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Mark Leckey UniAddDumThs “MACHINE”, 2014-ongoing

UniAddDumThs

Artwork Factory

Description

Mark Leckey's large installation offers an unusual look at the history of technology. Here, objects from different times and contexts intersect. What's the first thing that strikes you?

Associated modules

In 2013, the artist was invited to curate an exhibition. He selected artworks and objects with references to technology, pop culture, and human history.

AHA!

Curating means making an exhibition. Selecting artworks and arranging them according to certain relationships, such as space and content.

Artwork: "UniAddDumThs “ANIMAL”" from Mark Leckey
Mark Leckey UniAddDumThs “ANIMAL”, 2014-ongoing no Lower level

Mark Leckey first collected the objects for the exhibition, titled „The Universal Addressability of Dumb Things„, on his computer desktop, where he divided the materials he found on the Internet into three broad groups: Human, Machine, and Animal.

 

Can you recognize the three groups in the installation? By what?

Reflect

Do you have any idea now where the enigmatic title of his installation comes from? Look again at the title of the first exhibition….

explained briefly

Displays in exhibitions are elements that serve as a base for works of art. They can look very different.

Artwork: "UniAddDumThs “ANIMAL”" from Mark Leckey
Mark Leckey UniAddDumThs “ANIMAL”, 2014-ongoing no Lower level

At the end of the exhibition, Mark Leckey decided to preserve things for himself by creating copies of them using analog and digital means – in the form of 3-D prints, photographs, sculptures, or even cardboard stand-ups. This is how „UniAddDumThs“ (2014-ongoing) came into being.

Discuss

In the installation, a 3-D print of a Soviet space suit for dogs from 1959 stands next to a Nike sneaker that can be transformed into a „Transformers“ character, or…what else do you see and what is disturbing, interesting or funny to you?

 

A spacesuit for dogs – does it belong in the realm of humans, machines or animals? Where did the artist place the suit? Is it easy to tell the difference between the three realms? What are your criteria?

Reflect

The starting point for Mark Leckey’s selection was the observation that technology has changed our relationship with things: Phones talk to us, our refrigerator knows what we like to eat.

 

Which “animate” objects can you not do without?

Explained briefly

Curators oversee a museum’s collections and plan exhibitions. In order to “play” with rooms in the best possible way and to provide visitors with a special spatial experience, they usually use a 3-D model for planning. This represents the architecture of the museum or gallery space. It can also be created digitally using software. In this way, curators place the artworks in miniature in the room and develop a design concept.