Automatic

7:41 minute HD Video. 2009

Automatic is a video and drawing project in which I used the forces of the wind and ocean to power three rudimentary drawing machines. The three contraptions employ a windmill, a kite and plastic bottles to form deistic systems that, once in motion, continue to operate without my involvement. In addition to each series of distinct drawings, a video I made in conjunction with the project documents the uncanny movement of the apparatuses at work and their relationship to the landscape. “Automatic” exposes the tension between my agency as an artist to create and control the parameters of each device, and the unpredictable elemental forces that animate them.