, news clippings, emails, excel spreadsheets, poems, canned soup, collages, recordings, cartoons, paintings, scribbles, missives, 3-d models, diagrams, whatever. This is a good old fashioned call-and-response.
When will the mud painting be installed?
To be honest, this is the shakiest part of the entire project. There are many unknowns such as: Who accepts? When do they accept? Where do they live? Does covid evolve? etc.
That said, the goal is to install 25 mud paintings at 25 Thinkers preferred locations over the next 12-30 months. A few limitations:
Jeni cannot collect mud in freezing temperatures (the ground is frozen).
Jeni will be traveling during vacation and weekends; she will necessarily need to be efficient with time.
Jeni will try to bundle several different installations together based on geography of respondents.
Jeni (me, writing these FAQs in 3rd person) would be delighted to share an iced tea and chat with you but I'm anxious I've already overloaded you with my peculiar request!
Who is Jeni?
I am a scientist specializing in greenhouse gas mitigation strategies and a science-based conceptual artist. In 2023, I turned 50; this is a willful act to craft a different kind of congress. By highlighting, contrasting, and sharing your important perspectives I hope to give gravity and force for another possible worlding. This is a bio-eco-aesthetic re-acculturation campaign pointing to an amazing phenomenon of life in a finite ecosystem of soil, water, and sunlight — a mud painting. How might we engage with this magnificent planet, differently?
The Goal?
Microbes are the oldest inhabitants on Earth; they have an extraordinary capacity for industry, economy, niche exploration, adaptation, innovation, and resource sharing. Plus they are the first painters (Georges Seurat was a 19th c. pointillist painter but these creatures were pointillists > 2 billion years ago)! This project hopes to spotlight their process in a playful and celebratory exchange structure.
First and foremost this is a Thank You for the work you have contributed to our world.
Second, this project attempts to bring the mud processes into your field of view. I sincerely hope, despite the playful intention to rope you into the gRift, you grow to love this possible gift.
Third, Lee Marchalonis will make a compelling structure compiling your work into a network of objects for relational thinking.
Fourth, your ideation will be credited and shared with the world (gallery shows, presentations, panels, essays, TBD).
Fifth, there is an evasive fifth here, TBD, but it is a longing for a global dinner party that iterates us out of our absurd manifestation of 'humanity' and back into our world.
This gift is a grift that re-gifts to other grifters.
Thank You.
Thank you for reading and considering this hare-brained scheme to harvest your thinking.
