Thermal Properties (2023)
Video, duration 7min40 loop, 2048x1556
Custom fabricated printed circuit board 10cm x 15.5cm, coal
Five infrared photographs, 42 x 59 cm, framed dibond print.
Five thermochromic postcards, 10.5 x 14.85cm
In 2020 work began on two renewable energy sources in South Tyneside that would use river water and a flooded mine to heat the houses of local properties. These works reflect on the poetic rearrangement of heat via the energy histories of the region. A photographic series of the two energy sites ‘Foundations’ uses a customised infrared camera that blocks all visible light, to point towards the philosophical foundations of how we relate to energy.
Using lidar scans of miners life preservation equipment and the new energy infrastructure, CGI software subjects the objects to thermal dissipation and melting simulations, creating a liquid connection between people, objects and environments. Five images from this work were used to create a series of thermochromic postcards, that allow visitors to reveal the images by placing them near a heat source in their homes.
Working with a local circuit board manufacturer, a non-functional circuit board was fabricated using heat mapping data, water pipe infrastructure diagrams and satellite maps of the local area, pressed together as layers or strata.