Breakdown
DE YOUNG MUSEUM, SAN FRANCISCO, CA
APRIL 5 - 30, 2017
“Breakdown” was an evolving work in progress combining video with prints on glass, steel, and paper as well as diagnostic and organizational tools such as light-boxes and display cases. Through this changing environment, I explored different aspects of the breakdown of information- how technological glitches mimic errors and lapses in memory and how an “archive” is inevitably incomplete.
My residency was at the same time as a large-scale retrospective on the “Summer of Love,” so in homage to that I created a free print store based on the ideas of the San Francisco group The Diggers. For this portion of the project, I invited visitors to take a print, make a print, or leave a print- however they chose to participate. For those who wanted to participate, I then showed them the screen print process and had them create a print. Altogether I had 2,473 visitors and collaborated/gave away ~2,700 prints.
As a corollary project, I also collected an object per day and used that to create a series of prints where a photocopy was the printing “plate.” I would then photocopy the object, make a print, then photocopy the print and make a print from that, continuing the process until the original image/object broke down/disappeared.
ORIGINAL PROPOSAL:
“Research has shown that each time we remember an event, that memory changes. Carrie Iverson is fascinated by the similarity between this phenomenon and the way mechanical reproduction can also progressively distort an image. Using these ideas as a starting point, she will create a series of prints of found broken/discarded objects in which she will use photocopying to evolve imagery. Iverson will create the prints in the gallery using a low-budget form of lithography where a photocopy serves as the printing plate. “Breakdown” will also examine the idea of the archive as both an object and an action, repeatedly rearranging work and collaborating with the public in a variety of printmaking processes inspired by the Bay Area’s counterculture history.”
The de Young Museum’s Artist Studio program was made possible with major support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services Museums for America program.
INSTALLATION IMAGES
“Create the condition you describe” (interior and exterior view), neon, steel, site-specific installation
This piece is a tribute to the San Francisco group The Diggers and their assorted ‘free’ community projects and performances. These ranged from free stores that operated on an exchange system to offering free food in Golden Gate Park to costumed parades celebrating ‘the death of money.’ This motto of theirs – ‘create the condition you describe’ – encapsulates a philosophy of creating alternate social and economic systems through example.
“Free Print” Exchange
For this portion of the project, I invited visitors to take a print, make a print, or leave a print- however they chose to participate. For those who wanted to participate, I then showed them the screenprint process and had them create a print. This collaboration was part of a “free” print store inspired by the San Francisco group the Diggers and their various free stores which worked on a barter or gift economy.
Altogether I had 2,473 visitors and collaborated/gave away ~2,700 prints.
Found Object Wall
For this portion of the project, I collected an object each day of the residency and then used that object to create a series of prints through repeated photocopying.
