Form/Space Atelier Program For October 2010
Exhibit Title: Steel: A Symphony of Industry
Exhibit Duration: October 21-November 13, 2010
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Opening Reception: October 21, 6PM
Steel: A Symphony Of Industry is photographer Dan Hawkins fourth solo exhibit and his fifth overall at Form/Space Atelier. The exhibit consists of photographs, sculpture and sound, and video installation.
Hawkins narrative for Steel: A Symphony of Industry:
In 2008 I began traveling to the rusting furnaces of the Bethlehem Steel Mill in Bethlehem, PA. This is a manufacturing organization whose origins reach back to the mid 19th century. The plant is oriented around a series of four blast furnaces towering over the city at a height of 285ft each. This industrial relic tells a story of a different time and I felt compelled to document these remains as part of an attempt to convey the sense of transition and history that was embedded within its walls. After rising to become one of the industrial giants of the US the plant closed its doors forever in 1995. Visiting the site, it came as a great surprise for me to discover that the grounds on which the steel works had once forged the girders that were used to support structures such as the Golden Gate Bridge, were now being cleared for the construction of a new enterprise: The Sands Casino Resort - Bethlehem. I am endlessly fascinated by these demonstrations of our collective will.
This exhibit will consist of a series of photographs taken at the site over the last two years along with a sculptural sound piece and a video work that was created using archival footage for which a new score has been composed. In my work I attempt to speak to the hidden hand that enacts the grand course of our culture and society. It seems that these narratives sometimes do not match the views we hold of ourselves. This leaves us with an interesting question: Who then is doing this? It is my hope to address this question by interpreting the landscapes and enterprises we have enacted as evidence of this deeper impetus.
