An Unbroken Surface (tar), 2024

An Unbroken Surface (Pine Tar) is a work by Dane Mitchell. An electric lifting tripod used in the HVAC and Air Conditioning industry to install external units. On top of the tripod sits an atomiser, a device that comes from the same HVAC industry. This type of atomiser is typically plugged into air conditioning systems to 'tone' the air. They're used extensively in retail, malls, airports and hotels to build specific scent experiences for the purpose of driving memory triggers to certain brands, experiences and to deodorise space. The atomised liquid you see rising from my atomiser as a visible gas is not strictly a fragrance material. It's pine tar, which is a material whose use by humans dates back to the iron age. Pine tar is ancient and modern — extracted from pine via carbonisation — it is readily available at the pharmacy and the hardware store. It is used to preserve timber and human skin. Its fragrance evokes a charred fire, and for many I've spoken to who experienced the work, it reminds them of childhood; of bathing in pine tar to soothe itchy, inflamed skin. I should mention here that the amount of material being atomised as part of the work is small. 4ml an hour. That's a total of a mere 144ml over the course of the exhibition. Although such a small amount is vaporised, that doesn't account for the arresting presence it has. It's smokey, woody, charred, tobacco notes hit the olfactory receptors and grab hold. Beyond our experience of the work, it also rises (and falls) as from many chimneys. It's not smoke though it deceptively smells like it. The specific product I used has been produced in Australia since 1952. It's made by a company named Ego, which was founded in 1953 by Gerald and Rae Oppenheim who "saw a need for products to restore and maintain healthy skin. In the laundry of their suburban Melbourne home they developed Ego Pine Tar Bath Solution, later called Pinetarsol, which remains one of Australia's most widely used inflammation treatments. Gerald's father, Dr Erwin Oppenheim, was a successful dermatologist, and ran his own practice in Germany, before emigrating to Australia with his family in 1939, when Gerald was 13 years old." (https://www.egopharm.com/au/en/about-us/history.html)