Random Order – 1994 / 2012

Originally installed in the Barrie City Hall Courtyard
Barrie, Ontario, Canada.
October 1 > November 6, 1994Purchased by Georgian College, Barrie. Re-installed outside the Helen and Arch Brown Centre for Design and Visual Art.
November 1994Dismantled on July 3rd, 2012. A section 72″ x 43″ was preserved and installed in the courtyard of the Helen and Arch Brown Center for Design and Visual Arts.Materials: Used 2” x 4” spruce, cedar, epoxy, screws, steel (support)
Dimensions: 144” (360 cm) diameter

Random Order – Transition

Random Order the form, the sphere, was created as harmonious arrangements of haphazardly placed individual elements. As a whole, it is completeness, but in sections or up close, the system is less evident, lost in the seemingly chaotic assemblage of its parts.

Random Order _ Barrie City Hall Courtyard, 1994*

Reflecting on Random Order, I can see the impetus for my current working practice through the events that have befallen the work over the almost twenty years of its existence.
Random Order was built as a twelve-foot diameter sphere in the barn loft atop the Double Door Studios and Gallery in Anten Mills, Ontario, over a period of two summers: 1993 & 1994.

Random Order was installed in the city hall courtyard in Barrie, Ontario, from October 1st to November 6th, 1994. On the eve of October 31st Random Order was tipped over support and all.

Random Order – Tipped _ Barrie City Hall courtyard, November 1994*

The result of the vandalism triggered the beginning of my understanding for the positive effects a destructive force has on a thing. The tipping of Random Order allowed for an unforeseen and unintended perspective and made an everlasting mark on the character of the sculpture.

Later that autumn, Random Order was moved to the campus of Georgian College in the courtyard of the School of Design and Visual Arts. It remained virtually unscathed until the spring of 2003 when again there was an attempt to roll the ball. The wood had weakened to a point that the structure could no longer hold its own weight.

Random Order – Rolled (?) _ Georgian College, School of Design and Visual Arts, 2003*

The maintenance to Random Order was carried out in the fall of 2003 and then again in the spring of 2004.

Random Order – Reconstructed _ Georgian College, School of Design and Visual Arts [Repairs (left) and completed repairs (right)], 2004*

In the summer of 2012, the sphere had become too weak to the point where the structure could no longer support a suitable and safe existence. It was respectfully dismantled on July 3rd, 2012, broadcast live through the internet. http://randomorder.benoits.ca/.

Random Order – Reconstructed _ Georgian College, School of Design and Visual Arts, 2008*

Random Order continues to exist on campus through a preserved section of the sculpture placed outside the Helen and Arch Brown Center for Design and Visual Arts on the Georgian College Barrie campus.

* All photographs by Douglas Scholes, except both images of Random Order – Rolled (?) by Tamara Benoit.

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