DAVID BROOKS

DAVID BROOKS

American, b. 1975

Permanent Field Observations, 2018

Bronze
Dimensions variable
Courtesy the artist

An artist who has participated in many scientific expeditions, David Brooks believes that a great challenge of addressing climate change is that its effects are often imperceptible. Brooks has created thirty bronze castings of ephemeral natural objects within Storm King’s woods—such as tree roots embracing rocks, or delicately intertwined branches—and permanently affixed them next to the subjects from which they were cast. As future weather patterns alter the site in unknown ways, these intimate replicas will act as time capsules. Brooks has stated, “I’m asking viewers to reconcile the intimacy of apprehending the sculptural object in the quietude of the woods with the vastness of the sculpture’s potential lifespan of thousands of years. Such a reconciliation of disparate perceptions is similar to how one might introspectively experience the conflicted notion and existence of climate change.” A map on view in the Museum Building gallery plots the precise locations of these field observations, which visitors can use to perform their own expeditions.