Radio Free Alcatraz: Trajectories
Chris Cornelius
American and Oneida, born 1971
2014
A layered architectural collage of frosted plastic and paper with pencil, colored pencil, ink and printed fragments that treats Alcatraz as a palimpsest of routes and transmissions, attempting to trace lines of movement, communication, and political claim across the island.
A green, island‑shaped plan floats amid translucent sheets crisscrossed by a web of fine pencil trajectories, punctuated by geometric blocks, a curved pink sweep and tiny collage details (an airplane silhouette, cropped photographs) that make the drawing feel like a map, machine diagram and memory at once.
Cornelius blurs map, diagram and collage to remake architectural drawing as a tool for storytelling and critique, exposing how plans can carry histories of occupation, resistance and contested meaning rather than neutral technical information.
Medium
Frosted plastic sheets and paper with pencil, colored pencil, ink, press type, cut-and-pasted printed paper and printed pressure sensitive plastic sheet and masking tape.
Dimensions
18 × 24" (45.7 × 61 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Committee on Architecture and Design Funds
Accession
158.2024.1
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
