Low Frequency Ritual

Aluminum, wood, vibrations
23″ x 3″ x 2.5″

This performative sculpture explores the strange and nearly forgotten practice of worm grunting-a method of vibration that coaxes earthworms to the surface. Part craft, part acoustic ritual, the tradition exists in a space between superstition and communion with the unseen systems below our feet.

The milled CNC aluminum form (the grunter) is modeled after the shoreline contours of Lookout Reservoir in Oregon, drawing formally from the carved tactile Ammassalik maps of the Inuit people. Using touch as sight the historical Ammassalik maps operated as coastal navigation tools–small, buoyant, and legible in the dark they reflect a unique relationship to land and water.

My performance of worm grunting with the specificity of the water based shoreline brings to the surface an intermediary figure: someone who does not command nature directly, but negotiates it through resonance, patience, and touch. Vibration becomes language and the landscape becomes embodied, haptic, and felt in the hands of the performer.