Contact Traces at Wattis Institute of Contemporary Art
Underground Library as part of Contact Traces
2021
Contact Traces included biocharred books from the Underground Library project, which were created at a biochar burn at the Sagehen Creek Field Station in the High Sierras. Additionally, we choose to include the biochar kilns themselves and documentary photos from the project: One showing a discarded Harvard University library book and one showing a grid of included books on climate.
The climate-impact of the work's inclusion in the project was minimized by choosing to show works that were also located in the state of California, and by loaning the photographic works to another local exhibition at Round Weather Gallery after the show closed.