Decompressions
2017
Kinetic Sculpture
Aluminum struts, casters, hardware, lights, electronics, and programming
8 x 16 x 16 ft.
Curator
Michael Peterson
Presented By
Nuit Blanche Saskatoon
Support
The Saskatchewan Arts Board
The Interdisciplinary Centre for Culture and Creativity (ICCC)
Decompressions is a kinetic sculpture commissioned for the former site of Lydia’s Pub in Saskatoon, a long-running music venue and gathering place for the city’s creative community that was demolished in 2015. Built from aluminum struts, casters, lights, and electronics, the structure shifts and tilts across the empty lot. At night, work lights cast the sculpture’s fragmented framework onto the neighbouring wall, producing a moving shadow that recalls the architecture that once occupied the site. The work treats the vacant space as both a physical absence and a place where the memory of the building can continue to move.