Sod Off!
May 2009 - Cambridge, MA USA - Boston Cyberarts 10th Anniversary Gala
April 2009 - Cambridge, MA USA - Maker Revolution
Sept 2006 - Montreal Québec - 7th Manifestation Internationale Vidéo et Art Électronique
Sept 2005 - Seattle, WA USA - Bumbershoot Music and Art Festival / Outside:In [walkthrough]
A 100 square foot lawn rests in the middle of the gallery. Visitors are invited to walk, sit and enjoy. This lawn, however, is made of grass which refuses its role as a passive groundcover. Sit or stand a while and the grass begins to growl, growing steadily louder until the floor shakes.
Sod Off! is the latest in a series of works exploring the emotional lives of the botanic life forms which share our space. In particular, the great American lawn, the humble groundcover which so long has been without a voice, is now given a say in its role as an underfoot organism. With every step, consider your beautiful ChemLawn; be glad it cannot speak.
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Canadian version:
Deeply concerned with the current state of botanical slavery, artist and plants-rights activist Andrew Sempere has joined the small but growing movement to return a sense of agency to silent, captive vegetation. Routinely crushed underfoot, subjected to the inequities of mere groundcover, lawns are nonetheless made to adorn nearly every residence in the US. Exposed to car exhaust, garden parties, the pressure of thousands of feet and the myriad indignities of tennis, polo, mini-golf, and lawn darts, these under appreciated organisms bide their time, silently suffering, never complaining. Armed with little more than a soldering iron and a near photographic recall of The Lorax, Andrew seeks to return the voice of protest to the lawn. Plants will be given teeth! Flowers will speak! Grass will no longer hold it's throat in silent servitude! Viva Festuca Arundinacea!
Boston Globe
May 18 2009 Sod Off! and Meditations on Burst Philosophy
at Maker Revolution
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Sept 2005
Review of Sod Off! at the Bumbershoot festival
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Sept 2005
Coverage of Sod Off! at the Bumbershoot festival
April 2009 - Cambridge, MA USA - Maker Revolution
Sept 2006 - Montreal Québec - 7th Manifestation Internationale Vidéo et Art Électronique
Sept 2005 - Seattle, WA USA - Bumbershoot Music and Art Festival / Outside:In [walkthrough]
A 100 square foot lawn rests in the middle of the gallery. Visitors are invited to walk, sit and enjoy. This lawn, however, is made of grass which refuses its role as a passive groundcover. Sit or stand a while and the grass begins to growl, growing steadily louder until the floor shakes.
Sod Off! is the latest in a series of works exploring the emotional lives of the botanic life forms which share our space. In particular, the great American lawn, the humble groundcover which so long has been without a voice, is now given a say in its role as an underfoot organism. With every step, consider your beautiful ChemLawn; be glad it cannot speak.
---
Canadian version:
Deeply concerned with the current state of botanical slavery, artist and plants-rights activist Andrew Sempere has joined the small but growing movement to return a sense of agency to silent, captive vegetation. Routinely crushed underfoot, subjected to the inequities of mere groundcover, lawns are nonetheless made to adorn nearly every residence in the US. Exposed to car exhaust, garden parties, the pressure of thousands of feet and the myriad indignities of tennis, polo, mini-golf, and lawn darts, these under appreciated organisms bide their time, silently suffering, never complaining. Armed with little more than a soldering iron and a near photographic recall of The Lorax, Andrew seeks to return the voice of protest to the lawn. Plants will be given teeth! Flowers will speak! Grass will no longer hold it's throat in silent servitude! Viva Festuca Arundinacea!
Boston Globe
May 18 2009 Sod Off! and Meditations on Burst Philosophy
at Maker Revolution
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Sept 2005
Review of Sod Off! at the Bumbershoot festival
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Sept 2005
Coverage of Sod Off! at the Bumbershoot festival
