Sciamachy (Shadow Boxing)
Though transparency is the rhetorical opposite of opacity, the two exist in parallel when understanding the ways secrets are hidden in plain sight. Mundane details, when properly understood and acted upon, can have enormous consequences. Within the apparatuses built to limit the spread of secrets, control of information can take many forms, such as physical security, redactions, or security through obscurity. But sometimes that information bypasses all control and is released unredacted. This can happen unintentionally or as a stratagem, taking the form of a true leak. In this scenario, information that holds power is released without any control on what is obscured, and when that happens, that power tends to contaminate its surroundings.
Take for instance the documents found stored at Mar-a-Lago in 2021-22, where thousands of government documents of various levels of classification were found placed haphazardly around the grounds of the club and stored in legal boxes, innocuous containers that masked the true power of their contents. Following the investigation, photos of these boxes were circulated, while any loose documents were shown fully redacted. Much speculation occurred on the contents of the boxes, but ultimately the specifics of the information contained remains unknown. The shadow of redactions cast a full blanket over what was in the boxes and as a result the boxes became signifiers of unknown power.
Contained within Sciamachy are the maximum number of pages that could fit within a standard legal box, numbering 3,600 pages divided into 100-page stapled packets. Each is fully printed and redacted, allowing the viewer to only guess at the weight of the information that could be potentially contained.
2024 - Printed bond paper, transparent polycarbonate, staples, cardboard
17" x 13" x 11" (transparent box) - Installation dimensions variable
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