Caroline Udell

Caroline Udell

where do you put that, 2016

plexiglass, light reactive acrylics, plywood, UV light

10 5/8" x 5'3" x 10 5/8"

When someone says something heavy you can just ask, "where do you put that?"

I think we're more drawn to constructing our own narratives than we are to figuring out the narratives presented to us. We might have an initial intent, but that intent can't be allowed to take up too much space. You have to leave room — or make room — for other people to come in. This displacement can make the heavier things feel a little lighter.

This piece is an invitation to abstract away from my intent and make room for your own narrative. If placed in the proper order, the plates reveal the first half of a poem and will flip to reveal the second. The nature of the segmented and overlaid verses make it so even if you happen to figure out the "intended" poem, you can never have it all at once. Removing the plates from their darkened environment and away from the charging glow of the UV light will slowly render them illegible. By imposing these convolutions and restrictions, I look to give the audience an out from the burden of reconstructing that which I went to such great lengths to conceal. It's saying "Do you want this? I'm not using it anymore" instead of "Can I get this back when you're done." I'm not interested in getting back what I purposely lost.