Colors of the Capitalocene

Made in response to the fact that we have recently entered a new epoch, the Anthropocene (or more appropriately named Capitalocene). Our activity as a species has been the dominant influence on our environment and has now made a significant enough impact on our planet to be detected in the geological record millions of years in the future. One of the contributing factors to the geological imprint is our use of lanthanides - rarely found isolated in nature - in the manufacturing of electronics such as phones and computers. All of the glass in Colors of the Capitalocene is custom batched color made with various rare earth oxides, which exhibit unique characteristics such as dichroism and fluorescence. These material qualities give the work a seemingly digital presence, highlighting the irony in our increasingly virtual and immaterial lifestyle being at the root of the most permanent material impact we will have on our planet. The forms (tetrahedron) are the Platonic solid associated with fire, the primary element of transformation in alchemy. The use of the Platonic solids is in reference to Plato’s theory of the forms, which states that any physical object is merely an imperfect facsimile of a ‘pure form’ which exists in the spiritual realm. In this case, the Platonic solids are used to draw draw an analogy between Plato’s spiritual realm and the contemporary digital/virtual realm and the notion that a digitally rendered object is in a sense more perfect than its physical manifestation. The tension between the digital feel of the transition, the materiality of the glass, the precise forms and the inherent imperfections from making the glass by hand allow the piece to hover in the space between physical and virtual, material and immaterial.