"I went to Guatemala with a group of friends," he said. "One person had planned out the entire trip, and one thing they lined up for us was a trip to this cave that pretty much no one goes to visit."
That cave was Naj Tunich, a Mayan site of such importance that it gave rise to the field of Mayan Cave Archeology. As well, the site became the eventual point of inspiration for "Cited," a new work currently on exhibit at Seattle University's Hedreen Gallery, inside the Lee Center for Performing Arts.
The exhibition is a relatively small one, consisting of three separate pieces inside the front portion of the gallery. But the scale belies the complexity of creating the pieces, as well as the time Berk spent just thinking about the project.
For Berk, the process was the culmination of a long decision making period on what, exactly, would be the next project he wanted to create. He'd always been interested in the interaction between three-dimensional objects and their two-dimensional representations; while he'd done some work examining clouds - specifically how they can appear in two-dimensional form but are really a three-dimensional object - he felt too many people were working on projects related to clouds at the time.
Eleven years separated the trip and the time Berk came up with the idea for doing something involving the cave system. The first pieces involved using three-dimensional modeling software to create a set of fluid, three-dimensional drawings of the cave complex based on the information found in a preexisting map.
"I attempted to map the space in a different way from the way cave mappers drew their drawings," Berk said. "And I wanted to try lots of ways, as those drawings are flawed in some ways and I wanted to give a sense of the space in a different way, though knowing that it, too, would be flawed, in other ways."
From this emerged two separate drawings currently hanging in the gallery, one crafted on a single panel in a red-orange ink, the other stretching across multiple panels and done in a much darker, gray-toned ink. Both lack solid coloring, and instead consist of a series of interconnected loops that together form a coherent whole.
The third piece, a sculpture, was much more difficult to sketch out and create. Though Berk again utilized modeling software to create the basic design, he had to rely on a computer numerical control, or CNC, machine to manufacture the individual parts of the sculpture. A CNC machine is designed to read a series of instructions and drive a machine tool to create specific components or rough prototypes, and much of Berk's difficulty came in attempting to have the finished pieces of foam meet the specifications he had set for himself.
"The cave was essentially made by water itself, and I used a special kind of foam that I tried to get to look as much like water as possible without changing it or covering it with some shiny thing. I wanted the very form to have this liquid feel," he said.
The end result is a sizeable, yellow sculpture located in the center of the gallery, one that makes an impressive three-dimensional map of this sacred cave. Very sacred in fact, as Naj Tunich was long an important regional pilgrimage site, and was held in such importance that it was said to be an entrance to Xibalba, the Mayan underworld.
It is this significance that helped motivate Berk to create these pieces in the first place.
"It seems like there's a spiritual association with underground spaces, a connection or significance given to them by all people," he said.
Berk intends to keep exploring the concept of underground spaces and how people relate to them, adding that he intended to focus next on coal mines and our common perceptions of them.
"I've been thinking about coal mines and some of the mine disasters over the years, that whenever someone gets trapped in a coal mine, as tragic as it is, it becomes front page news," he said. "Everybody is following the drama of it, and I guess I'm interested in why."
Just when he will be finished with this upcoming project, however, remains to be seen.
"Cited" is on display through Saturday, Aug. 23, at the Lee Center for the Performing Arts, 901 12th Ave.
Michael Lis-Sette is an intern with the Capitol Hill Times. He can be reached at editor@capitolhilltimes.com.
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