Kate Tromp van Holst [Mine, Midden, Artifact]

Mine, Midden, Artifact explores the relationships between power, production,material culture, and waste. The manufacture of material objects relies on fossil fuels, as does the transport of these objects from origin to destination. Power is used in the consumption of these goods, in the form of cooking fuel, and heat, and lights for homes.

In societies with little economic power, very little in the way of useful material culture is discarded. In contrast, societies with abundant wealth often discard objects of material culture before they wear out or are repaired. The abundance of energy our society has enjoyed for over a century has led to an abundance of wealth and an abundance of resulting refuse. Landfills are physical representations of our material culture.

Mine, Midden, Artifact is the result of the careful excavation of midden heaps at Overlook. The objects found in these small landfills tell the story of material culture at Overlook, with found objects dating to the 1930’s and earlier. The objects were carefully curated into a sited installation, located in two neglected buildings on the property: an old pump house and a power generation building.

Our culture of consumption, where new, replaceable, and disposable objects are preferred and prioritized, is often viewed as civilized. While this lifestyle does provide security against the forces of earth, it also produces huge amounts of waste and chaotically interferes with natural systems. The two installations that comprise Mine, Midden, Artifact, taken together, symbolize the disparity between the perception and reality of our material culture.

The Pump House

This installation is representative the darker culture of power in the region of northeastern Pennsylvania, the landfills and coalmines. Coal mounded in the center of a compass-like form of artifacts reinforces this darkness, as does the lighting of the space, emanating from under piles of brown, green, and clear bottles. A projection of ants, scurrying to save their eggs from the excavation of a midden heap, plays directly onto the cinder block wall behind the installation. Gold-leafed coal, an object representative of both generation and consumption, allows people the chance to take a piece of the installation with them when they leave.

The Power Generation House

The second structure still contains remnants of its past life as a power generator for Overlook: pumps, pipes, wiring, and a large generator engine. In this building a group of objects are displayed in the style of a formal exhibition. White shelves hold small, curated objects from the Overlook property, with their contents arranged in small groups, each assemblage telling an imagined narrative of the people who used them. In the corner, a pile of salt references the historic connection of Overlook to the salt industry.