Core77

SECOND LIVES - REMIXING THE ORDINARY

By Ray Hu - January 12, 2009

Once detail - WOK Media (Julie Mathias & Woflgang Kaeppner) WOKmedia, a partnership between Julie Mathias and Wolfgang Kaeppner, has designed installations as well as furniture. Once responds to the astonishing abundance of cheap disposable wooden chopsticks world-wide, particularly in China, where it is estimated that some forty-five billion pairs are used and discarded annually, requiring the wood of twenty-five million full-grown trees. The repurposing of one of the humblest of implements was driven by the team's response to the waste of such a materi
http://www.madmuseum.org/ Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe 1 of 39

Once - WOK Media (Julie Mathias & Woflgang Kaeppner) WOKmedia, a partnership between Julie Mathias and Wolfgang Kaeppner, has designed installations as well as furniture. Once responds to the astonishing abundance of cheap disposable wooden chopsticks world-wide, particularly in China, where it is estimated that some forty-five billion pairs are used and discarded annually, requiring the wood of twenty-five million full-grown trees. The repurposing of one of the humblest of implements was driven by the team's response to the waste of such a materi
http://www.madmuseum.org/ Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe 2 of 39

Portrait of a Textile Worker detail - Terese Agnew According to the artist: Portrait of a Textile Worker makes one person among millions of unseen workers visible. Her image was constructed with thirty thousand clothing labels stitched together over two years. The idea came from a simple observation. One day while shopping in a department store, I noticed huge signs everywhere--Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Kathy Lee and so on. They were all proper names. I'd recently met two garment workers and realized that by contrast, their identity was rarely
http://www.madmuseum.org/ Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe 3 of 39

Second Lives at the Museum of Arts and Design The Museum of Arts and Design inaugurated its new home at Columbus Circle with Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary, a special thematic exhibition featuring 51 contemporary artists from 17 countries who transform discarded, commonplace, or valueless objects into extraordinary works of art.
http://www.madmuseum.org/ Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe 4 of 39

Madame C.J. Walker (large) - Sonya Clark Sonya Clark's Madam C. J. Walker (large) is a large and imposing portrait of the first African American woman to become a millionaire. Madam C. J. Walker was born Sarah Breedlove (1867--1919) in Louisiana to a family of former slaves and died in New York City. She made her fortune in cosmetics and hair-care products and produced the first line to cater to the needs of black women. Clark's portrait is composed of hundreds of ordinary black hair combs modified to create a black and white image tha
http://www.madmuseum.org/ Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe 5 of 39

Madame C.J. Walker (large), Running the Numbers - Sonya Clark, Thomas Glassford The Museum of Arts and Design inaugurated its new home at Columbus Circle with Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary, a special thematic exhibition featuring 51 contemporary artists from 17 countries who transform discarded, commonplace, or valueless objects into extraordinary works of art.
http://www.madmuseum.org/ Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe 6 of 39

Running the Numbers detail - Thomas Glassford Thomas Glassford creates sculpture from objects found in the streets and flea markets of Guadalajara, Mexico, where he lives and works. His work is profoundly social and confrontational, seducing us with color and glitter and then reminding us of the transitory nature of assigned hierarchies of value. In Running the Numbers, he creates large, self-contained beads from used melamine bowls fitted together lip-to-lip. The beads are strung on a metal frame to create a larger-than-life-sized abacus.
http://www.madmuseum.org/ Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe 7 of 39

Spoons detail - Jill Townsley Spoons consists of groups of white plastic spoons where each group is secured with a standard rubber band to form a tripod. Townsley then stacks the tripods on top of each other, creating a pyramid consisting of 9,273 spoons and 3,091 rubber bands. However, the form is not static, as Townsley introduces the element of chance into the work. Over the course of time, environmental conditions compromise the elastic, and the rubber bands snap. When they do, the pyramid destroys itself, collapsing int
http://www.madmuseum.org/ Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe 9 of 39

Spoons - Jill Townsley Spoons consists of groups of white plastic spoons where each group is secured with a standard rubber band to form a tripod. Townsley then stacks the tripods on top of each other, creating a pyramid consisting of 9,273 spoons and 3,091 rubber bands. However, the form is not static, as Townsley introduces the element of chance into the work. Over the course of time, environmental conditions compromise the elastic, and the rubber bands snap. When they do, the pyramid destroys itself, collapsing int
http://www.madmuseum.org/ Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe 10 of 39

Warp Trance detail - Senga Nengudi The banks of machinery, repetitive movements, and staccato sounds of a textile mill are the inspiration for Senga Nengudi's Warp Trance. This video installation was originally created during the artist's 2007 residency at the Fabric Workshop in Philadelphia and has been reconceived for Second Lives. The footage and sounds of textile mills for this three-channel projection were recorded at several Pennsylvania weaving firms that feature Jacquard punch-card weaving technology. Invented by Joseph M
http://www.madmuseum.org/ Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe 11 of 39

Warp Trance - Senga Nengudi The banks of machinery, repetitive movements, and staccato sounds of a textile mill are the inspiration for Senga Nengudi's Warp Trance. This video installation was originally created during the artist's 2007 residency at the Fabric Workshop in Philadelphia and has been reconceived for Second Lives. The footage and sounds of textile mills for this three-channel projection were recorded at several Pennsylvania weaving firms that feature Jacquard punch-card weaving technology. Invented by Joseph M
http://www.madmuseum.org/ Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe 12 of 39

Knowledge, Medicine Man, Talking Totem Poles - Nicholas Galanin Nicholas Galanin uses a laser cutter to shape his wallmounted faces from books that he deliberately chooses based on their content. For example, a totemic animal mask familiar in his Tlingit culture is created from an anthropological history that presents the white man's version of Tlingit beliefs and customs. For Second Lives, Galanin has carved three masks using Bibles, symbols of the temporal and spiritual authority of the dominant Anglo culture in the U.S.
http://www.madmuseum.org/ Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe 13 of 39

Book from the Ground detail - Xu Bing Book from the Ground is a collection of tens of thousands of informational and instructional icons from mathematics, chemistry, music, and the Internet that the artist has developed over the past few years. These icons are the working components of an alphabet made up of complete and translatable pictures rather than individual letters. Using a normal keyboard, the artist has devised a software program that permits the public to organized these icons into phrases or sentences. The symbols are th
http://www.madmuseum.org/ Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe 14 of 39

Book from the Ground - Xu Bing Book from the Ground is a collection of tens of thousands of informational and instructional icons from mathematics, chemistry, music, and the Internet that the artist has developed over the past few years. These icons are the working components of an alphabet made up of complete and translatable pictures rather than individual letters. Using a normal keyboard, the artist has devised a software program that permits the public to organized these icons into phrases or sentences. The symbols are th
http://www.madmuseum.org/ Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe 15 of 39

Quaarter Lounge - Johnny Swing By removing currency from circulation and welding the units into a permanent configuration, Johnny Swing gives the notion of value a double meaning. He first forces us to think about the relationship between art and commerce. He also encourages us to consider another aspect of value--that of the labor required by virtually every artist whose work is featured in Second Lives, which reflects a "dedication to craftsmanship." He has noted about his use of money in his work: I thought that sitting i
http://www.madmuseum.org/ Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe 16 of 39

Perpetual Stream - Steven Deo In Steven Deo's Perpetual Stream, the figures are constructed from thousands of jigsaw puzzle pieces that evoke the artist's own perception of his cultural identity as "relocated, dislocated, grouped and regrouped, numbered, and scattered. The one commonality we have left is an extended family called 'Indian.'" The figures in this piece are cropped below the knees to suggest they are moving through water. For the artist, the figures represent himself and family members of the Creek and Yu
http://www.madmuseum.org/ Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe 17 of 39

Untitled detail - Subodh Gupta Subodh Gupta finds new significance in the mundane objects of everyday life in India. As he has explained, "The objects I pick already have their own significance. I put them together to create new meanings." In Untitled, the pots and pans used by Indian families for preparing, transporting, and serving food are jumbled together in a seemingly random pattern within a clearly defined shape. Assembled by the artist, they gain grandeur and presence in this large scale. Gupta's compositions not only
http://www.madmuseum.org/ Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe 18 of 39

Untitled - Subodh Gupta Subodh Gupta finds new significance in the mundane objects of everyday life in India. As he has explained, "The objects I pick already have their own significance. I put them together to create new meanings." In Untitled, the pots and pans used by Indian families for preparing, transporting, and serving food are jumbled together in a seemingly random pattern within a clearly defined shape. Assembled by the artist, they gain grandeur and presence in this large scale. Gupta's compositions not only
http://www.madmuseum.org/ Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe 19 of 39

After the Mona Lisa 7 detail - Devorah Sperber Devorah Sperber's work delves deeply into the perception of vision and how our memory of what we think we see changes how we see. She creates inverted, pixilated images of familiar art historical masterpieces out of hundreds of spools of commercial thread, which can be resolved only when viewed through a viewing sphere or on the surface of a convex mirror. The images are scanned into a computer to analyze the color pixel pattern. That pattern is then correlated to the code numbers for standard c
http://www.madmuseum.org/ Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe 20 of 39

After the Mona Lisa 7 - Devorah Sperber Devorah Sperber's work delves deeply into the perception of vision and how our memory of what we think we see changes how we see. She creates inverted, pixilated images of familiar art historical masterpieces out of hundreds of spools of commercial thread, which can be resolved only when viewed through a viewing sphere or on the surface of a convex mirror. The images are scanned into a computer to analyze the color pixel pattern. That pattern is then correlated to the code numbers for standard c
http://www.madmuseum.org/ Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe 21 of 39

In Dust Real - Marek Cecula For this work of art, Marek Cecula secured standard production porcelain tableware--teapots, sugar bowls, cups and saucers--from leading firms producing traditional fine china. He transforms these industrial, mass produced pieces into original new objects in "a conscious manipulation of norms, standards and values to obtain something unique from something common." The selected forms were assembled in groups and then refired in a traditional anagama, or wood burning, kiln that was introduced into
http://www.madmuseum.org/ Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe 24 of 39

Self Portrait 2 - Soyeon Cho Resembling a botanical mutant, Soyeon Cho's Self-Portrait 2 is a hanging light constructed from plastic forks, Q-tips, and electric lights. The artist's use of these materials reminds us of the possibility of transforming the ordinary through creative intervention--a central theme of Second Lives. Cho sees the potential artistic value in mundane and disregarded objects that can be revealed through an artist's imagination as a bridge between the reality of the everyday and the ephemeral world of
http://www.madmuseum.org/ Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe 25 of 39

A Mixture of Frailties detail - Susie MacMurray In her use of objects such as hairnets and rubber gloves, Susie MacMurray evokes memories of the body--often a specifically working-class, female body--and its daily labor. In A Mixture of Frailties, the familiar, standard, yellow rubber gloves used for dishwashing and other domestic chores have been turned inside out to create matte white surfaces. The work references other uses of gloves by various artists in the construction of dresses that lie somewhere on the continuum linking fashion, desi
http://www.madmuseum.org/ Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe 27 of 39

A Mixture of Frailties - Susie MacMurray In her use of objects such as hairnets and rubber gloves, Susie MacMurray evokes memories of the body--often a specifically working-class, female body--and its daily labor. In A Mixture of Frailties, the familiar, standard, yellow rubber gloves used for dishwashing and other domestic chores have been turned inside out to create matte white surfaces. The work references other uses of gloves by various artists in the construction of dresses that lie somewhere on the continuum linking fashion, desi
http://www.madmuseum.org/ Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe 28 of 39

Ten Cut Paper Bags - Yuken Teruya Yuken Teruya transforms designer shopping bags from such retail outlets as Hermes, Tiffany's, and Louis Vuitton into magical spaces filled with atmosphere and light. The subjects of these compositions are trees in an urban environment. He begins with a photograph of a specific tree in the city, and painstakingly cuts a detailed image of it from the side panels of the shopping bag. The negative spaces created by cutting permit light to enter and fall across the tree as if it were part of a Lillip
http://www.madmuseum.org/ Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe 29 of 39

Second Lives at the Museum of Arts and Design Horde, is a bewildering potpourri of dime-store treasures. However, the forms of Golden Horde evoke the splendor of late medieval table nefs--boat-shaped, gilded-silver containers for utensils and napkins that were placed before high-status individuals at sumptuous banquets--an imposing visual symbol of rank and privilege. For Locke, the image of a boat laden with pseudo-treasure is also a reference to his own obsession with boats as a symbol of migration, liberation, and escape, which reflects
http://www.madmuseum.org/ Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe 33 of 39

My Back Pages - Paul Villinski Inspired by Arlo Guthrie's 1969 song "My Front Pages," and the records, acquired by the artist over the course of thirty years, Paul Villinski's My Back Pages is a flock of black and polychrome butterflies cut from vintage phonograph records emerging from the turntable. Before Villinski alters each record with a scroll saw, he listens to it, as a kind of eulogy for what it represented before its modification. The process of transformative destruction allows the artist to release the meaning
http://www.madmuseum.org/ Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe 34 of 39

Dodecahedron x - Donna Marcus Exploring state-of-the-art kitchenware and timesaving appliances that promised domestic bliss, Donna Marcus creates her sculptures from commonplace household objects that evoke memories of middle-class life in the decades following World War II. Marcus assembles her retrieved kitchen treasures into faceted globular forms that emphasize the geometric patterning of the manufactured goods.
http://www.madmuseum.org/ Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe 35 of 39

0121-1110=106062 detail - Jay-Hyo Lee Jae-Hyo Lee's wood sculptures reveal both the unique organic quality of the natural material and the intervention of the artist's hand. Carved from a solid slab of wood, hundreds of nails are hammered into the surface and then carefully bent to create patterns that evoke the ripples of water or currents of air. After scorching the entire surface of the work to achieve a rich black patina, Lee grinds the nails, exposing the raw silver metal in order to "draw a picture on wood using nails," ac
http://www.madmuseum.org/ Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe 36 of 39

0121-1110=106062 - Jay-Hyo Lee Jae-Hyo Lee's wood sculptures reveal both the unique organic quality of the natural material and the intervention of the artist's hand. Carved from a solid slab of wood, hundreds of nails are hammered into the surface and then carefully bent to create patterns that evoke the ripples of water or currents of air. After scorching the entire surface of the work to achieve a rich black patina, Lee grinds the nails, exposing the raw silver metal in order to "draw a picture on wood using nails," ac
http://www.madmuseum.org/ Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe 37 of 39

Metal Jacket detail - Do Ho Suh One of a series of stylized jackets or robes made of thousands of stainless steel military dog tags. Each tag identifies a distinct individual, here merged into a homogeneous layer of metal armor, the impermeable facade of military power.
http://www.madmuseum.org/ Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe 38 of 39

Metal Jacket - Do Ho Suh One of a series of stylized jackets or robes made of thousands of stainless steel military dog tags. Each tag identifies a distinct individual, here merged into a homogeneous layer of metal armor, the impermeable facade of military power.
http://www.madmuseum.org/ Deena DeNaro-Bickerstaffe 39 of 39

The Museum of Arts and Design inaugurated its new home at Columbus Circle with Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary, a special thematic exhibition featuring 51 contemporary artists from 17 countries who transform discarded, commonplace, or valueless objects into extraordinary works of art.