DNA; Strand
1a : fibers or filaments twisted, plaited, or laid parallel to form a unit for further twisting or plaiting into yarn, thread, rope, or cordage.
1c : something (such as a molecular chain) resembling a strand - a strand of DNA.
3: an elongated or twisted and plaited body resembling a rope - a strand of pearls.
4: one of the elements interwoven in a complex whole - one strand of the novel's plot.
Merriam Webster dictionary
The fundamental units of reality cannot exist without the interacting with one another; a quark by itself actually cannot occur. However, as soon as they make contact with one another in a kind of jittery quantum dance, the universe appears. Most of the leading research into the quantum realm recognizes the fact that reality isn’t so much made up of “stuff” but rather is the sum of countless “events”, and, as everyone knows, it takes two to tango.
The structure of this installation piece evolved from this idea. Michael Hager 9/7/2018-19
The Prints.
The numerous woodcut prints in this piece (there are over 80) are in actuality images of ruined, heat-distorted steel pulled out of a burnt-out section of the then Union Pacific Railroad Station, now the Great Overland Railway Museum. The fascinating forms the metal takes is a kind of dichotomy; the calligraphic shapes (quite gestural in nature) tell of the immense heat and chaos of the inferno that created them.