The Art of
Nicole Rudolph
Artifacts of Location
Artifacts of Location is a collection of pieces that work together to help the viewer find me, the artist. They are in essence 3 maps of specific areas of being that I exist within that come together in an atlas. These artifacts are Book of Touch, Quilt of Dreams, and Echoes of Sound.
A map at its heart is a way to locate and better understand a place. But for locating a person, the true essence of a person, what does that mean? We are more than our physical location within a body, and we are constantly moving. If I made a map of my geographical location the map might only ever be correct once or twice. So instead, I mapped out 3 spaces that I always exist within: Physical Space where I can be found through what I affect in the physical world during my daily routine and the meanings behind those movements, Sound Space where you know where I am based on the noises I make by existing and moving through the physical world, and Dream space where I exist in my most distilled sense of self.
The artifacts are meant to be used together, so as to envelope the viewer in the experiences of being me during the first months of the Pandemic with a new baby. The viewer must pull the Quilt of Dreams over themselves, turn on the audio recordings from the Echo of Sound and listen to these recordings while reading through the Book of Touch. In this way the viewer will find me as I exist in 3 spaces simultaneously.
Book of Touch 2020
Leather, Cardboard, Hot Press Watercolor Paper, Watercolor, Ink, Mixed Media; 9 x 6 x ¾ in.
Each page of the Book of Touch catalogues objects that I have influenced with my physical contact throughout the day with corresponding words that give clues as to the reason for each action, what is also offered is a glimpse into the environment and daily life during the first few months of the pandemic. For every page within the Book of Touch there is a 1 minute audio recording of each interaction that I had with physical space, these recordings make up the second map Echo of Sound and is meant to be listened to while looking through the book. For the page “Washing Wash, Washed” you would hear the sounds of me washing my hands, a necessary and stressed ritual that punctuated the newness of our understanding of Covid-19.
(No audio file for sight)