SURPLUS RISING:    
      AN EXPLORATION INTO THE INFRASTRUCTURE OF GLOBAL INDUSTRY––
      WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE, WHERE IT COMES FROM, AND WHERE IT IS GOING.

          

I live near Cleveland, Ohio. It is said that one in thirteen homes in Cleveland has been affected by recent foreclosures, and that there are 6,000 brownfield sites in the city. The boarded up homes and the expansive fenced-up factories that are no longer functioning could be called the infrastructure of economic decline, the landscape of the shrinking cities that we hear so much about.

But what happens to the “stuff” of economic crisis?

Let’s think about the insides of those foreclosed homes for a moment. Where, for instance, does all of that furniture go? And all the kitchens full of dishes and silverware and can openers; the tool sheds full of bags of fertilizer and shovels and hoes; those basements stuffed with bowling trophies and books; the closets full of clothes and laundry hampers. When a city boards up thousands and thousands of houses simultaneously, where does all that stuff go?

And what about those 6000 brownfields in the Cleveland area? What kind of stuff is inside of a factory building when it shuts its doors? What does that machinery look like? How many abandoned drill presses and conveyor belts and circuit breakers can be produced by a city in an economic crisis? Where does all of this stuff come from, and quite importantly, where is it going?

SURPLUS RISING maps the narrative of factory machines: where they were made, where they operated in the United States before their respective factories shut down, and what countries they are headed to in their next lives. I have photographed these machines as they sit in-waiting in Cleveland, Ohio, before they are shipped abroad to countries like Mexico, China, Brazil, and India, where they will be refurbished to work in new factories. In the winter of 2011, I will travel on an HH Powers grant to Hong Kong and Mumbai, where I will continue the trail––following industrial "surplus" as it takes on a new life among the landscape of the 21st century.

How is the “stuff” of industry a global issue? Simultaneously, how is it a specifically American issue? What does the mass abandonment of material mean in terms of politics, our environment, our architecture, and our infrastructure? Embedded in all of these questions, of course, are questions regarding the human element. Our buildings, roads, and our "stuff" are all reflections of us, who we are as a global community. So what does it mean when so much of our “stuff” becomes “surplus?"

The feedback loop is constantly being completed: "surplus" generates more "stuff." And one thing is certain––in the 21st century, surplus is on the rise.

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