METAL SCRAPPING
Scrap-metal dealers have littered the landscape of Detroit for decades, recycling and re-bending car metal during the once thriving car industry. As the motor city fell into economic crisis leaving thousands of homes in derelict, a new source for metal scrapping emerged. With global metal prices soaring, many jobless Detroiter’s turned to raiding empty buildings and scrapping metal as a new source of income.
Copper, one of the metals commonly used in wires, pipes, and other household fittings, holds high value making it the king of metals among local scrappers in Detroit. Its widespread theft has brought great detriment to the city, leaving citizens with no power or street lights. Contact with live wires can result in injuries or death and getting caught assures imprisonment. Although the hunt comes with high risk, the rewards are even higher.
MATERIAL MANIPULATION
Dead Wire is a temporary spatial interpretation of copper scrapping in Detroit. The installation is an obsessive collection of copper wire made possible through theft. The copper wire has been scrapped, stripped, twisted and hung to represent the electrical lines in the city.
Appreciated solely for its monetary value in the scrapping industry, Dead Wire places emphasis on the physical composition of copper. The metal is rich in color, glistens in the light, and has the ability to hold its shape when bent. Similar to the exploitation scrapping has done to Detroit, the copper wire has been hyper-twisted and exploited beyond its original physical composition. Delicate yet aggressive, Dead Wire exposes the tedious and detrimental world of scrapping.
