Installation Nation
The Drake Paradox

Straw bales, metal, coconuts, gold leaf, rock
Temporary Public Art Commission – Installation Nation
Indianapolis Art Center, Indianapolis, Indiana
2014 

The Drake Paradox, was an interactive installation created for Installation Nation 2014. The design engaged and invited the public to enter and explore the organic structure.  Straw bales evoke the senses in powerful ways, from the strong tactile and visual textures of the bales, to the way sound changes in a structure made of straw. The Drake Paradox is a mathematical formula used to determine how many planets beyond Earth could have intelligent life. Participants were confronted with a question, “Are we alone in the Universe?” A geodesic sculpture in the middle of the straw structure had eight spherical orbs embedded (a reference to the eight planets in our solar system.) Participants/public selected a pebble at the entrance of the structure and choose either “we are alone in the Universe” and place the pebble in the center sculpture or that “life exists beyond our solar system” and place the pebble through the window of the straw bale structure.  

“Paradox” invited visitors into a straw-bale structure that framed a geodesic exploration of our cosmos. The central form with eight orbs prompted participants to cast pebbles and decide: are we alone, or does life exist beyond?