An installation by Expensive Optimism Architects LLC.
Joe Burke, Sora Candelario, and Vivian Wan
This installation addresses the water “footprints” of various products that we encounter on a daily basis. For example, a pair of jeans requires about 2000 gallons of water to be fully manufactured. The monumentality of these numbers is illustrated by making a scale (OO gauge, 1:76) model of a “sculpture garden” from a dystopian future. Here the luxuries we once could “afford” are commemorated by statues that are the same volume as the amount of water required to make each object (e.g. a 27ft tall leather boot). This model is also accompanied by an AR-enabled iPad that viewers can use to see the sculptures at their full scale. By bringing to the forefront the sheer volume of water required for certain luxuries, this makes the habit we have of ignoring means of production in favor of our desires more apparent.