paint, paper, space blanket, image transfer, mirror, acrylic,
engineered wood, card stock
Picture frame: 10.5 × 10.5 × 2.5 in
Case: 13.5 × 16.5 × 13.5 in
During the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts shared space food on live television after performing a historic space rendezvous. To mark the occasion, the cosmonauts toasted with tubes of borscht disguised as vodka—an improvised gesture of humor and arguably the first act of subversive creativity in space.
Descending Chalice responds to this event as a commemoration without elevation. Cast aluminum forms, one finished and the other left unrefined; are placed within a specimen box designed for butterflies. The absent butterfly and the folding structure of the box point to a conceptual act of folding rather than display. Here, the objects performs its own falseness revealing its reproducibility. The mirror in the box creates another fold reflecting an enclosed image of the Borscht Vodka gesture. The image itself is a transfer: a space myth without clear authorship, a signal gesturing towards an imaginary. The viewer, the object, and the image form a triangle of transmission. To preserve the image’s reflection, the viewer must avoid standing directly before the object, lest they eclipse it. Instead, they remain at a slant, half-seeing, sustaining a fragile awareness of all three: the image, its echo, and their own position within the circuit.
misplaced in a box meant for butterflies, hinging the work between concealment and revelation. The hinged box contains a mirror that reflects an enclosed image of the Borscht Vodka moment, producing a parallax between image and object. The image itself is a transfer: a space phenomenon without an acknowledged author that has been borrowed for this project. The viewer, the object, and the image form a triangle of transmission. To preserve the image’s reflection, the viewer must avoid standing directly before the object, lest they eclipse it. Instead, they remain at a slant—half-seeing, half-seen—sustaining a fragile awareness of all three: the thing, its echo, and their own position within the circuit.