Powder Keg (2021)

Powder Keg is a film study of Gettysburg Quarry and Norcross-West Quarry of Dorset, Vermont. These abandoned quarries provided the marble that gave rise to the New York Public Library and the buildings of the National Mall in Washington, DC, including the Department of Justice and the Smithsonian. What is extracted in one place rises in another; there is a reciprocity between our natural resources and the culture created from them. In this piece, Wagner documented the interaction between nature and excavation - light on the quarry walls - and used the light patterns as a visual score for vibraphone, guitar, and repurposed percussion.