ADAM SIMMS

Adam collected the eponymous object featured in Driftwood from the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland, his family’s homeland. In this kinetic installation, a microelectronic system controls the driftwood’s movement. This system receives transmissions of live data from a buoy located in the Atlantic ocean off the coast of Newfoundland. The electronics translate the data into motion, enabling the driftwood to respond in real-time to the movement of the ocean. Though we don’t see the ocean, the installation evokes it: the driftwood moves rhythmically through the negative space, just as it would in the water.

By separating the driftwood from its original context and presenting it as sculpture in a stark gallery setting, Adam draws a parallel to the Resettlement Acts that took place in Newfoundland after it became Canada’s 10th province in 1949. Resettlement entailed the relocation of people from remote locations with few economic prospects to areas the Canadian government deemed to have more potential for growth. As a result, the people from the resettled areas left their communities and their land behind to start over in new locations.

In Driftwood, Adam examines the notion of displacement, questioning the changes that occur when something—or someone—is uprooted from its native environment. Here, the driftwood is geographically distant from the ocean, but the ocean remains its lifeblood, carrying it along on invisible waves.

Adam collected the eponymous object featured in Driftwood from the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland, his family’s homeland. In this kinetic installation, a microelectronic system controls the driftwood’s movement. This system receives transmissions of live data from a buoy located in the Atlantic ocean off the coast of Newfoundland. The electronics translate the data into motion, enabling the driftwood to respond in real-time to the movement of the ocean. Though we don’t see the ocean, the installation evokes it: the driftwood moves rhythmically through the negative space, just as it would in the water.

By separating the driftwood from its original context and presenting it as sculpture in a stark gallery setting, Adam draws a parallel to the Resettlement Acts that took place in Newfoundland after it became Canada’s 10th province in 1949. Resettlement entailed the relocation of people from remote locations with few economic prospects to areas the Canadian government deemed to have more potential for growth. As a result, the people from the resettled areas left their communities and their land behind to start over in new locations.

In Driftwood, Adam examines the notion of displacement, questioning the changes that occur when something—or someone—is uprooted from its native environment. Here, the driftwood is geographically distant from the ocean, but the ocean remains its lifeblood, carrying it along on invisible waves.

Adam collected the eponymous object featured in Driftwood from the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland, his family’s homeland. In this kinetic installation, a microelectronic system controls the driftwood’s movement. This system receives transmissions of live data from a buoy located in the Atlantic ocean off the coast of Newfoundland. The electronics translate the data into motion, enabling the driftwood to respond in real-time to the movement of the ocean. Though we don’t see the ocean, the installation evokes it: the driftwood moves rhythmically through the negative space, just as it would in the water.

By separating the driftwood from its original context and presenting it as sculpture in a stark gallery setting, Adam draws a parallel to the Resettlement Acts that took place in Newfoundland after it became Canada’s 10th province in 1949. Resettlement entailed the relocation of people from remote locations with few economic prospects to areas the Canadian government deemed to have more potential for growth. As a result, the people from the resettled areas left their communities and their land behind to start over in new locations.

In Driftwood, Adam examines the notion of displacement, questioning the changes that occur when something—or someone—is uprooted from its native environment. Here, the driftwood is geographically distant from the ocean, but the ocean remains its lifeblood, carrying it along on invisible waves.

Adam collected the eponymous object featured in Driftwood from the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland, his family’s homeland. In this kinetic installation, a microelectronic system controls the driftwood’s movement. This system receives transmissions of live data from a buoy located in the Atlantic ocean off the coast of Newfoundland. The electronics translate the data into motion, enabling the driftwood to respond in real-time to the movement of the ocean. Though we don’t see the ocean, the installation evokes it: the driftwood moves rhythmically through the negative space, just as it would in the water.

By separating the driftwood from its original context and presenting it as sculpture in a stark gallery setting, Adam draws a parallel to the Resettlement Acts that took place in Newfoundland after it became Canada’s 10th province in 1949. Resettlement entailed the relocation of people from remote locations with few economic prospects to areas the Canadian government deemed to have more potential for growth. As a result, the people from the resettled areas left their communities and their land behind to start over in new locations.

In Driftwood, Adam examines the notion of displacement, questioning the changes that occur when something—or someone—is uprooted from its native environment. Here, the driftwood is geographically distant from the ocean, but the ocean remains its lifeblood, carrying it along on invisible waves.