Untitled (Diptych)

The derelict basement of the church, formerly a gymnasium for the local community, represents action and physical effort. The current unoccupiable space sits in darkness  not seen, pointing to past purpose of what was. Yet subterranean space also is a metaphor for growth, germination, and hope of what is not yet known.

Above the basement, the church’s Byzantium architecture and sanctuary are still in use though key elements of worship are not active and no longer in use. Light and space rise in contrast to the darkness and closed-ness of the basement. Both the baptismal font and the soaring organ facade are positioned as focal center of this sanctuary; however, both are no longer functional. The space soars to a closed dome, once lined with light but destroyed in a fire in 1949.

Together the building spaces and purposes embody the fullness of past, present, action and contemplation, hidden and visible - a fullness of both communal and individual intention. The building itself becomes a metaphor, offering a framework that holds multiple purposes, time, rhythms, and modes of being at once. 

The art piece encourages experience and contemplation of how we live out purpose in the parameters of place and community.

The artwork includes performance, visual, and sound components to engage and move the participant through the building and out into their communities. The act of action and contemplation draw the participant in both individual and communal embodiment of physical effort moving through the building. Breathing becomes both individual endeavor and relational. Here, the building breaths from past activity of the former uses of the space also provide a metaphor of new life and breath represented by the current participatory art moving through the hidden an visible purposes of the building.

The sound installation utilizes both a former organ and the recorded running breaths of the artist. The former organ from First Baptist is now in use at the Church of the Holy Trinity at Rittenhouse Square. The First Baptist Möller 8128 organ was removed and restored by by the Historic Organ Trust in 2015 and eventually installed in the Church of the Holy Trinity. Drawing comparisons of both the organ as movement of air and the space of a gymnasium as movement of physical air and effort, the sound installation is a collaboration with Lana Norris to create an organ composition based on the recording of the artist’s running breaths. That composition was then performed on the Möller organ by Lana and will be played during the art opening’s performance within the former gymnasium space. The recording of the artist's running breaths will be part of the ongoing art installation in the sanctuary space through November.

The participants are the crucial link of the diptych representing the continuity of the art piece: as they experience the performance and art installation and as they leave the building and return to their communities in the intentions and purpose both hidden and visible that are given meaning.