Tainted Knowing (fraudulent texts, hidden sympathy, and unfounded enthusiasm), 2020

A large translucent drawing mounted on a stand — Installation view, Unit 17, Vancouver, photography: Cemrenaz Uyguner

Tinted resin cone on matching plinth — Etheric Ward, 2020, orgonite (steel, aluminum, copper leaf, quartz crystal, resin), polystyrene, recycled fabric, coloured sand

Translucent drawing, front view — The Great Tree of Pagan Superstition, 2020, hand cut and collaged lighting gels, acetate, ink, copper wire, plexiglass, C-stand, flag frame, sandbag, recycled fabric

Artwork base, showing a matching sandbag to stabilise it — The Great Tree of Pagan Superstition, 2020, hand cut and collaged lighting gels, acetate, ink, copper wire, plexiglass, C-stand, flag frame, sandbag, recycled fabric

Tinted resin puck on window sill — Tower Busters, 2020, orgonite (steel, aluminum, copper wire, copper leaf, quartz crystal, resin)

A different tinted resin puck — Tower Busters, 2020, orgonite (steel, aluminum, copper wire, copper leaf, quartz crystal, resin)

The Great Tree of Pagan Superstition makes visible the light through which we have unwittingly come to perceive certain ideas. Ideas like those that imbue accompanying objects: Etheric Ward and the Tower Busters, all of which are made of orgonite. Orgonite is an occult substance of contemporary DIY cult status, which is said to transmute among other things, the harmful energy of electro-magnetic frequencies. It is named for Wilhelm Reich’s 1930’s concept of Orgone which is variously described as universal life force, esoteric energy, or pseudoscience.