Jacob C Hammes
Once
wood, steel, electronics, fiberglass, cast eurethane, mixed media
2022
“Once” is a kinetic sculpture featuring a detailed model of a container ship mounted to a motorized base. Operating similar to a vintage “Coin Op Kiddie Ride” (horses, cars, or spaceships) the sculpture slowly rocks back and forth as though floating on an ocean.
In this body of work, the dualities of global trade are made visible by the image of the shipping container: Like a blood cell pumped through the vascular system of global capitalism, they transport both resources and contaminants. Generating wealth and poverty in different parts of the world, these vessels can provide the means to allocate resources, increase consumption, aid in exploitation of labor, and destroy ecosystems while delivering to wealthy nations an effective method of exerting influence, as well as large-scale human migration due to political conflicts spawned by these mechanisms. As a “Kiddie Ride” this is conceived as an encounter with absurdities of life in late-stage capitalism, confronting our expected innocence as participants.