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Connecting cross country with a line, 2013 - Photo: Alayna Van Dervot, 2013
Connecting cross country with a line, 2013
Photo: Alayna Van Dervot, 2013
Connecting cross country with a line, 2013
Connecting cross country with a line, 2013
Connecting cross country with a line, 2013
Connecting cross country with a line, 2013
Connecting cross country with a line, 2013 - Photo: Alayna Van Dervot, 2013
Connecting cross country with a line, 2013
Photo: Alayna Van Dervot, 2013
Connecting cross country with a line, 2013 - Photo: Alayna Van Dervot, 2013
Connecting cross country with a line, 2013
Photo: Alayna Van Dervot, 2013
Connecting cross country with a line, 2013 - Dodge city, Kansas, 2013
Connecting cross country with a line, 2013
Dodge city, Kansas, 2013
Drawings from Connecting cross country with a line, 2013 - Photo: Jens Ziehe, 2014
Drawings from Connecting cross country with a line, 2013
Photo: Jens Ziehe, 2014
Drawing from Connecting cross country with a line, 2013 - Photo: Jens Ziehe, 2014
Drawing from Connecting cross country with a line, 2013
Photo: Jens Ziehe, 2014
Drawing from Connecting cross country with a line, 2013 - Photo: Jens Ziehe, 2014
Drawing from Connecting cross country with a line, 2013
Photo: Jens Ziehe, 2014
Drawing from Connecting cross country with a line, 2013 - Photo: Jens Ziehe, 2014
Drawing from Connecting cross country with a line, 2013
Photo: Jens Ziehe, 2014
Connecting cross country with a line, 2013 - Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich – 2018 - Photo: Gunnar Gustafsson
Connecting cross country with a line, 2013
Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich – 2018
Photo: Gunnar Gustafsson
A film for ‘Station to Station’, filmed on the S25 urban railway, Berlin, 2013. ‘Station to Station’ is a living project exploring modern creativity. The project first crossed North America by train, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, over 23 days in September 2013. Over the course of the journey, a constantly changing group of creative contributors joined and took part in ten events in major cities and off-the-grid locations. What began as a train journey has evolved into a platform for non-commercial creativity and cross-collaboration between different mediums.
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Created especially for Station to Station, Olafur Eliasson’s drawing machine Connecting cross country with a line, 2013, sketched a series of drawings as the train made its way, cross-country, through the United States of America.
The drawing machine, reminiscent of a large wooden trunk with a circular tray suspended on top by springs, required no power to operate. The drawings were made by an ink-coated obsidian ball, which rolled around the tray as the railcar sped through the landscape. When a drawing was finished, the paper was removed from the machine and inscribed with the number of the drawing and the place and date of its execution. The person operating the machine decided subjectively when to initiate a drawing, responding to the lay of the land; the rocking, lurching, and pitching of the railcar; or the name of the immediate vicinity.
All of the drawings have been framed in round black frames, reminiscent of the train wheels whose marks run across the pages. Nine poems composed by Olafur Eliasson have been printed on the same paper as the drawings and hung together with the drawings, as stations among the lines.
The markings created by Connecting cross country with a line did not result from chance; they followed the progression of the journey and portray the rails, wheels, and land beneath the train. Each bump, hiccup, and lurch of the railcar expressed itself upon the paper; the train and the natural terrain made the drawing in concert. In a sense, the work was site specific to a site that was constantly changing. It is an artwork made by the land.

 

Artwork details

Title

Connecting cross country with a line

Year

2013

Materials

Plywood, stainless steel, steel, obsidian ball, paper, etching ink (black), 14 framed unique ink drawings, 4 unique poems written on the backs of drawings 3, 6, 11, 14