Diagram for Substance Transferal, 2005

These suits were created for the study of thermal depolymerization (the process by which any organic material can be turned into oil) in The Human-to-Oil Project. These suits show the living stage of the human body producing water, and the potential organic stage of the human body producing oil.

Dimensions: Variable. Materials: Vinyl, aquarium pumps, water, oil, tubing, hardware.

Diagram for Substance Transferal was the first piece in this body of work, that spoke to the equal importance of water and oil in our society. The concept behind Diagram for Substance Transferal is that these two substances, oil and water, are poetically and physically linked, and can morph into each other. The process linking these two substances is the cycle of the human body from birth to entropy. We began from matter such as stardust, and our time on this earth is spent mostly as water, as we carry with us 85% of the substance. When we die, we enter a natural process, where we are reclaimed by the earth and sent on a journey to eventually become fossil fuels. The two most important needs of humankind today, oil and water are linked and mixed through this piece within the container of the human body.

This installation functions as a diagram for the experiments suggested in the concepts behind The Human-to-Oil Project. This installation involves two bodysuits, one with arteries circulating water and the other circulating oil. The suits show the living stage of the human body producing water, to the body as organic matter, producing oil. These suits are made of vinyl, a conscious reference to the importance petroleum plays in producing plastics, with plastic tubing running throughout each suit, operated by one pump per suit. The noise produced by the piece is perhaps one of its most potent qualities; the sounds of the pumps operating and the liquid moving sound like the interior networkings of the human body amplified. The suits, which hang like skins that have just been removed, retain the shape and feel of actual human bodies, appearing as shells of life.