A Tribute to Laborers Everywhere
Drawing upon Unnasch's personal awed memories of Boston's "Big Dig" — the immensity of which he navigated often during his grad school years at UMass Dartmouth in the early 2000s — Operant (An Oldowonk Cataract) was conceived as a commemoration.
In the massive, infamous "Big Dig" project, downtown Boston's historic elevated highway was demolished and rerouted into a tunnel under the city, creating space for the new mile-long Rose Kennedy Greenway park that now runs through the heart of the urban expanse.
It was on this site that Operant was exhibited, in 2019, in the context of an international art show for which it was commissioned. Created upon the shell of a red dump truck, the work was mounted with backlit stained glass panels and a cascade of glowing “tchonk” glass.
Thematically, Operant explored concepts influencing the "built" environment in its glasswork, while acknowledging and celebrating the construction workers and laborers not only of the Big Dig, but also "those who help build our beautiful cities, bridges and park systems everywhere".
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