Leilany Elkaslasy
wood, acrylic<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leilani Elkaslasly (B. 2002) has constructed a mechanical system that reframes gerrymandering as an act of chance, translating political boundary-making into a tactile, repeatable event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sculpture consists of a two-by-three-foot wooden board, three inches deep, divided into a uniform grid of compartments. Each cell contains a two-inch wooden die with hand-rounded edges, marked on two faces each in red, blue, and left unpainted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To activate the work, the structure is flipped, setting the dice into motion. Within their constrained cells, the cubes accelerate rapidly, colliding with force before settling into a new arrangement. The sharp, amplified sound of impact is sudden and disorienting which contrasts with the apparent simplicity of the system, introducing a sense of instability and unease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The outcome orderly in its grid yet unpredictable in its distribution references the shifting logic of electoral maps, where fixed frameworks yield variable outcomes. The balance of red and blue suggests partisan division, while the unpainted faces introduce a third more ambiguous condition destabilizing any clear binary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The work exists first as a sculpture, its physical intensity underscores the stakes embedded within such systems. The speed of the inversion and the violence of the collisions suggest that the processes determining representation are neither neutral nor inconsequential. What unfolds as play reveals itself as something closer to risk. In war where opposing parties are fighting for control by stacking the cards it is not a question of if but rather when will it destabilize? Will things flip back the other way?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet, you are also invited to engage further. Pair up and play the game. Stand opposite your opponent- draw a marker from the bag. You have been assigned your position (red or blue) now you send the board spinning defining a new landscape for your game. Take turns capturing 1 square at a time by circling it on the plexiglass face, keeping districts no larger than 9 squares. Then see who has won in the end- you own a district if the majority of your squares correspond to your color within it but you can absorb the competing or even neutral colors. The player with the most districts wins!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now Leilani invites us to examine: How did it feel to hold the marker? Was it easy? Was it fun? Towering above the game with the terrain abstracted into a grid of colors and lines- was their gravity to you choices?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By reducing political representation to a sequence of physical permutations, the sculpture foregrounds the tension between structure and randomness. Each activation produces a new configuration, raising the question of whether outcomes attributed to strategy or control might instead emerge from forces that are volatile, opaque, and difficult to contain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leilani Elkaslasy is studying Engineering at Harvey Mudd College with an emphasis in environmental analysis and a concentration in art. She has pursued engineering due to her core belief that design has the world we shape around us carries the meanings we imbue it with. She hopes to use design as a tool to promote accessibility, sustainable stewardship of our earth home, and human flourishing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Support for Gerry the Game is provided by the HMC Interdisciplinary Course ID049: The Game of Democracy, Professor Fandell and President Nembhard .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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