Twyla Exner

Cling is a series of satellites modified through the application of cast urethan barnacles and mounted in unexpected places. Cling considers dish satellites installed on buildings for their formal similarities to barnacles growing on a rock; as barnacles encrust a rock, satellites encrust a building. Satellites are notable for their purpose as sites of transmission between space satellites, personal electronic devices and the sublime realm of the digital world; barnacles for their ability to colonize and grow on any available surface. Both are receptacles that reach out, be it receive food or signals. Both often remain attached to surfaces beyond their lifecycle or use. Installed in close-knit clusters on interior or exterior spaces, the barnacle encrusted satellites create a congregation of receptacles that are removed from their utilitarian purpose.

Things is a series of woven post-consumer telecommunications cable sculptures inspired by natural forms. Things embody whimsy and worry through their materials, formal elements, and the processes by which they are made. Physically constructed from post-consumer telecommunication cables, the works are comprised of thin plastic-coated copper wires once used to connect land line telephones. Cell phones replaced many land lines in the mid 2000’s, rendering the colourful wire infrastructure obsolete in many spaces. The collection of these wires has become akin to traditional scavenging of natural materials for weaving. Wires are prepared through the removal of casing materials and separating individual strands of wire. Representing urban surroundings and the impetus of progress of “wireless” devices, these sculptures reclaim old technological infrastructure holding within their very materials the many connections they once enabled. Inspired by coral formations, fungi, plants, seed pods, and sea creatures, the sculptures mimic and liberally combine formal elements of nature. Merging technological waste with natural formations through labour intensive and hand-made processes envisions waste materials sprouting with new life through the investment of energy and time; an imaginative alternative ending for e-waste materials.

Conversion is a series of embroidered metal satellite dishes. Conversion is so named because the main function of a satellite dish is to convert microwave signals into electric signals that can be used by a computer, tv and other devices. In my rendition, the conversion is from an abandoned technology to an artwork that presents as spectacle and object of consideration engaging the topics of technology, gendered labour, and forms from nature. The embroidered images reference roots, river systems, florals and fungi and are representative of the area I live in Northern British Columbia. These abstracted natural forms are re-interpreted in bright colours using post-consumer telecommunication cables as the embroidery medium. The embroidered images present as a topographical view, playing on the role of an-earth bound satellite dish and its communication to satellites situated in space.

Adaptations is a series of watercolour and ink drawings that imagine electronic infrastructures such as satellites and cell phone towers sprouting with nature.

12”x4”x4” - 60”x30”x10” | 30x10x10cm - 153x76x25cm
Fabric, Polyfill, Wire, Wood, Elastic, Velcro

Post-Desktop is an installation of soft sculpture circuitry. It imagines the circuits from abandoned electronics as ‘retired’ and free to explore. Capacitors, resistors, plugs, LEDs are represented. They interact with one another and engage in conversations. Imagining alternative endings for obsolete circuits considers e-waste and its most minuscule parts inhabiting the world in a more substantial way.

Systems encompasses a number of works that explore natural and manufactured systems - from circulatory systems to computer systems, molecular components to bacterial arrangements.

8”x3”x3” - 10”x4”x4” | 20x8x8 - 25x10x10cm each cell
Terracotta, Copper, Steel, Vinegar, Wax, iPod shuffle (1st generation)

Passage connects 300 replicas of ancient batteries adapted to power an iPod shuffle with an audio component that documents the sounds of making the batteries.

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Through research I came across the Parthian cell, also known as the Baghdad Battery. So named because the artifact was discovered in modern Baghdad and is dated between 200 BCE and 200 CE during the Parthian Empire. The ancient battery consists of a copper tube, steel rod, and electrolyte solution in a ceramic jar. I am interested in the history of technology and the evolution of our electronic companions. I came to wonder: how many of these ancient batteries would it take to operate an iPod? How would our experience of companion devises change if we had to carry the bulk of their evolution?

Passage uses a tapered steel rod, copper tube, wax stopper, and vinegar based solution. Individually, the cells give off 0.5V and a few mAs; when 300 cells are linked as seen in the installation, the cells form a battery sufficient to run an iPod shuffle, first generation, for short spurts of time (the energy source is inconsistent).

The iPod seen in the photo has been de-cased and its original battery has been removed and fitted to hook up to the Parthian battery.

The iPod plays a recording of the making of the cells (sounds of the pottery wheel, grinding and cutting metal, casting wax) layered on top of each other and mixed to a generic pop beat. This recording references the imputes of technologies and their pursuit of self-perpetuating evolution.

120”x36”x36” | 305x91x91cm
Circuit Boards, Wood

Memorial adorns the traditional monument of an obelisk with obsolete circuit boards harvested from discarded electronics found on the street.

Memorial was realized through a commission from Concordia University for a one year public sculpture installed at 1395 René Lévesque Ouest, Montréal, QC.

This sculpture was a collaborative project with Griffith Aaron Baker. www.griffithaaronbaker.com