ABOUT Terminal Velocity
Terminal Velocity is comprised of four primary installations. Each serves not as a definitive statement, but as point of departure—a means of exploring ideas about place and the complex overlay of meaning associated with place that often includes conventionalities, contradictions and absurdities.
The three pieces on the left wall (upon entering the gallery) utilize different materials to represent the same subject with each medium bringing significantly different readings. The series references Micronesian stick charts which are handheld wood and seashell constructions that depict nautical routes by indicating wave swells and water currents rather than standard distance. The Metronesian Stick Chart, (the center of the three) is constructed of mimosa wood and inner-tubes with each valve representing an exit along Atlanta’s interstate system. Meanwhile, Interchange 1-9, located on the back center wall, condenses the city to 9 major interstate intersections. The panels are overlaid with road-worn ribbons of flayed inner-tubes.
Influenced by animist objects I encountered while living in West Africa in my twenties, the Fetish Series is an attempt to understand the burden of place—to reconcile the conflicted sentiments of revered sites. The wood for each piece was collected from a specific location that holds personal meaning (some examples include: my ancestral home-place, a schizophrenic’s feared power center, and the forest where a friend died). After formed into an X, the wood was bound and protected by taunt rubber (with one exception) with many further impaled with nails.
The Monument Series serves as an exploration of monuments and their ability to mark place. In this case, perhaps “placeiness” is a better term (as in Colbert’s “truthiness”). By making them portable, their authoritativeness and effectiveness has been significantly diminished while increasing their ability to mark numerous places quickly (although only temporarily).
— Gregor Turk
