​Copyright Jen Dessinger

Copyright Jen Dessinger

Memorial To The Future
​25ft x 33ft x 33ft
A Select Exhibit for the Los Angeles Art Show. 
A Collaborative Installation Commissioned and Presented by The Torrance Art Museum
Curated by Max Presneill 

The large-scale sculptural object is created by Daniela Soberman, which houses the video components and open-source photographic elements, curated by Max Presneill of the Torrance Art Museum.

Video art curators Wilfried Agricola De Cologne and Kisito Assangniboth contribute a video program each, of international video artists, as part of this architectural installation engaging with issues of environmental health and climate change.

Sue-Na Gay, TAM Assistant Curator supplied the open source photographic images used in this installation.

DIVERSEartLA 2022 is curated by Marisa Caichiolo for the LA Art Show

Video Footage by LA Art Documents. 

​​Memorial to the Future
Was originally conceived, with collaborative conversations with TAM Curator, Max Presneill, as a site specific, architectural installation for DIVERSEartsLA 2022.

"While making this piece, the work very quickly became a marriage between form and process. The actual act of making the work outdoors – one individual, outside in the elements, exposed to massive climate extremes including months of searing heat coupled with hurricane-strength winds and then days of torrential rain – mirrored similar challenges happening all across the globe. This battle of human creation in answer to its environment is captured and documented in each panel." Daniela Soberman
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​Studio notes / thoughts behind the work...

• All pieces / panels were made by 1 woman, by hand, without the use of assistants or fabricators.
• A human working outside, using primitive means, and physically confronted with adapting to the very real extremes of a changing climate -- as both the human and the work were directly affected by exposure to the environment:
  • Searing heat
  • Hurricane-strength winds
  • Torrential rain
  • Biting cold
• ​Evidence of human interaction
  • Work made by hand is the antithesis of technology. Humans playing in mud, building things -- back to the most primitive of human creative behavior. This has a similar feel on a large scale. What is it to be a human animal?
• Building blocks.
  • Humans build things. Our psyches must stay busy constructing our lives and our environment. To continuously build / improve / innovate is a human endeavor.
  • This pervasive need to build, construct, innovate has led to human advancement, genius ….and destruction.
• Mark making
  • First mark that a child learns to make is a vertical line. Signifies “human”, Mark making is how humans process the world around them -- when things are too difficult to process psychologically or emotionally, -- humans make marks, make art, build things, construct, paint. Mark making is a universal human construct. ​
• I find that the physicality necessary to create each piece is something that is both exciting and exhausting. Using my own body, and not a machine, allows me to impart a piece of my soul into the work.
• Humans were here.