Global Masquerade

Reclaimed Steel, Enamel, Graphite, Copper, Found Objects

Global Masquerade invites people to interact with suspended masks while learning about climate change. Each mask allows the viewer to confront their participation in the global warming problems, while at the same time presenting a solution. This work targets humanity’s need to make changes to benefit the planet. Each mask inhabits an interactive environmental issue while juxtaposing the idea of hiding behind a mask to avoid issues.

Masks can be overwhelmingly beautiful, like those meant for a masquerade, but they ultimately exist to hide behind. Many politicians wear a metaphorical mask, shying away from problems they do not want to address.

Six masks are linked together in a webbed string formation, which unites in an octagon arrangement. The viewer sees their reflection by looking through the mask into a mirror that stands within the octagon center. Each mask represents a different ecological concern that is part of a larger obstacle. The arrangement allows the viewer to select which problem to address. When interacting with the masks of Global Masquerade, one peers through and sees themselves in the mirror beyond. This interaction creates an awareness of many environmental issues while granting participants an opportunity to discover methods in which they can contribute towards the goal of reducing climate change.

Robert MacArthur studied repeating patterns in organic shapes, plants, and animal life in his theory of Patterns, Models and Predictions. Current patterns in climate change affect plants and animals negatively; it is imperative that this cycle be broken.

The strings that hold the masks appear randomly placed, however, there is a direct correctly to Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari’s theory of rhizomes, specifically cartography and decalcomania as describes in A Thousand Plateaus. Deleuze and Guattari employ rhizomes as a metaphor for social structures; they proposed that a rhizome is map-like and heterogeneity explains how any point can be connected no matter how similar or different. They opposed hierarchical systems opting from more horizontal transitions. The strings as well as the octagon formation within this installation mimic their theoretical position in that an entrance to make a difference exists at any point as well as climate change issues are inherently linked.

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