Arnold Schalks, 1998, Communicating Vessels (communication, publications, services), exhibition and publication, Communicating Vessels (communicatie, publicaties, diensten), tentoonstelling en publicatie, Communicating Vessels (Kommunikation, Publikationen, Dienstleistungen), Ausstellung und Publikation, artist-in-residence project, Ron Rocco, Horace Twiford, Pepe Fernando, Harrison Maycroft, Eddie Squire, Jay Ottinger, Patrick Ausband, Francis Bowker, newsstand, St. George terminal, Staten Island Ferry, Sailor's Snug Harbor, Sea Level, North Carolina, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island, New York, Centrum Beeldende Kunst Rotterdam, Consulate General for the Netherlands for North America

DUAL PURPOSE CORK SET

Communicating Vessels' "either/or" bargain

the multiple includes:

1 'Individual Airbank' -label, 1 'H2O' message sheet and 1 cork

edition: 24

Arnold Schalks, 1998, Communicating Vessels (communication, publications, services), exhibition and publication, Communicating Vessels (communicatie, publicaties, diensten), tentoonstelling en publicatie, Communicating Vessels (Kommunikation, Publikationen, Dienstleistungen), Ausstellung und Publikation, artist-in-residence project, Ron Rocco, Horace Twiford, Pepe Fernando, Harrison Maycroft, Eddie Squire, Jay Ottinger, Patrick Ausband, Francis Bowker, newsstand, St. George terminal, Staten Island Ferry, Sailor's Snug Harbor, Sea Level, North Carolina, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island, New York, Centrum Beeldende Kunst Rotterdam, Consulate General for the Netherlands for North America, Dual purpose cork set

PURPOSE #1: THE INDIVIDUAL AIRBANK

The burning of fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide: CO2. This colorless, odourless gas is transparent to sunlight at visible wave-lengths, but is opaque to certain infrared radiation, that would otherwise be transmitted from the earth to space. Carbon dioxide, therefore, tends to trap heat. The increasing quantity of atmospheric CO2, together with the effects of deforestation, are expected to cause a significant rise in world temperatures with unforeseen climatic and environmental effects. In order to obtain data bearing on the likely extent of global warming, scientists need objects that are hollow, airtight and datably old. The air, for example trapped in old hour-glasses or sealed bottles containing model ships, may help to show how much the atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have increased in recent centuries. The objects will be opened in a vacuum. The amount of carbon dioxide in the trapped air will be ascertained by gas chromatography, and the readings will be compared with measurements of 'modern' air. It remains to be seen whether these old-air objects have remained airtight and whether the air in them appears not to have been changed in composition by chemical reactions with the walls of the container.

Communicating Vessels anticipates a deficiency of air samples in the distant future. In order to support future research on global warming, it introduces the Individual Airbank project. You can help provide for the long term consolidation of atmospheric research, by taking your own private air sample. All you have to do is: place a dry and clean container (for example an empty wine bottle) in an outdoor space, hold your breath and let the receptacle fill up with a quantity of contemporary air. Then close the receptacle with the provided, organic stop. The specially designed cone-shaped cork ensures the required airtight sealing. The included waterproof label, filled in with a permanent marker, will save future generations of scientists the effort of guessing the age of your sample.

Please store your Individual Airbank sample in a safe place and include a properly worded provision in your Will, on which scientific institution you bestow your sample of trapped air.

PURPOSE #2: H2O MESSENGER SERVICE

Are you discontent with the regular message distribution by land or by air?

Are you looking for more adventurous, dynamical flows of information?

Is the intent to communicate more relevant then its purposiveness.

Do you sympathize with Thales' 1) famous statement: 'panta rei' 2) ?

Let the currents deliver your messages.

Local - Long Distance - Worldwide.

FREE DELIVERY

1) Thales of Miletus (c.624-c.545 BC) = Greek philosopher, mathematician and astronomer. He was one of the Seven Sages listed by Plato and was held by Aristotle to be the founder of physical science. He also credited with founding geometry. He proposed that water was the primary substance from which all things were derived, and represented the earth as floating on an underlying ocean.

2) 'panta rei' = everything flows

H2O Messenger Service

Step by step instructions

Compose your message on the sheet provided. (Please, use a permanent marker).
Enter the sheet into an dry, clean container, e.g. an empty wine bottle.
Stop the container's neck firmly with the special, cone-shaped cork, to ensure its watertight sealing.
Find a proper location on the water-front to launch your container.
Surrender the container to the local currents.

Communicating Vessels editions © 1998, Staten Island

Click here to download the 'DUAL PURPOSE CORK SET-manual' in pdf format / File size: 56 KB / BOOKLET: page 1-6 (double-sided) / page 7: cover / © 1998, Rotterdam, Arnold Schalks.