Opening Reception: Art of the New Industrialism

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Modular A.R.T.: Art of the New Industrialism

Thursday, March 25, 2010
6.00pm to 9.00pm, Free
81 Front Street, ground floor (bet. Main & Washington)
Dumbo, Brooklyn, New York

The analog assembly line of the Industrial Revolution is giving way to the digital production methods of the New Industrialism. Mass customization, modular design, production on demand, open innovation, co-creative design, tele-fabrication and other computer-driven technologies are re-defining how things are made in nearly every sector of the marketplace, with the notable exception of art. Instead, the large majority of artists continue to produce their work in solitude, in editions of one, and using the same pre-industrial methods as did their predecessors centuries ago.

This exhibition of new modular art promotes the premise that if art is to be truly contemporary it must not only exhibit modernity in its outward form but be made in a contemporary way as well. Accordingly, all the pieces shown have been produced on demand and fabricated directly from digital files uploaded to remote production facilities.

Based on a modular design system, each assembled work is composed of interlocking components that can be disconnected from each other and then re-assembled in an infinite variety of compositions. Thus the artist is no longer the sole generator of form and the work of art no longer a sacred object to be worshipped from a distance. Rather, the collector is invited to co-create the work together with the artist, bringing the piece into closer alignment with the fluid and collaborative nature of 21st century culture.

website:
www.art-rethought.com