JESSE WOOLSTON The Dissolution Waiapu

JESSE WOOLSTON
The Dissolution Waiapu
hybrid sculpture (steel, digital canvas)
83 x 63 x 42 in. (210.8 x 160 x 106.6 cm.)
Executed in 2025

Provenance
The artist

Literature
The Dissolution Waiapu, a hybrid sculpture modeled after the Waiapu River in Gisborne, New Zealand, embodies the tension between fluidity and rigidity, nature and technology, art and machine. It captures the erosive force of water against the earth, not just through AI-powered simulations but also through its imperfect, hand-built steel structure. The sculpture's steel elements create a contrast—rigid and diffused in some areas, while its mirror-polished, fluid motifs seem to break through the surface, mimicking the natural push and pull of river formations. This interplay of materials and design speaks to the work’s core theme: the convergence of human craftsmanship and computational precision.

Rivers shape landscapes through a slow yet violent process, just as technological evolution disrupts established forms. In this work, the artist's hand and AI do not merge into one but instead maintain a balance at opposing poles. The simulation alone would be aesthetically intriguing yet lacking the depth of imperfection, while the sculpture alone might feel too rigid and coarse. The two challenge each other—one built from LiDAR scans of river formations and real-world erosion patterns, the other informed by physical experimentation with stream tables, allowing the artwork to emerge from both scientific realism and artistic intuition. The hand-built nature of the sculpture amplifies this interplay, preserving traces of human labor—the heat burns from high-speed buffing tools, the etched markings, the subtle dents and scratches—each a testament to the process of overcoming material resistance.

Steel, chosen for both practical and conceptual reasons, extends the digital into physical space. Its reflective properties allow light and movement to interact dynamically, creating a layered, shifting visual effect that preserves and distorts the artwork simultaneously. Unlike stone, which remains static and brittle, steel possesses a paradoxical quality—it is cold and rigid yet fluid in its mirrored finish, reinforcing the river’s essence. AI, while not directly generating either the digital or sculptural work, serves as a critical tool in the artist’s process, aiding in programming and streamlining simulations that would otherwise be impossible to execute. The result is not simply AI-made or human-made art, but a synthesis of both, where contrast and equilibrium define the experience.