Reconstructed Memory These pieces represent machines that recreate the view of trees that stood in the area before the building was created. Suspended in each space, is a static projector that uses the seeds of birch or spruce to create the illusion of the projected image on the wall. The four tree “shadows” reflect the projected image of a tree that are based on actual photographs of the ction of this piece of artwork, which uses found materials as well as steel and other industrial goods, has several purposes. First, these materials complement the modern architecture of the school and are part of the design theme. Second, they add potency to the artist’s exchange of ideas regarding the previously existing trees and their current replacement: a large building. The trees that once were are now only shadows and memories of trees that are replicated through these modern devices. In the Shadows This piece of art is about the trees occupying the footprint of the school prior to the school being constructed. On the lower trunk of each tree, a “machine” was mounted that explores the relationship of humankind to his/her environment and, more precisely, humankind to this particular environment. Four different machines have been fabricated from found objects and are mounted within a glass-fronted steel or aluminum frame. Machine A was built with the intention of reforesting the site after the building has served its purpose and is demolished. This machine contains the seeds of actual trees that occupied the site of the school before its construction. Machine A was designed specifically to preserve these seeds. Machine B preserves core samples of actual trees from the site. These cores are used in the field of dendrochronology, the science of tree rings, which, in turn impacts the field of climatology. An increment borer is used to extract the core samples. Machine B was specially designed to preserve these cores. The artistic intention of this machine was to reproduce the existing trees through cloning, or at least preserve them for future cloning technologies. Machine C is based on the taxonomy of the trees on the site. Taxonomy is the classification of living things into various categories. The artist has always been fascinated by classification as a way of knowing the world--as though tidy housekeeping is the way to truth. This machine intends to replace the trees through pure reason, thus making the actual trees unnecessary. Machine D is based on the marvelous amount of information available on the types of trees on this site. This machine takes information in various forms, such as printed matter, photographs of actual trees on the site, digital images, sound recordings, etc., and symbolically uses it to create a “virtual tree.” Again, this makes the presence of actual trees redundant and unnecessary in light of the new “virtual tree.”