Butterfly Effect

Bachelor of Arts Thesis Show

Western Washington University

Advisor Sasha Petrenko

2021

Folded paper butterflies suspended on fishing line, tacked to drywall, projection and audio.

In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is defined as the sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which a small change in one state of a deterministic system can result in massive changes in a later state. In this installation, the iconography of Edward Lorenz’s butterfly effect, in juxtaposition with up-cycled materials, imagines the impact of religious and scientific institutions on the narrative and path of space, mind and body.

The work examines the chaotic collision of the theological and secular worlds in direct observation of environment and perceptions of the queer body. This non physical site engages Miwon Kwon’s Notes on Site Specificity, in particular, their argument to “leave behind the nostalgic notions of a site as being essentially bound to the physical and empirical realities of a place.” Instead, we must engage an idea of site in synch with “the prevalent description of contemporary life as a network of unanchored flows.” The work is further contextualized by the works of minimalist Robert Irwin and his attention to constructing space and light, the imaginative and immersive nature of digital pioneers like teamLab, the texture development of painter Anselm Kiefer, as well as the individual craft and motif driven works of Tasha Lewis.

In this confluence of infinite places and endless paths, there is chaos and an overwhelming sense of anxiety, but there is also beauty and great opportunity for personal awareness.