The Distance Between Us | Germany

Beginning with Louis Porter’s discovery that many social distancing guidelines adopted worldwide during the pandemic were based on a research paper measuring the comfortable interpersonal distances between people from different countries, the artist was intrigued by how something as complex as physical intimacy could be quantified, translated into national terms, and used to regulate real human interactions.

In these works, the “intimate distances” listed in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology for several countries have been laser-etched onto rods of iroko wood, cut from a reclaimed Victorian laboratory benchtop. These rods are mounted on photographically reproduced diagrams from American Scientific magazine. Greatly enlarged, stripped of descriptive information, and inverted, these objects allude to the more fundamental distances that govern human existence.

Pigment ink print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308 paper and reclaimed iroko wood rod, laser-engraved and hand-finished. Handcrafted wooden frame and museum glass.

Edition of 2 + 1 A.P.

82.5 x 72.7 cm (artwork)