katherine behar
katherine behar: this.construction();
art: UCM (E-Waste)
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Description

The works in UCM belong to E-Waste, a series of sculptures inspired by commonplace USB devices. The series centers on a science fiction scenario in which modest USB peripherals are doomed to continue working, long after the humans they were designed to serve have gone extinct. The gadgets are transformed into mutant fossils, encased in stone with lights blinking, speakers chirping, and fans spinning, eternally. Combining machine-made, handmade, and organic forms, the works in this series take on an extraterrestrial quality, highlighting the surplus of consumer media artifacts, and drawing attention to its environmental impact.

Statement

E-Waste challenges digital culture's intense escalation of productivity. The slow-moving sculptures elicit sympathy for the devices we exploit, suggesting that we ourselves are becoming increasingly device-like: ensnared in compulsory productivity, whether "working" in the traditional sense for our own gain, or generating value for distant corporations each time we search the web or click "like."

Other works in the "E-Waste" series: