Pine lumber, plywood, paper, tarp, staples, shop lights, extension cords, power strips, projector, Youtube video: Inside of an F4 tornado (full version) by mmhardky, fans, blower, audio system, musical track Spitting of the Edge of the Earth by the Yeah, Yeah Yeahs, skateboard, iPhone video camera
I attached solid 4’ X 8’ strips of white paper vertically to the exterior walls of the front and right side of the 8’ x 8’ structure. I then ripped and distressed the paper and attached a blue tarp to the top plates of the walls to indicate a roof or ceiling. The last thing I did to the structure was to lift the front left side approximately 5” and 8” to the right side. I simulated wind using fans and a leaf blower and projected a video onto the interior back wall that captured a tornado in the Czech Republic filmed by residents of an apartment there. I also used the video’s audio of the residents fearfully reacting to the powerful storm which also captures the sound of the wind and destruction. To add to the auditory experience, I captured the whirring sounds of the fans and the track Spitting Off the Edge of the World by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs for cinematic effect. Last, I installed eight shop lights all around the structure connected to five power strips in which I randomly flickered on and off throughout the filming to mimic lightning or power outage issues. My camera was mounted on a skateboard which I slowly rolled toward the entrance. The goal was to simulate a damaged structure from a powerful man made or natural force.
As per the Nauman reading and the notion of experience, participation and the social; A Room Damaged invites the participant to enter a dark, loud, and windy space to experience destruction. Sporadic flashing lights and whipping materials (at times touching the participants), chaotic video and audio of people weathering a tornado and a song playing about a “looming climate catastrophe” dare the individual to subject themselves to a discomforting environment and be stimulated by all the senses through this disaster simulation. Often, in under resourced places, damage to structures after natural or man-made disasters are so great that they are never repaired and therefore abandoned. While in this installation, environmental concerns are apparent, I want the participant to consider the idea of the figurative spaces in our minds that have suffered damage and have been left to be delt with at another time.
