TAP

TAP

Tap is an interactive black flame that invites viewers to discuss fracking.

Tap chronicles a diverse array of intersectional stories, notably spotlighting the Denton Texas Fracking Referendum Collection. Through firsthand accounts, it sheds light on the impact and experiences tied to the ban on fracking, enacted into local law on November 4, 2014. Denton holds the distinctive honor of being the first major city in the U.S.A to implement a permanent ban on fracking, thereby presenting a roadmap for resistance.

These narratives explore the diverse impacts of fracking, engaging in dialogues that range from landowners weighing the potential benefits and pitfalls of permitting their lands to be exploited for resources, to truck drivers who toil to transport the colossal 2-8 million gallons of water required to fracture a single well. The flame, thus, provides a complex, nuanced depiction of the fracking industry and its repercussions on the people and places it touches.

Black Flame

Flames traditionally radiate light and warmth, making the idea of 'black fire' seem impossible. Yet, TAP  achieves this through careful control of light wavelengths. By using a low-pressure sodium lamp that shares the spectral signature of a sodium-enhanced flame, TAP creates black fire. Sodium atoms from salt introduced to the flame absorb the lamp's light due to their aligned energies. This total absorption of light results in what we perceive as 'black fire.

The water is on fire.

In 1969 Time Magazine published an arresting image of the water of the Cuyahoga River engulfed in fames. The river, polluted from years of industrial waste, caught fire on a Sunday morning in June. However, this was not the first time the river burned. Over a dozen fires have been recorded on the Cuyahoga River, with the first dating back to 1868. The burning river photo Time Magazine published was not even from 1969; it was in fact a photo of the river burning 17 years earlier in 1952. The media attention in 1969 helped galvanize public support for a series of ambitious pollution control activities eventually resulting in the Clean Water Act and the establishment of the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

The image of a contemporary kitchen sink spouting forth flames has become synonymous with “Fracking” a method of horizontal drilling into shale formations known as hydraulic fracturing. Across America, residents have experienced a slew of chronic health problems that can be traced back to the contamination of their air, water wells, or surface water resulting from nearby oil and gas fracking.

“The flame,” gestures Dr. Cattaneo, “is the sound system’s loudspeaker.”

The same year as the Cuyahoga fire, Dr. A. G. Cattaneo, manager of United Technology’s Physical Sciences Laboratory, invented the flame speaker quite by accident while trying to duplicate in the lab the jet-flame exhaust of rocket motors. The flame speaker uses a specialized high-voltage electrical arc to distort a high-temperature plasma flame. The flame expands and contracts generating sound in much the same way as the surface of a traditional speaker.

A vintage kitchen sink is sunk vertically into the gallery wall. Instead of water, black flames pour from the faucet. As the flames spill out a faint voice can be heard. The source of the sound can be traced back to the flame—the flame itself is speaking.

Previous version of Tap from 2016, shown (bellow) set within a thermochromic frame. This version of Tap fused the complexities of iconic imagery, exploitation, and domestic objects. This early version was made in collaboration with Adam Fure.

Special thanks Bill Santen for music.

Exhibitions: TAP at THE ACADIA//2016 (The Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture), TAPs-Research on the City, Taubman College. The Wolf at the Door. Big Orbit, Buffalo, NY. Wolf at the Door, Undercurrent, Dumbo Brooklyn, NYC.