MisApply refers to purposefully using materials in a way for which they were not designed. It is a more craft-based approach to the media-driven DmSubversion. Also see DmCraft, which is really about MisApply with wood
Justin Lowe at Oliver Kamm/ 5B Gallery
http://www.5begallery.com/static/dyn-images/3/3414.jpeg
Pitfall of arbitrary misapply
"Lowe's exercise in hyperrealism created amusing inversions of exterior and interior, from the quaint and hardly novel twist of plucking a structure from the "real world" and plopping it inside a gallery, to the contradictory presence scaffolding on the inside of the truck, and finally, the transformation of the truck's exterior into a psychedelic inner realm. But beyond that, the relationship between the pieces seemed oddly disjointed, as if they were the end result of an intense brainstorming session but Lowe had not had the time to finesse their relationship to one another and make them work as a whole." -Isabelle Dupuis, Flash Art, October 2006, p. 116
Tsui Kuang-yu
also filed under AdventureAsArt
"In the videos, Kuang-Yu practices a number of incongruous sports around London. While the grassy area on a traffic island in Elephant & Castle may phsyically suit a round of golf, the sight of Kuang-Yu teeing off surrounded by this traffic is both funny and incongruous. The use of sporting gestures such as tenpin bowling (with unsuspecting pigeons as ninepins) and waving a chequered racing flag at the traffic gives the idea that the use of public space is as governed by arbitrary rules and systems as any sport." - via [Gasworks --Tsui Kuang-Yu|
"like Buster Keaton -- works spontanesouly allowing form and content, art and life to merge seamlessly showing the absurdity of contemporary life." -Susan Kendzulak, Flash Art, October 2006, p. 54
The Office of the Future, by Parfyme
"Copenhagen is full of empty offices. At the same time, there is a severe lack of places to live, and so on. It's pretty stupid. Fortunately, it's easy to do something about it. If there's going to be offices everywhere, then we can just decide for ourselves what an office is. So we have taken over a space which is now being rebuilt as the office of the future. "
Karen Reimer
MichaelSailstorfer
"When Michael Sailstorfer places autos, airplanes, or street lanterns in new contellations these everyday objects bear their very own time, inscribed through design and the traces of their use. And what arises through them likewise not only opens up a special realm of signs, but also one of time: of simple being there, of gradual dissapearance, of explosive presence. The imaginary potential innate in the objects is then suddenly exposed, their subversive energy unleashed beyond all functional compulsions. Sailstorfer's objects readily show the fun they have in forcing our thoughts off the familiar and narrow. Yet they also attest to a sense of slight melancholy that arises when subversion of meaning becomes apparent."
- Massimiliano Gioni, Max Hollein, Johan F Hartle, Simone Subal. 2006. Michael Sailstorfer: Fur Immer War Gestern. Verlag Fur Moderne Kunst., p. 12
Mark Titchner
"The phrase is taken from the poster for WR: Mysteries of the Organism, the controversial 1971 film by Dusan Makavejev loosely based on the life and work of Wilheim Reich. Found text features largely in Titchner's practice, eclectic phrases pilfered from miscellaneous sources and transformed into philosophical proclamations that seemingly demand a response. However, an ambiguity surrounds the tone of the delivery of these phrases as they are presented, devoid of context, as slick graphic posters or lightboxes with the vapidity of mainstream advertising. It is unclear whether we are to interpret them with sincerity, cynicism or humour. Titchner sees these proclamations as a sort of 'cod-philosophy, scavenged from the collapsed space that used to keep disciplines like philosophy and pop music apart'.*
Titchner does not appear to offer judgement or critique of the theories he appropriates. Rather, he provides a secular reinterpretation, maintaining a freedom to mix and overlay ideas. He exploits the catchphrases and clich?s that bubble to the surface while dispensing with the theoretical frameworks from which they emerged. Through this process, he simultaneously highlights the redundancy of once radical thought whilst acknowledging the potential for certain aspects to seep quietly into popular consciousness. By amalgamating ideologies, Titchner persuades us to accept the validity of opposing beliefs, underlining both the susceptibility and complexity of the collective psyche."
- Mark Titchner interviewed by Mark Dickenson in Playing amongst the Ruins, Royal College of Art, London 2001, p.90
Malia Jensen
"a conceptual trickster exploring the presumptive tropes inherent in materials, human psychology and animals" -http://www.jeffjahn.com/HavingWords.htm
http://www.pdxcontemporaryart.com/main/artists/artists_jensen.html
