Cygnus X-1 was once a star with a sister. These sister stars existed in a binary orbit, spiraling around each other through the blackness of space, existentially bound to each other by their gravitational pull. Like the tragic hero of a Greek play lost to time and space, Cygnus X-1 collapsed upon itself becoming a black hole, becoming a parasite to its sister. As Cygnus X-1 transformed, it began sucking gas from the surface of its sister, shrouding itself in super-heated star-stuff. For many years, scientists had trouble determining if there was a star or black hole behind this shroud.
In May of 2013, I was invited to exhibit work at the Ryan Education Center's Curriculum Fair at the Art Institute of Chicago. As part of my presentation, I recorded conversations with visitors to the curriculum fair, exploring themes of tragedy, masking, wholeness/holeness, distance, love, nostalgia, sacrifice, partnership, mythology, fate, and falsity. I transcribed and edited these conversations, compiling them in a book alongside poetry and imagery related to the above themes.
Black Hole in Process: Cygnus X-1 was presented as a take away object during a group exhibition at the New Wight Gallery at UCLA in 2014.
An excerpt of of Black Hole in Process: Cygnus X-1 was published in the Graphite Journal of Interdisciplinary Art in 2015.
