︎ ANIKA TODD
From Above ︎︎︎
There is a contemporary principle of property law that was first articulated in Europe over 800 years ago: “Whoever’s is the soil, it is theirs all the way to Heaven and all the way to Hell.” This translates cleanly into current US law as, “[the landowner] owns at least as much of the space above the ground as he can occupy, in connection with the land.”
Looking into the windows of Wall Street to find empty floors during the height of the 2020 pandemic summer.
Shot with a camera on a string of balloons in policed airspace.
Self-Portrait
4:04
Manhattan, NY
2020
This two-channel video work seeks to articulate a more nuanced method of looking from above by reimagining “seeing” technologies originally developed for surveillance and/or military operations. Instead of a drone, a camera flies over the streets of Manhattan on a cluster of balloons; the resulting footage presents a divergent aerial perspective, one that is precarious, humble, and tethered to the ground.
To Hold Water
Exhibition stills
Water traveling on rope, a pump, three-channel video installation
Flux Factory, NY
2021
To Hold Water is a sculptural installation built around the Self Portrait video. The two-channel video is suspended in space, accompanied by a sculpture that pumps water from the floor of the gallery to the ceiling -- holding a subtle stream of water in constant motion.
Streetlight For Poet
40’ x 60’
Streetlight, security mirror, reflective paint
Austin, TX
2020
Using a security mirror, parking-lot line paint, and a streetlamp, this work reconfigures materials historically used to organize and surveille public space. Rethinking/ reclaiming the God’s Eye View.
All The Way to Heaven
40’’ x 60’’
Black contractor plastic, tape, string
Brooklyn, NY
2021
Image from a recent workshop at Flux Factory where I taught participants to build solar powered hot air balloons out of black contractor plastic. Together we made balloons that became monumental sculptures, lifted by the sun into airspace.
40’’ x 60’’
Black contractor plastic, tape, string
Brooklyn, NY
2021
Image from a recent workshop at Flux Factory where I taught participants to build solar powered hot air balloons out of black contractor plastic. Together we made balloons that became monumental sculptures, lifted by the sun into airspace.
