Building Block (2018)
In “Building Block”, I compare different kinds of growth. Today, “growth” often refers to economies concerned with the ebbs and flows of urban development. The I-beam is an iconic symbol of this notion of growth. But of course, there is always growth happening, everything alive is growing. Sometimes, due to the toxic tendencies of industry and urban environments, these two ideas of growth seem contradictory to each other. However, cheese production relies on industrial and cellular growth alike. The holes, or “eyes”, in swiss cheese are a product of industrious bacteria that grow in the fermentation stage and give swiss cheese its unique flavor. Through symbolic rather than practical means, this work asks how we can hold these two notions of growth as equally important.