rcw... #1 Sandblasted Chain
2024
The chain links that make these works originated for my large installation work 'rapidly closing window... #1'. They were designed to be a 10 x scale replica of a commercially produced steel chain I use frequently in my work, but made from waste - street sweeper bristles.
Steel street sweeping bristles are used by large street sweeper trucks in industrialised cities, where they clean the roads. In time, like all metal, these steel blades work harden and break free from the machines. They fall to the gutter, left behind to rust on city streets the world over. Thousands of these thin metal strips have been collected by me and on my behalf by friends in many cities, including Canberra, Melbourne and Perth in Australia, from Seattle in the USA and Hanoi in Vietnam. I anneal them, clean them up and used them across my art practice.
found steel street sweeper blades
Sandblast finish
long: 35 links, 10 x 870mm chain short: 26 links, 10 x 650mm chain