glass, stainless steel, bronze, 130 litres water, 250 year-old kauri pine, cedar ply, pumps, plumbing, electric timers. (glass blown by Mark Douglass)
Cameron Robbins, Double Vortex, CH2 Artworks, contemporary Australian art
Summary
Twin blown-glass chambers in which pumps spin water, producing vortices
Artist Statement
The vortex is very close to being a living thing. It is known as a ‘dissipative structure’, a class including any self-regulating organism (for example a tree, bird, or person) where energy is drawn in, structurally organised, and released at the other end. CH2 (Council House 2) can also be seen as a kind of living system; us as part of nature. The clockwise and anticlockwise spinning vortices illuminate a connection between CH2 and the history of constructive alternative science, especially concerning water and energy. Both this artwork and the CH2 project involve a process of exploration and invention and the fundamental interweaving of the concepts nature and culture.
The artwork is located in the CH2 foyer.
Cameron Robbins, 2006
