Climate Watch Chair

Title: Climate Watch Chair
Time/Place: August 3, 2022 / Mojave Desert Dry Wash, Joshua Tree, California
while at Joshua Tree Highlands Artist Residency, Joshua Tree, California USA

Size: chair on platform 67″tall x 37″wide x 50″deep
Materials: beach discarded lounge chair, desert dry wash found metal table leg and wood, yard sale wheels, ascotherm raft/lifeboat thermal survival suit, wood, threaded rod, discarded: luggage handle, straps, tie-down clamps, plastic moulding, discarded HVAC (Heating, Ventilation And Air Conditioning) foil-faced reflective radiant barrier thermal resistance duct insulation

Details:
This sculpture is a lounge chair, complete with cupholder and awning, in which to sit and watch the climate change. Climate Watch Chair is conveniently collapsible and may be carried and placed anywhere. A wheeled platform, floating pad and heat reflective material assists in mobility and adaptability as the climate crisis events cycle through floods, drought and fire.

The performative element is at the Salton Sea, an environmental hotspot and jumble of human interventions in the Colorado Desert of southern California. In this work I am using my awareness of the Salton Sea’s layered history in combination with today’s political and environmental status and the circular cycles seemingly evident in all mentioned. I know that at this time I do not in general have hope and at this moment I am trying to intellectually and scientifically understand and recognize where we are planetarily and humanly.