Matt Ruby

I am in the beginning stages of a project that consists of a living plant inside of an enclosed container. The viewer is responsible for the well being of the plant, but their only way to care for the plant is limited to United States currency through a coin-slot which will dispense light and water to the plant. Some of the themes that I am trying to approach in this work are community, economic value, consequences of ones actions and ecology.

The piece is meant to be displayed in an area where a group of people will see and interact with each other and the piece on a regular basis. The community aspect of this work is intended to be how a group can care for a living organism when their care is severely limited, but also very easy and based on currency. Out of necessity or convenience we pay for a solutions to our problems. Bringing money into the piece I feel gives the work an added layer of depth. How does one really compare the value of money in relation to a living organism.

A goal that I have in this project is to have people “want” to care for the plant, which I know could be an obstacle. One idea that I had was using a plant with some sort of significance that people would rather not see perish. A friend of mine attended Princeton University and received a plant that belonged to Albert Einstein, and in the past has offered me a clipping to grow my own. This could be an option for bringing an added layer to the project and also creating added incentive to keep the plant alive.

Consequences of ones actions was where the idea initially came from, but as my idea morphed it became less of a focus. I like the idea that your actions are severely limited in caring for the plant, but the consequences are a direct result of a single action and the greater collection of actions.

The ecologic implications are not something that I was originally pursuing, but when using plants in artwork I understand that it is implied automatically. I think that environmental issues are an important argument, but it is not my primary goal for this piece.

This project I see as my final “Interface Class” project. It is intended to be a complete idea and project, and I look forward to researching and writing about the ideas, precedents and systems involved in the piece.

I have intentionally avoided loading this project with too many ideas or actions. After talking to multiple people about this piece, their feedback has led me to other artists’ works that are similar and has also inspired me to think about other work after this piece. But at the moment I would like to stay close to my original intent, with only a few strong themes.

One goal for this project is to create an interesting project where I must learn how to create the systems that are involved. I am not as skilled in the programming side of projects, but would like to be. This project presents physical and programming problems that I am excited to solve.