Hexafluorosilicic, 2015, HD video, excerpt from (TRT: 9:58), Single-channel video installation, product bottles, cardboard
Hexafluorosilicic engages liberalism’s uses of purity and the ideal human embedded in the marketing of everyday household products that contain sodium fluoride (hexafluorosilicic acid).
ABOUT Hexafluorosilicic:
Health, marketing and governmental regimes come together to frame an ideal of the human which depends upon the eradication of certain differences. Hexafluorosilicic takes place within the confines of the home, where the body encounters sodium fluoride (Hexafluorosilicic acid) in many common consumer products, such as toothpaste. Originally identified as a waste product to be discarded by the aluminum-producing company Alcoa, sodium fluoride is now one of the chief residues produced by the phosphate fertilizer industry. This waste is bought by governments and companies who use it in public drinking water and other products, for its alleged universal benefit of inducing strong white teeth in the population. Ideals of bodily purity and domestic cleanliness are embedded in the marketing of these household products containing sodium fluoride residue, thereby casting the nature of waste – that to be eradicated – in an ambiguous and contradictory light.
TEXT & IMAGE SOURCES:
Arm & Hammer, 2011
Arrowhead, 1989
Aqua Mineral Drinking Water, 2010
Aquafina, 2007
Cargill, 2009
Crest, 1956, 1960, 1986
d-Con, 1991, 2013
Johnson & Johnson, Micrin Mouthwash, 1961
Listerine, 1952
Macleans, 1966
Rembrandt Whitening Toothpaste, Be #RembrandtColorful, 2014
Sensodyne ISO Active, 2011
Silk Vanilla Soymilk, 2010
Smartwater, Jennifer Aniston goes viral, 2012
The Mosaic Company, MicroEssentials, 2011
Tomcat Bait, 2014
Pepsodent, 1950s
Poland Spring Water, 2010
Ultra Brite, featuring Farrah Fawcett, 1971, and featuring Sela Ward, 1980, 1983
Welch’s 100% Grape Juice, 2014
ACTORS:
J. Alan Nelson – Tetraborate
Alexis Marie West – Irium
Alyssa Dugar – Fluoristan
PRODUCTION:
Corey Palermo – Sound
Aidan Reynolds – Sound mix
Phillip Pyle II – Camera
Jason Byrne – Camera assistant
IvyMar Flores – Adobe After Effects clean up
Sony Pictures’ Colorworks – Color grade
WITH SUPPORT FROM: Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Emergency Grant, Sony Pictures’ Colorworks, Chloë Flores and Tim Lefevre at GuestHaus Residency, and Michelle Papillion.