Geoffrey Farmer's 'Let's Make the Water Turn Black' Explores Animatronic Sculpture and Historical Collage

Geoffrey Farmer's installation 'Let's Make the Water Turn Black' is categorized as a 'sculpture play' and features animatronic elements, including a wooden stick waving in a clay pot and a mechanical cactus arm engaging chimes. Colored lightbulbs, often positioned as eyes or noses in human or animal-like assemblages, turn on and off alongside theatrical lighting. The work includes a cut-and-paste soundtrack with clips from popular songs, radio broadcasts, sound effects like thunder, and various musical instruments. Farmer previously presented 'Leaves of Grass' at Documenta 13 in Kassel in 2012, incorporating thousands of images cut from Life magazine attached to sticks and arranged chronologically. The title references a 1968 song by Frank Zappa, mirroring West Coast collage aesthetics and incorporating temporal elements starting from 1940, the year of Zappa's birth. During the installation, a voiceover of FDR's 'date which will live in infamy' speech from December 7, 1941, creates a dramatic twilight moment. The installation's first version was at REDCAT in Los Angeles in 2011, with remixes planned. Influences include Mike Kelley and Wallace Berman, spanning figurative to fantastic themes. The work encourages viewer movement around a raised stage, with layers of activities and references unfolding over time.