Lost in Contemplum, 2009
Eucalyptus
Lost in Contemplum investigates contemporary fusions of healing and technology, and their efficaciousness. In this site-specific work, La Rocque culls ideas and materials from a variety of sources to create an unexpected architecture of experience. Here visitors encounter suspended groves of silver eucalyptus and sweet grass; a magnetized column, ceiling and doorway; an unfurling expanse of white yoga mat; and a gravity-defying fountain filled with a frothy deposit of acidic green matcha tea. A ‘negative ion generator' - a machine purported to increase feelings of contentment - operates on the sidelines inconspicuously.
Ultimately, for La Rocque, the process of healing requires ’blind faith’. Health is neither a guarantee nor is it, in some cases, achievable. It is invisible, miraculous and transformative. In Lost in Contemplum, La Rocque manipulates materials to great effect, and by so doing, she challenges the wisdom, conventions, outcomes and products made available to us in our pursuit of health.
-Chloë Fraser