We were amid the first wave of artists to be invited by the Analog Research Laboratory to participate in the Facebook’s Artists-In-Residence (AIR) Program in Menlo Park, California. During our residency we created work that focused on ideas of interconnectivity, the visual history of communication and different modes of sending, receiving, sharing and recording information.
We constructed a makeshift open studio & exhibit space in a stairwell alcove in building 14. Our studio served as an incubator, a creative space that encouraged an exchange of ideas and information. Each day we generated original one-of-a-kind collages, prints, posters, buttons, site-specific art installations and interventions.
The largest commission we completed was a 15 ft. by 5 ft. collage entitled “The Combine,” which was composed of 6,912 pieces. The collage was inspired by the visual culture of “Hackers/Makers/Builders”, and our interactions on campus. We combined paper ephemera, hand stamped patterns, drawings, Letraset, silkscreen, letterpress, Riso & Xerox copies, typewritten text and sewing machine configurations. Each piece was hand punched and glued one-by-one, referencing the analog form of cut & paste. We view the grid as a generative framework that encourages joint participation, playful interactions, & exchange. Throughout the collage, a visual vocabulary of corresponding and connected shapes activates a back-and-fourth exchange as forms, colors, patterns, and text are doubled, mirrored, and repeated. Sequences of stripes and lines function as connectors that reference corridors & pathways, tunnels & bridges, wires & signals, linking point A to point B. With each viewing, we hope new meanings and connections will emerge.
