Ellen Alt’s work explores communication, and the environment, weaving together material investigations with broader cultural and ecological concerns. Recent projects examine the nostalgic language of television through test patterns and iconography and the elemental materials of the Earth.

Alt reflects on our diminishing ability to communicate. While television test patterns may appear as relics, they trace the evolution of technology—from black and white to color, analog to digital, and internet to AI. Despite the proliferation of communication tools, the potential for shared understanding appears increasingly fragile.

Expanding on this idea, Alt’s work with television transmission treats the TV as an iconic object, recalling a time when shared media fostered greater cohesion and less divisive exchange. This series has expanded to include sculptural television forms arranged in playful, family-like configurations.

Alt’s Earth Elements series turns to the physical world, grounding environmental concerns in the materials of the planet itself. Across this body of work, she highlights the interconnectedness of Earth’s systems and our place within them. Through layered perspectives—moving from water and ice at the surface, to air and sky above, to precious metals and rare earth elements below—the series emphasizes both the beauty and complexity of the natural world.

Together, these bodies of work draw a parallel between the fragility of the Earth and the erosion of our ability to communicate with one another. As natural systems face increasing instability, so too do the social and cultural systems that depend on connection and shared understanding—suggesting that environmental degradation and the breakdown of communication are deeply intertwined.