ABOUT THE PROJECT

The Installation of The Sugarcane Labyrinth 2014 - A Satellite Installation of Prospect 3 New Orleans:

Curatorial Statement

 The Sugarcane Labyrinth is an immersive architectural installation that replicates the original agricultural land art piece in layout and design. The edifice of the installation is an abandoned, commercial warehouse in New Orleans, Louisiana; the work will transform urban decay into green space, utilizing sugarcane harvested from local farms to cover the walls and floors of the industrial building. The environment is a narrative of shifting associations, purporting a sensorial, psychological and visual experience. 

Suspended between dissonant views of naturalism, philosophy and mythology, the installation is a journey focused on the impasse of nature and man. Senstad consistently threads her work with a continuation of materials, shadowing historical, cultural and mythological references with the narrative voice of the artist’s hand. The Sugarcane Labyrinth is a conversation with the environment; a dialogue that purposefully seeks to disorient the viewer and confront the authority of human thought.  The piece uses land and organic material as partial medium, positing a non-anthropomorphic viewpoint for self-inquiry and to prompt reevaluation of our ecological stewardship within the natural environment. The installation seeks to unhinge the rationality of the anthropologist and assimilate into such thought the wild chaos inherent to nature.

The work probes at-risk culture and ecology, specifically that of Louisiana in connection to it’s own nativity, touching thematically on concepts such as eucatastrophe and dues ex machina. By examining the systemic order of nature and interpreting the ecological implications of human modification, the work becomes a platform for discussing and bringing awareness to contemporaneous issues surrounding ecological sustainability and the threat it poses to a disappearing land.

The Sugarcane Labyrinth Video:

A short film about the making and experience of The Sugarcane Labyrinth located in Theriot, Louisiana. The Sugarcane Labyrinth is a 1,4 acre Time, Site and Process specific Agricultural Land Practice piece created through 2009. The piece was made in collaboration with sugarcane farmer Ronnie Waguespack, Triple K & M Farms - Thibodaux and agricultural economist Alexandre Vialou and artist assistant, Pamala Bishop.

The music of J G Thirlwell, known from Foetus, Manorexia, Steroid Maximus and Venture Bros, was composed especially for the film, and brings the viewer through the labyrinthian process with beautiful, hypnotic and haunting soundscapes.

11.22 min loop
Stereo and 4:1 Surround Sound
Edited by Manuel Sander

Funded by :
Norwegian Visual Artists Remuneration Fund/Billedkunstnernes Vederlagsfond