Timothy Gaewsky

Public Invasions of Domestication

Invasions of our private spaces, i.e. our home/domestic site, by various exterior/public noises is all too common. This project proposes a reversal of this regular occurrence. For this ongoing project, I’m specifically interested in examining notions of public and private space and the ways in which a manipulation of public space, in this case through the intervention and displacement of audio recordings of domestic chores in public spaces, can alter or disrupt conventional spatial relations among members of the community with familiar public environments. The intent of this project is to have audio recordings of everyday domestic chores such as washing dishes or doing laundry play in various public sites to elicit an awareness and ultimately uncertainty of the notions of public and private. The process has evolved towards the fabrication of trompe l'oeil objects that blend into the surroundings in order to better disguise the source of the audio.

Plant

Audio Sample: vacuum_audio.mp3

Audio Sample: dryer.mp3

Bird's Nest

This invasion occured at a park in Detroit, Michigan across the street from The College for Creative Studies.

Audio Sample: vacuum_audio.mp3

Cleveland Metroparks: Rocky River Reservation

The Rocky River Metroparks is a popular location for warm weather activities like fishing, biking or the casual walk through the park. I thought it would be a good location for an invasion and I happened to find this site that seemed a little bare on the left side. I decided to make a rock to fill the space, but not a large rock that people might sit on, that is designated for the huge rock on the right. To make the rock I used four cans of Great Stuff foam that I sprayed around and over the blue bucket. Once the foam dried, I shaved it into a general shape of the rock. I then covered the entire rock with papier mache. Once the papier mache was dry, I then painted it using spray paint and then sealed it with a Polyurethane spray. I used a CD player and computer speakers to play the audio. The bucket is weighed down with lead shot.

I used the same audio of me washing the dishes because there seemed to be a nice dialogue between the sound of the river running and the audio of the the water running from the sink, the natural with the digitized domesticated.

Audio Sample: book_audio.mp3

Lakewood Public Library: Part II

Tom Clancy's books are enjoyed by many, but overtime I've noticed that his books can be found in the suburban homes of my family and friends. For this reason I've come to associate his books with middle-class suburbia. So for this particular invasion he seemed to me to be the perfect author in which audio of me washing the dishes can be heard through the pages.

Audio Sample: book_audio.mp3

Lakewood Public Library: Part I

The site for this audio intervention was at the Lakewood Public Library. The speakers were placed on shelves so that the audio could be heard by browsers in the vacinity of certain reference sections that complimented or caused a discordant juxtaposition with the domestic audio track being played. In the image on the right, a woman is browsing in a section of the library that includes subjects such as genealogical research, family history and American history and origins. The audio that could be heard was a three minute recording of the dryer running.

Audio Sample: dryer.mp3

Target

On a regular trip to the local Target, I stuffed the speakers and mp3 player in my coat pocket and played audio tracks such as a water running from a sink and the sound of a toilet flushing. The audio could be heard in the camping section which was the next aisle over . Here the discordant juxtaposition is extended further. The public invasion of the audio occurs in both the physical space, i.e. the Target aisle, as well as in a conceptual space, i.e. the idea of camping.

Audio Samples: sink water.mp3 -- toilet flush.mp3

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