katherine behar
katherine behar: this.construction();

Title: Shelf Life
Media: Keyboard keys, resin, Styrofoam, adhesive, media carts, shelves.
Year: 2019.
Exhibited:

  • "Katherine Behar: Ack! Knowledge! Work!" Solo exhibition. Beall Center for Art + Technology. Irvine, CA, USA. February 3–April 20, 2024. Curated by Jesse Colin Jackson.
  • "Katherine Behar: Backups." Solo exhibition. Raether Library at Trinity College. Hartford, CT, USA. April 22–December 16, 2022. Curated by Lynn Sullivan and Christina Bleyer.
  • "Katherine Behar: Backups." Solo exhibition. Mazmanian Gallery, Framingham State University, Framingham, MA, USA. September 3–25, 2019.

Credits:

Special thanks to Ellie Krakow, Lynn Sullivan, David Cecchetto, Alex Golden, Nicole Companik, Jeanel Cassidy, Charlie Lenny, Alia Paddock, Jenny Phan, and the University of Washington Surplus Store.

Shelf Life received support from The MacDowell Colony.

Photography: Flavia Arcuri (Images 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8), Ellie Krakow (Images 2, 3, 6), Katherine Behar (Images 9, 10)

art: Shelf Life
click to enlarge:
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Shelf Life - Katherine Behar Shelf Life - Katherine Behar Shelf Life - Katherine Behar Shelf Life - Katherine Behar Shelf Life - Katherine Behar

Statement

In Shelf Life, QWERTY keyboard keys stud the surfaces of oddly shaped objects. Resting on shelves like dollops from an alternate reality, they appear to have broken free from the boring rectangles of black-box design. Their voluptuous protrusions mimic biological mutations and no two are alike. Shelf Life recalls the limited lifespan of devices; yet, this collection of artifacts is poised at the ready, hinting that the options we have shelved may store vital potential.