Summary of Project TLC, RISD, 2010
TLC
Chemical romance
The cyborg subject, a hybridization of “the human and the machine,” has the potential to create a new contract between two elements; like a cyborg subject, my project TLC involves the joining of two agents. One agent, a class of molecules known as capsaicinoids 7, is the 
active chemical agent of pepper spray. The parent compound in this group is capsaicin A, which chili peppers naturally produce. The second agent, CS, is a non-naturally occurring molecule, and the active component of tear gas. Ben Corson and Roger Stoughton first synthesized CS gas at Middlebury College in 1928; the title of the compound refers to the chemists’ surnames.
7 TLC, 2010
ISOLATED CAPSAICIN, 2010
For my research with TLC, I worked with a chemist at Brown University to study the chemical properties of the two agents. Soon after, I learned the basic process of using lab equipment to run reactions and test for products. The name TLC comes from the plates that are used for these tests. Thin layer chromatography (TLC) is used to monitor and visualize reactions. 8 The plates indicate if the reaction has occurred and if the product is useful.
In TLC, I continued to investigate the institutional ordering of protection and security to control crowds and individuals. I researched the chemical properties of tear gas and pepper spray because both are agents of security used to divide and control individuals.
8 TLC, 2010 THIN LAYER CHROMATOGRAPHY, THE NEW PRODUCT AFTER THE COUPLING.
I first started the project thinking about how tear gas can be used in a softer way. The term “tear gas” has a poetic nature; a substance that elicits tears could be beautiful. Please Watch Over Me questions the meaning of surveillance and security, specifically the nature of observations. I used the policing system and the officer’s role of observing beyond the systems’ prescribed function, revealing the desire to be watched. When using agents such as tear gas and pepper spray, a boundary is established between one individual and another. This relationship is analogous to the acts of observing another and being observed.
Further, TLC examines how the chemical elements of security and protection are used; observing another and being observed are necessary for these agents to be used.
Exploring the function of riot control agents, I investigated how they can be used to formulate a new relationship. The joining of the two compounds, the natural capsaicin and the synthetic CS gas, is made possible by first deconstructing and then chemically fusing the two. The resulting hybrid contains half of each original, effectually sharing a portion of each other’s essence.
9 TLC, 2010. THE RESULTING PRODUCTS WERE STIRRED OVERNIGHT, CHEMICALLY DANCING IN RESONANCE. IN THE MORNING OF THE NEXT DAY IT WAS CLEAR THAT A REACTION HAD TAKEN PLACE, AND A NEW BOND WAS FORMED.
As in losing oneself within the other or one’s lover, previous boundaries blur. The two active properties of tear gas and pepper spray are similar, but exist on opposite sides of nature’s spectrum. By deconstructing them, it becomes possible to merge them into each other, resulting in a new and ambiguous structure. The project literally doubles, both in its physical manifestation and in its meaning.
TLC deconstructs the function of security and protection, reveals its role, and simultaneously constructs a hybrid “molecule” that breaks down rigid boundaries and enables a new entity to exist within the control system’s framework. An ambiguous, non-natural natural product is produced, disrupting the binary relationship and dissolving boundaries
By deconstructing and coupling CS and pepper spray, a molecule with nonthreatening properties emerges. 9 After purification, the new molecule is dissolved in acetone and water, placed into a humidifier, and vaporized. The effect mimics a tear gas grenade being detonated in a room. In the final installation for TLC, I have constructed a contained room that holds the vaporous cloud; the room is lit to experience the pink cloud vapor.
My research and experiences, particularly in Please Watch Over Me and TLC, have revealed the nature of security. According to Weibel, “the more visibility is supported and produced as an agent of security the less security there is in reality.” 25 In other words, security has come to mean being seen and seeing. In TLC, the pink vapor illustrates the function of security, the desire to see and be seen. It is an ornamentation of control.
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25 Peter Weibel, “Pleasure and the Panoptic Principle,” in CTRL SPACE Rhetoric of Surveillance from Bentham to Big Brother, ed. Ursula Frohne, and Peter Weibel Thomas Y. Levin, 212 (Cambridge and London: The MIT Press, 2002).
