The Institute of Desktop Archeology
| Date start | 04.01.15 |
| Date end | 04.13.15 |
| Start Time | 12am |
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| Medium | |
| Admission | Free |
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| Presented by |
Twenty artists have been invited to build work into the structure of desktop space, having each been given a computer to live with and alter as they wish over the course of 2 months. For some, this may manifest as a single unique program. Others may construct a browser history, a mystery novel in hyperlinks. Still others will perhaps fill music libraries and picture folders and chat logs with the detritus of a life lived.
These machines have an inherent body, a personhood that is built of daily use. Every tool–from a hammer to a violin–comes to say something about the hand of its user. These desktop spaces have become such tools of use, but also function as terminals to social spaces, work environments, and homes built of play and care. There is an externalization of person into machine: the incidental curation of living-space that says so much about those living there. We have become intrinsically linked, as individuals, with our devices. It is no surprise that we should share the same terminology for our fundamental building blocks of selfhood and storage: memory.
This is a project about the archeology of personhood through a habit system that retains the shape of those patterns.
We are currently seeking any donation of any type of computer from any era (working or non-working) particularly laptops, mac minis, or other small shippable machines (but not at the exclusion of desktop systems). Donations may be dropped off at the Fusebox offices at 2023 E. Cesar Chavez, during their regular hours of 9am - 6pm Monday through Friday. Computers may also be brought to MoHA, with advanced notice to schedule a time.
Curated by Everest Pipkin
