Last weekend's heavy east coast snow storm allowed Ovastrophe #3 (2009) to take place (finally!), although, what with the bulk of the snow falling late Sunday night/Monday morning, it was clearly going to be complicated trying to get people to find time on a weekday morning or evening to crush shells (unlike a Friday storm). Still, the "emailing everyone at the last minute / take the snow when it comes" aspect of the ovastrophe is a constraint I imposed upon myself: "weather" is part of the work, it troubles any regular calendar, makes the rite less predictable, more fragile, and makes my flurry of activity and emails part of the weather too.
Tuesday morning was frigid but the sun was amazing, and the snow had remained clean and relatively smooth. It's amazing how fast a handful of people can crush 124 eggs.
Turmeric or mustard powder? Statice calyxes (right). Spirulina (upper left).
Cinnamon, cloves, cocoa, hibiscus, egg shells, statice.
Just like in 2006, a photographer for The Villager was wandering around, and we once again got some local press (I felt very reticent and awkward when asked to supply some sort of artist statement, and mentioned process art, the ephemeral and the performative, vague echos of Holi - the festival of colors, etc.).
The next day: statice calyxes, a piece of shell, the pink glow of hibiscus.
For as much fun as the smashing is, I also love the half-melting next day: the hibiscus powder seeps into the snow and gives a diffused pink glow, the tiny beads of red peppercorns sink into the snow, bits of green grass start poking out. In a few days little will be left besides the statice and some egg shells.
