FIONA HOFFER
Shovelfoot
2025
Medium: Installation, carpet, wall built by artist with inlaid windowsill, vertical blinds, monitor, performance video, desk chair legs and pick axe, desk with shovel attached, dirt, sprouting dirt in desk drawer, computer monitor with endoscopic video playing of dirt and roots, keyboard and mouse, sounds of clicking keyboard, desk chair and hoe Dimensions: Variable
Materials: Video of artist digging a desk into the ground at desk, inlaid in window with vertical blinds Dimensions: 30’’x16’’x4’’ Duration: 42 minutes
Materials: Hoe, desk chair Dimensions: Variable
Medium: Installation, carpet, wall built by artist with inlaid windowsill, vertical blinds, monitor, performance video, desk chair legs and pick axe, desk with shovel attached, dirt, sprouting dirt in desk drawer, computer monitor with endoscopic video playing of dirt and roots, keyboard and mouse, sounds of clicking keyboard, desk chair and hoe Dimensions: Variable
Shovelfoot presents a surreal office environment, home to absurdist combinations of office furniture and landscaping tools. A performance video of the artist digging a desk into the ground at dusk plays through a window as endoscopic videos of dirt play on a computer accompanied by sounds of typing. The work plays with dueling senses of hope and futility amidst bureaucratic systems while probing how various types of human labor fit within larger cycles of growth, violence, and decay.
Processing (excerpt)
Year: 2025
Medium: Endoscopic video of roots and soil, sounds of a clicking key board, played on a computer monitor
Excerpt duration: 1 minute 44 seconds