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METAobscura

Mixed Media with GOOGLE imagery from “daily life” search
6 piece integrated gallery installation
2024
 
META OBSCURA is a gallery installation that explores the definition of META made physical as it relates to the self-referential characteristics of data at the deepest levels of internet information. Each piece in the installation relates to the others in content and form, creating a kind of information devolution that obscures its original definition while producing a trail of data breadcrumbs that serve as a unifying thread and a foundation for alternative meaning.

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of forests and forensics

20,000 GOOGLE images (world news), packing tape, staples, shrink wrap, insulation foam, fishing line, alligator clips

25’Hx25’Wx12’D

2007

 

Catalogue Essay, Elizabeth Ferrer, Curator BRIC Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, New York

“The forms Alfin creates act as a literal web of her findings, as well as the visceral materialization of the seemingly infinite bits of data that exist in global communication networks by binding the printed results with transparent material, producing eccentric environmental sculptures that sometimes resemble large pods with spindly extensions that seem capable of chaotic, unhampered growth. Alfin's work is process oriented, ephemeral, and flexible, palpably reflecting the real world experience of dealing with the unstable nature of information in the digital environment.”

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of saint and syn

video, clear caulk, mirrored mylar, naturally dyed corn kernels, blue fluorescent lights

8’Hx5’Wx10’D

2010

 

Of saint & syn is a site specific installation in response to the Monsanto Industries development of GMO corn seed for pest resistance and its potential for devastating impact on the pollinator bee population, farming communities, and global climate change. The piece evokes a repetitive state of entrapment that both entices and repels as a metaphor for the Monsanto monopoly that exists to this day under the Bayer corporate umbrella.

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suspended beliefs

GOOGLE images from "world news" search
plastic drop cloths, packing tape, acrylic bubbles, thread, fishing line, aligator clips, blue flourescent lights
2010

suspended beliefs is the second in a series exploring the veracity of internet  information delivered under the umbrella of factual news. 

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of values & verities

Queens Art X Invitational
Curated by Brian Tate
"What if Artists Remade the US Economy"
Interactive public installation consiting of $1000 in pennies that encouraged the public to take what they needed and leave something in return. The piece appeared in three separate venues over the course of the summer of 2011. At the end of the season, all but $200 remained intact. 

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information anxiety

Information Anxiety is a site specific installation in response to the nascent days of the 2007 financial crash reflecting the nature of our dependence on global financial markets that can spark paradoxical states of elation and anxiety. The piece evokes a physical metaphor that is biomorphic in form and, at the same time, chaotic and magical, representing attitudes that reflect our tentative understanding of the precarious system at the root of global stability.

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