SECTION 5: SHARED DATA

 

We received permission from University Housing services to reclaim an unused office space in Green Hall for the purpose of creating our own Surrealist-inspired exhibition. In doing so, we attempted to adapt the themes and methods of the Surrealist to our own time and to the specific context of the workspace we were repurposing. We worked collectively throughout the process, going on group excursions to places that were full of items on the outside of the contemporary object economy, the Red, White, and Blue thrift shop in Trenton and the Lewis Center Prop Warehouse, and gathered found objects that we felt a strong connection too. We coupled these objects with pieces that we had gathered over our time at Princeton to form the raw materials for what was to be displayed.

On a broader conceptual and experiential level, we decided to transform the space by dividing it into sections.

The first, a surrealist waiting room, operates based on a reappropriation of the process of bureaucratic paperwork. Visitors fill out a peculiar Patient History form that forces them to interact with a mundane space that has been colonized by the subconscious in the form of the found objects that decorate the shelves and walls and filing cabinets which have been repurposed as 16 uncanny mini-installations.

The second section of the space, or the circuit, hidden initially beyond a wall of black tarp in the middle, attempts to materialize a subconscious, hidden level of consciousness lurking beneath the veneer of mundane office labor. This was attempted by mobilizing two general themes, both of which are drawn from the interests and work of the historical Surrealists. First, visitors crawl on their hands and knees through a dimly-lit, almost subterranean space that attempts to invoke the mythological as it is manifested in modern society. Based on a series of interviews with random people in Frist Campus Center (inspired in part by the Bureau for Surrealist Research), we created a series of eight retellings of received myths. These retellings were used to create eight altar spaces that embody these new versions of mythological narratives using found objects. Navigating the space with a flashlight and listening to an audio-guide that features an  alienated re-recording of the material from our interviews, visitors are taken through a shadowy world of myth that is at once timeless and rooted to modern day popular culture. At the end of their journey, they come across a seance space, rendered inaccessible by a circle of tape, in which a graveyard of obsolete telecommunications technology is reappropriated as an occult crime scene.

After this, visitors emerge from the claustrophobic tarp space and are able to view the rest of the second portion of the room, the motherboard. Here, the mythological is blended with the lost realm of childhood. On an “island” made of torn apart mazes from a children’s books a sculptural bull evokes the Minotaur. Along the far wall a series of  shelves has been transformed into a Surrealist wall of found children’s toys mixed with stagings and objects reminiscent of death that collapse the categories of life and death in a provocative way before visitors are once more ejected from the motherboard into the waiting space.

SHARED DATA: A CATALOGUE

On the door of the exhibition: a page, torn from a book, dedicating to room to the beautiful Internet.

IN THE WAITING ROOM

 

The waiting room contains of 30 or so filing cabinets, in banks of six. There are four blankets in assorted colors on the floor, covering a grey carpet. On top of the blankets, a small coffee. Next to the table, an ice bucket on a pedestal. In the ice bucket, one paper cup of a cup and string telephone. The other cup is on the table, next to a Barbie cellphone and a copy of Billy Liar. There are two short chairs next to the table. Across the back of one, there is a fringed jacket. Draped across the back of the other, a camouflage adult onesie.

The room is divided from the compute by a tarp curtain. On the bank of filing cabinets that is pressed up against the curtain, there is a cashmere scarf/napkin spread on the top. Arranged on the scarf [left to right]: a small wine glass with a red wine residue, an old jar of pickles, a fork, a framed picture of 3 iPhones, a pink glass receptacle, a ceramic bowl with a paperclip tail, one, single, unattached paperclip, a Keurig coffee capsule, a three dimensional portrait of some women praying, and two small pots full of cocoa powder and marshmallows.

In front of the same cabinet, a metal washbasin, with a coffee cup full of water, surrounded by the keys of a computer keyboard.

Hanging from the back wall, several paper birthday plates, and a purple paper bag full of pastel wrapping paper. A number of red balloons dangle from the ceiling from metallic-blue string. Some are inflated, some half inflated, some popped. A tower of cardboard and plastic boxes is piled in the corner.

On the wall, two whips. On top of a cabinet, an elaborate statue made from plastic bottles, tissue paper, googly eyes, and egg crates.

On the wall, propped on the cabinet, a plastic version of a large oil painting of a missionary.

INVENTORY OF THE FILING CABINETS:

1. Inflated red balloons. SEE IMAGES OF ALL OF THESE HERE
2. Two black plastic catering trays, cut to fit into the cabinet. On one, empty cookie wrapper sleeves. On the other, the decaying remains of a tomato, parsley, and tongs.
3. Red fruit: apples, pears, potatoes. All plastic.
4. Green fruit: apples, pears, asparagus. All plastic.
5. A photograph of a young woman on the toilet trying to put in a tampon. There is a tissue next to it. In washboard marker, a speech bubble has been drawn, with the words I WASN’T READY written inside of it.
6. CDs and DVDS with black sharpie labels. They are silver and gold. They are scattered across the bottom of the drawer. There is a rusting bike seat, cracked and spilling foam, lying on top of them.
7. An arrangement of plastic red Solo cup shot glasses.
8. Objects, somewhat conforming to a theme of red and white: a shell/ear-like white plastic piece broken off of a doll, a pink and blue hexagonal box with a plastic lizard glued to it, a red top with pink polka-dots, a red plastic headband with devil horns that used to light up, a Newman’s Own coffee capsule with a maroon label, a red balloon, deflated, a walking, wind-up pair of red and white teeth, a “Donut Shop” Keurig coffee capsule, a metal box, a magazine page, torn from the magazine, that reads GRAPHIC CONTENT,” and another page, torn from a book, with the title “Building Blocks of Logic.”
9. Two yellow plastic bananas.
10. A cardboard box full of assorted photographs.
11. Two stripes of postcards running along the sides and down across the bottom of the drawer. The cards are from museums and geographic locations, all in Europe. Art from Miro, Sempe, and Klee is included, and the geographic locations are all German–eg. Switzerland, Austria.
12. A flattened white priority mail cardboard mailing box (small). On it, a jar of Nutella with a light bulb stuck into it, and a jar of almond butter, carefully wrapped in brown twine.
13. The cover of AMAZING MAZES, a large cardboard book of mazes.
14. Black and white photographs lining the bottom and the sides. Photograph include a woman on a swing, the BIRD OF THE MONTH, a woman on a staircase, people praying, monks walking in single file, binoculars on a ledge, the masthead of the TRENTONIAN, a girl screaming, a bust of Reagan.
15. Images torn from a maternity book all along the bottom, in color. On top of the images, plastic organs and skeleton pieces.
16. Black and white photographs: a woman with a growth sprouting from her forehead, multicolored rings, a woman shaking hands with a shadow, a woman dancing with feathers, people and boxes, a tennis player about to serve.
17. A National Geographic map of Pinnipeds of the World. A pair of swimming goggles on top of the map, and shreds of bubble wrap at the sides.
18. The pages of the gripping mystery novel, Sticks and Scones, torn and taped to the sides, and a copy of Sticks and Scones.
19. Three clock-themed postcards, a watch, and a message in red ink on a napkin: DON’T BE LATE.
20. A triangular design in red and blue post-its.
21. Miscellaneous trash: the leaf scepter we broke off on our travels, a waterlogged book of glass vases, a library card with a Poe quotation and a blob of paint, a Paper Source bag, a white rope, the Nutella jar lid, a plastic box with a neon green eyeglass wipe in it, a cellphone wrapper, and several glow-in-the-dark plastic bugs.
22. The oracle! A plastic bin full of ping pong balls marked with red designs, a manila folder with instructions (see instructions) and a paperback copy of Confessions of a Werewolf Supermodel.
23. A set of kitchen utensil themed, postcard-sized memory cards, with a game of solitaire laid out on top of them, which is being disrupted by the jerking movement of the drawer.
24. Locked with tape.
25. A very small plastic ladybug, a small plastic blue butterfly. Two real dead flies.
26. A maze/labyrinth/web strung with twine. A glow in the dark spider fallen from it, lying upside down at the bottom of the drawer.
27. A multicolored rubber band ball and two broken, brown rubber bands.
28. Diverse packs of playing cards, scattered at the bottom of the drawer.
29. A eyeglasses case full of nails with three ping-pong balls inside of it, a plastic sheaf of transparent folders with an orange label reading HARDWARE INCLUDED. A rubber band. Two small metal circles.
30. The drawer is lined with strips of torn napkin.
31. Several sheets of multicolored origami paper, with nascent folds.

There are also four open draws at the top of tallest cabinets. One is filled with three CD holders, one with white paper bags, another with a cardboard box, and the middle to the right with all of our trash.

In one corner, the “radio play listening section.” It has headphones that only work in one ear. There are a number of black metal bars strung together with twine.

 

IN THE CIRCUIT

Once the user passes through the bubble-wrap grate, they achieve the circuit. This is divided into 8 bits, with an extra chip at the center. The circuit’s eight bits each present a modern mythological concept.

This comes with a corresponding audio guide.

1. The Modern Myth of Daedalus.

 

A National Geographic poster showing a diagram of the sun’s layers.

A National Geographic poster showing bird migrations.

A red scarf with a gold leaf pattern.

A golden double cage full of butterflies.

A paper bag with a peacock design.

Two photographs in white frames: one of a phrenology skull, the other of an exercise bicycle.

A lamp with shapes cut from it.

A wooden slab with a metal plaque. Attached to the plaque, a headless bird. Carved into the plaque, the words: Aim for the sun you may not reach it but you will fly higher than if you never aimed at all.

 

2. The Modern Myth of Prometheus

https://soundcloud.com/slutrealists/2-the-modern-myth-of

A National Geographic map of Earth as seen from space at night, with lights.

A black Princeton scarf with small tigers and eight balls.
Two cardboard structures, each with six holes.

In the holes:

an alien stuffed animal,

a small, flickering light,

a blue egg.

Under the holes:

a map of Mount Everest,

a postcard of a Jeff Koons egg.

On the ceiling:

several pictures of constellations torn from a book.

 

3. The Modern Myth of Pygmalion

A flowered evening gown hangs down from the back corner.

A green scarf lies across it.

A Kodak camera with a cardboard case with moustaches and the word SMILE! A black framed photograph of a mirror.

A pamphlet about AURA.

A white framed black and white photograph of dolls, one in a wedding outfit.

A stuffed animal with a hypnotic pattern.

On the walls, collages and postcards and pictures.

A cartoon character vomiting an otter in a net.

A woman with a hole in her waist and the text TICK TICK TICK running through.

A man with the word eyes in the place of his eyes.

A superhero straddling a duck

A man getting his haircut by a barber reflected in a mirror.

Three people in black folded over each other.

Many people lying in a dance studio.

An insect.

 

4. The Modern Myth of Orpheus

An olive green scarf

A sleeping pill bottle with one blue pill.

The pages of a comic book about sleep.

A white framed photograph of a race.

A photograph of two spoons, one straight, one bent.

Two people in fancy dress, jumping, photographed.

A pamphlet about the EARLY BURIAL FROM THE AGORA CEMETRY.

 

5. The Modern Myth of Demeter

A National Geographic map of the Diversity of Life.

A box of microscope slides of small life, eg. marine sponges and ants.

A copy of the book Pandora’s Box.

A small pink and green metal locker.

A copy of Yoga for Pregnancy.

A white shawl with flowers.

A brown scarf with leaf designs.

Hanging, a cream and brown scarf with flower designs.

 

6. The Modern Myth of Menelaus

Hanging from the walls, a number of silvery pages from the book Computer Basics.

A white frames photograph of a Goldman Sachs sign.

A white famed photograph of a Casio calculator, with a globe collaged onto it.

An ornate, silver framed wedding photograph.

The silver box that contained two decks of cards.

A box of terrarium moss.

A geometric black and brown scarf.

 

7. The Modern Myth of the Tower of Babel

Three bell jars, one containing the book Pacific Fishes of Canada.

A National Geographic map of the Layers of Life hanging at the back.

A German map of Sea Life, folded, hanging.

The lid from a box of playing cards, with red and white elephants.

A scarf, hanging, backlit by a lava lamp.

It shows a city full of tall, multicolored buildings.

Behind it, a number of pamphlets about the archaeology of the Bible and of the Agora.

8. The Modern Myth of Europa

Two maps of Europe.

A wood framed map of Belize

A folded map of Communism to Capitalism on the floor.

A pamphlet about the planet.

Another folded map, this one of central America.

A white scarf with moon like designs.

A purple woman with black spines where her head should be.

Skeleton arms hand from her body.

A barometer.

A black and white polka dotted scarf.

 

The chip:

A séance room.

It is surrounded by masking/caution tape, which reads: WARNING DO NOT ENTER LAND OF THE DEAD DO NOT ENTER SCEANCE.

Beyond a maroon and gold curtain, Computer Basics, an old, black telephone, two white, old telephones. A mechanical picture frame, a remote, a ping-pong paddle.

 

IN THE MOTHERBOARD

 

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7