1/4/2004
Prisoners' Inventions
Basekamp, Philadelphia
Three years ago Temporary Services invited Angelo, an incarcerated artist, to write and illustrate a booklet about the ingenious, practical, and sometimes bizarre things he has seen prisoners make. Angelo generated more than 100 pages of drawings and text - representing 78 different inventions or skills. The collection offers a glimpse into the social environment of prison, where inventiveness and ingenuity are needed to satisfy even the most basic human desires. This exhibition will include many of Angelo's drawings and writings, along with facsimiles of the inventions constructed by Temporary Services.
Three years ago Temporary Services invited Angelo, an incarcerated artist, to write and illustrate a booklet about the ingenious, practical, and sometimes bizarre things he has seen prisoners make. Angelo generated more than 100 pages of drawings and text - representing 78 different inventions or skills. The collection offers a glimpse into the social environment of prison, where inventiveness and ingenuity are needed to satisfy even the most basic human desires. This exhibition will include many of Angelo's drawings and writings, along with facsimiles of the inventions constructed by Temporary Services. The Prisoners' Inventions book, published by White Walls in 2003, is now in its second print run. It will be available at Basekamp.
At Angelo's request, a full-size copy of his prison cell will also be featured. The cell was commissioned by the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, and was originally built by Mass MoCA's fabricators who followed Angelo's drawings and measurements. Enlarged copies of some of Angelo's cell construction measurements and diagrams will be included. Temporary Services has also published a new booklet of interviews and discussions about the project and related issues. Free copies will be available at Basekamp.
'Temporary Services is a group of three persons. We draw on our varied backgrounds and interests to incorporate our aesthetic practice within our lived experiences. The need to create change within our daily lives translates directly to our work. The distinction between art practice and other creative human endeavors is irrelevant to us. We embed the creative work we present within thoughtful and imaginative social contexts and strive to create participatory situations. The link between aesthetics and ethics is in the foreground of our ideas. We seek thoughtful and responsible ways of both presenting our work and collaborating with others. We participate in the creation of spaces for dialogue, reconfiguring social formations, and experiencing aesthetics in transparent and focused ways. Temporary Services seeks to both create and participate in relationships that are not competitive and are mutually beneficial. We seek strategies for harnessing the ideas and energies of people who may have never participated in an art project before, or who may feel excluded from the art community as it exists for them. We seek tactics for harnessing the generosity of many individuals in order to produce projects on a scale that none of us could achieve in isolation. We strive toward aesthetic experiences that are built upon trust and unlimited experimentation.' http://www.temporaryservices.org/
Image: Electric cigarette lighter with saltwater and hot pot resistor
variations, 2003. Ballpoint pen drawing on notebook paper,
8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches. Courtesy of Temporary Services and Angelo.
Friday 2 April
Opening Reception
6.00-10.00pm
BASEKAMP
Saturday 3 April
Brunch Discussion with Artists'
starts at Noon
BASEKAMP
exhibition runs 2 April - 7 May 2004
BASEKAMP is a non commercial studio and exhibition space whose primary focus is to participate
in the creation, facilitation and promotion of large scale collaborative projects by contemporary artists.
BASEKAMP
723 Chestnut Street, second floor
Philadelphia, PA 19106 united states
215-206-8176