Resistencia
2009
Resistance heating, insulators, steel cable, sensors, and electricity
Dimensions variable
Marcela Armas works at the intersection of art, science, and technology—exploring the functioning and poetic potential of materials—as a point of departure to reflect on conflicted social relations. Armas is particularly interested in the observation of material phenomena, their transformations, and their overflow as manifestations of thought.
Resistencia is a representation of the United States–Mexico border, executed with a glowing metal filament known as “resistance heating.” The wire structure used in the work establishes a metaphorical relationship with the socio-political reality experienced on both sides of the border—a reality rendered as an overwhelming line of tension and incandescence.
Resistance heating demands and consumes large amounts of energy from the electrical grid that powers it. The work frames the border as a dangerous edge—marking rupture and distortion in the relationship between two neighboring nations.
