Parsons MFA 2020 Thesis
Gas-fired porcelain, glass, tin, and iron oxide digital decals
5”x5”x3”
Series of 10
This series works with the intimacy of slip-casting as a method of reproduction that squashes tools of psychological control. The concept plays with the slip as material and the slippage of memory in the digital age. Through an archival process I return digital to the institution. I address the speed at which ‘the public’ becomes alienated from raw minerals by the seductive minimalist design of smart technology.
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The concept comes from a percolation of socio-political issues and consumer culture that pushes beyond the house-trained ceramic object in post-colonial America. The process involves slip-casting a reproduction of a digital camera body, the greenware form is squashed between my thighs. After firing, iron oxide decals are applied that depict images of physical public domain server rooms and their geographic locations. Through making the digital tangible again, the perspective void between my body in labor and the imprint of digital labor collapses. Through acts of squashing, letting go and distortion, the objects entertain a queer methodology of embracing failure.
By reproducing the hollow bodies of the digital camera, the prosumer tool becomes an artifact of labor, making critique on themes of productivity and surveillance.
This series is addressing the alienation created by tools of digital technology. We, in the twenty first century, have become users addicted to voyeurism. If ‘social connection is a renewable resource’, then this series draws parallels between the advancement of human technology and exploitation of raw earth materials, which shapes the idea of ‘interdependence’ in urban society. If we identify the difference between persuasive distraction and individual choice, we can swerve manipulation to aid communal growth.
