Artist Profile: Leander Mienardus Knust - Socrates Sculpture Park

Leander Mienardus Knust, Re-Material Wall detail, 2018, Photo by Scott Lynch

DISCOVER

Leander Mienardus Knust (b. Philadelphia, PA in 1991; lives and works in New York, NY) received his BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2015. His work reflects an interest in growth and decay, and he uses methods that demonstrate the process of change and ephemera. In addition, he is interested in stripping away the existing category of things and their worth and redefining it.

Knust’s works have been showcased in The Archer Ballroom, Chicago, IL (2015), Kruger Gallery, Chicago, IL (2016), and Chicago Artist Coalition, Chicago, IL (2017).

CONNECT

Web: leanderknust.com

Instagram: @mienardus

ENGAGE

Otocast:

Knust spoke about his project for our audio tour of The Socrates Annual 2018 exhibition, available on the app Otocast (available for free download for iPhone and Android).

Instagram:

Knust took over the Park’s Instagram account to share insights into his project.

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2018 Emerging Artist Fellow Leander Mienardus Knust (@mienardus) is taking over the Park’s account today! Follow along to learn more about his solar-powered piece in the ‘Socrates Annual’ exhibition, on view until March 24. ……………… The solar panel atop Knust’s tower powers an electroforming process that slowly transfers copper molecules from suspended pipes to individual wires each floating a solution filled jar. Over time these molecules accumulate and take unique forms as a physical trace of their carrier electricity, while the steel rusts, wood warps, vines grow, and piping disappears. . I began electroforming copper corals by accident in 2016. After an experience hiking in upper Michigan, during which I found a raw pure copper nugget, I decided to try and re-naturalize this material I associated so strongly to technological goods like the common copper pipe rather than raw of-the-earth stuff. After trying to copper plate stones and sticks to no success, getting frustrated, and leaving the system running for two weeks as I went on another hike, I returned to my first copper coral. Through a few years of steady experimentation and even steadier failure I figured out how to power a successful process via solar energy and drew up the first sketch of Re-Material Wall as originally proposed to the Socrates Sculpture Park last year. Stay tuned for the sketch itself and an in-process log of the wall’s construction and subsequent growth. . It’s an honor to have been a fellow at the Socrates Sculpture Park, thanks so much for trusting I could pull this project off. . . #LeanderKnust #RematerialWall #theSocratesAnnual #EAF18 #SocratesAnnual18 #SocratesPark #outdoorart #publicart #sculpture #nycpark #artistfellowship #copper #solarpower #electroforming #nyc #artistresidency #queens #astoria #longislandcity #lic

A post shared by Socrates Sculpture Park (@socratespark) on Feb 27, 2019 at 7:02am PST

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2018 Emerging Artist Fellow Leander Mienardus Knust (@mienardus) is taking over the Park’s account today! Follow along to learn more about his solar-powered piece in the ‘Socrates Annual’ exhibition, on view until March 24. ……………………………….. Here is the wall as drawn and as constructed within the park. There are just two differences between the proposed build in the drawing and actual piece. The first are the vines. Initially I thought I would use pink morning glories to juxtapose the technological copper growth with biological growth but after researching native vine species that would maintain living stem structure through the long winter I instead opted for Golden Trumpet Vine. Golden Trumpet is known for its ability to attract hummingbirds, its rapid growth, and its hardiness, not to mention its lovely golden flowers. It was an easy decision. . The other main difference is the presence of a conduit system that contains all wires running to and fro the solar panel and jars while holding each jar firmly in place to protect against removal. I was a little sad to hide the eighty wires, thinking they might reflect the stems of the vines, but in a public park where children roam and animals dwell eighty wires aren’t wise to stay exposed. The construction took nearly the entire duration of the fellowship which ran from May 2018 until the opening in October 2018. Stay tuned for in process documentation. . . #LeanderKnust #RematerialWall #theSocratesAnnual #EAF18 #SocratesAnnual18 #SocratesPark #outdoorart #publicart #sculpture #nycpark #artistfellowship #copper #solarpower #electroforming #nyc #artistresidency #queens #astoria #longislandcity #lic

A post shared by Socrates Sculpture Park (@socratespark) on Feb 27, 2019 at 9:37am PST

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2018 Emerging Artist Fellow Leander Mienardus Knust (@mienardus) is taking over the Park’s account today! Follow along to learn more about his solar-powered piece in the ‘Socrates Annual’ exhibition, on view until March 24. …………………………….. Here you can see documentation of the build. First I had to find all the angles and lengths that would allow for the gentle taper of the piece and provide two identical and structural ends. These ends combined with the steel railing would assure the piece was straight and symmetrical. As the whole thing with all of its liquid containing jars and straight lines is essentially a giant level, precision was key. Next, reclaimed pine from old ceiling struts in Brooklyn was ripped into the shelving slats and horizontal steel welded to the sides to complete the frame. . Once the planter box was done I was able to plant my three four-foot-tall Trumpet Vines and weave them through the system. That was an exciting day! With the vines planted and shelving in I moved on to preparing the jars, conduit, and wiring for the solar panel. The copper was reclaimed from TNT recycling in Brooklyn (amazing place!) while the caps for each jar were spun from thin steel and sliced to allow the passing of wires. The wiring for the solar panel took a long time and was really tricky to squeeze into the conduit. . Just in time, with three weeks until the opening, the piece was moved into location. Since the opening the copper pipes have decayed and corals grown quite a bit. In my next and final post, I will show some of the growth and decay I have documented since the system began. #LeanderKnust #RematerialWall #theSocratesAnnual #EAF18 #SocratesAnnual18 #SocratesPark #outdoorart #publicart #sculpture #nycpark #artistfellowship #copper #solarpower #electroforming #nyc #artistresidency #queens #astoria #longislandcity #lic

A post shared by Socrates Sculpture Park (@socratespark) on Feb 27, 2019 at 11:27am PST

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2018 Emerging Artist Fellow Leander Mienardus Knust (@mienardus) is taking over the Park’s account today! Follow along to learn more about his solar-powered piece in the ‘Socrates Annual’ exhibition, on view until March 24. . Here in this final post I am highlighting some of the growth and decay experienced by the Re-Material Wall since October 2018. The copper corals have grown substantially but still have much more molecules to assume from the suspended pipes. I’m not sure how long it would take for the pipes to completely disappear but perhaps as time goes on we can find out. I will be emptying each jar at the closing of this Socrates Annual in order to ship the piece and begin it again at its new home. . It has been an honor and a pleasure working with the Socrates Sculpture Park. A gift that keeps giving. Thanks for tuning in! – Leander Knust #LeanderKnust #RematerialWall #theSocratesAnnual #EAF18 #SocratesAnnual18 #SocratesPark #outdoorart #publicart #publicpark #sculpture #nycpark #artistfellowship #copper #solarpower #electroforming #nyc #artistresidency #queens #astoria #longislandcity #lic

A post shared by Socrates Sculpture Park (@socratespark) on Feb 27, 2019 at 2:11pm PST