Rachel Berwick

Hovering Close to Zero
2000 - 2006

Dimensions Variable
Materials: steel, cast crystal, resin, graphite

Project Venues:                   
2000 Brent Sikkema, New York, NY
2006 Bates College Museum of Art, Lewiston, ME
2006 H&R Block Artspace at the Kansas City Art Institute,        Kansas City, MO
 

In 1936, the last captive Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus) a carnivorous marsupial, died in the Hobart Zoo in Tasmania. The only remaining images of a live Tasmanian tiger are preserved in a small collection of still photographs and about 60 seconds of film from the 1920’s. This installation was inspired by the Thylacine’s disappearance and the rich mythology that has emerged from its loss. 

With the aid of computer technology, I  “recovered” the animal from the ageing film by feeding film stills into a digital modeling process.  This resulted in the stills being transformed into three-dimensional models. Since the computer does not discern between the tiger and flaws in the film, the flaws were modeled as well.  As a result, the tiger is fused with its shadow and/or cage in each of the models. Interspersed among the resin computer models are a series of cast crystal Tasmanian tiger skulls.