This performance piece was part of a larger installation sculpture done for the final project in the course. The assignment was to show what entropy is though a sculpture. The dictionary defines entropy as, "a measure of disorder in a system." I thought of entropy in relation to the cycle of life and how disorder is inherent in every part of the life cycle system. So, I showed 4 different parts of the cycle of life: birth, death, decomposition and the periodic elements life is made from.

This performance piece was done to create the decomposition piece of the installation. For this performance I burned a barbie, which is what I used to represent human life, to make the barbie look decayed for the installation. This part of the process of making the installation actually seems to have shown what entropy is the most because it was so hard to control the disorder of the fire in how the barbie was burnt.

Date
Spring 2001

Course
3-D Design

Art Instructor
Philip Ogle

Materials
Barbie, lighter fluid, twigs, leaves, lighter, dirt, pot and terra cotta paint.