New Wight Gallery Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning System (HVAC), 2023
New Wight Gallery air supply and intake vents (black horizontal openings/corners on and in between gallery walls), filtered air sourced from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
The University of California, Los Angeles, maintains one of the most comprehensive Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) programs among American universities, operating in accordance with Environmental Protection Agency standards. These protocols govern particulate matter, temperature, humidity, and airflow to maintain stable interior conditions across campus facilities.
For this work, the existing Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system of the New Wight Gallery is designated as a readymade sculpture. The system—normally understood as a purely functional and invisible infrastructure—is claimed in its entirety as the artwork. Operating continuously throughout the exhibition, it regulates the air that circulates through the gallery.
By asserting ownership over this system as a sculptural object, the work redirects attention toward the institutional mechanisms that quietly structure perception, comfort, and safety. The gallery is revealed as an environment actively produced through regulation and maintenance. Air, typically experienced as immaterial and benign, is rendered as a controlled substance, highlighting the administrative and mechanical labor required to sustain the appearance of neutrality within cultural institutions.
New Wight Gallery air supply and intake vents (black horizontal openings/corners on and in between gallery walls), filtered air sourced from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
The University of California, Los Angeles, maintains one of the most comprehensive Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) programs among American universities, operating in accordance with Environmental Protection Agency standards. These protocols govern particulate matter, temperature, humidity, and airflow to maintain stable interior conditions across campus facilities.
For this work, the existing Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system of the New Wight Gallery is designated as a readymade sculpture. The system—normally understood as a purely functional and invisible infrastructure—is claimed in its entirety as the artwork. Operating continuously throughout the exhibition, it regulates the air that circulates through the gallery.
By asserting ownership over this system as a sculptural object, the work redirects attention toward the institutional mechanisms that quietly structure perception, comfort, and safety. The gallery is revealed as an environment actively produced through regulation and maintenance. Air, typically experienced as immaterial and benign, is rendered as a controlled substance, highlighting the administrative and mechanical labor required to sustain the appearance of neutrality within cultural institutions.