~ANNAKA OLSEN, DRY GUARD SIGN / ‘Perpetual Screw’
WHEN INDUSTRIAL meets CRAFT, and lovely music resounds.
subtext: ARTISTS’ CRAFT – TOOLS
‘PERPETUAL SCREW’- opens Pandora’s Work Box,
and out falls a world of tools: be they functional, destroyed, mutated, imaginary, and even, ‘customized vernacular’.
ANNAKA OLSEN, graphic designer, and a founding partner [one of 4], of International Objects,
made the totally ‘pro-diy’ . . sign for their current exhibit, ‘Perpetual Screw’.
‘Perpetual Screw’ . . serves up a kind of ‘multi-layered’ question re: Industrial Design / whether shredded, re-purposed, outright distressed, adored, or sometimes just plain ole revered – the ‘tool’ is both the object & the subject, here. and that . . . makes it: art.
Vernacular, Utilitarian, or absolutely thrown-to-the-wind Destructed, often Decorated, far-out Imaginary and often Contrarian, possibly Futuristic; Machine-made, Hand-made, Factory-made / ‘tools’ become a world unto themselves.
yo, it’s that type of ‘infinite’/ ‘creative’ thinking, a quirky trait for such a finite physical body such as ours, no? / which probably takes ‘Screw’, above and beyond it’s utterly simple / purely industrial functional: a small tool, for ‘extreme’ fastening, just another excellent ‘design’, we take for granted in the carpenters’ tool box. or do we ?
we don’t say ‘nailed it’ – for nothing.
same with / he got ‘screwed’.
strangely both sentiments . . with quite opposite meaning.
Annaka’s well-inspired sign, crafted simply upon naked, commonplace ‘Dry Guard’, with seemingly DIY, but obviously skilled, hand-calligraphy, of (again), a basic, commonplace, ‘info-media’ – ‘stenciled’ nature, manages to express a lot of those confrontational and competing thoughts, all the while basking against Industrial Objects biggest visual punch / and, that would be it’s cold-edged ‘heart’; of futuristic, minimalist metal ‘caging’, meets bare concrete, in a perfect 2 step / of ‘indoor-outdoor’ architecture.
Even though we are often talking DIY, here / even if mutated . . there’s no mistaking this gallery space, for a retro showroom, let alone a white box, cube.
that sign says: Viewer Beware / you are about to open the door, to a Pandora’s Box of Tools / art, design, and thought – in progress.
and yeah, the green wave border – nails it.
note: ANNAKA OLSEN . . “is a graphic designer who leads creative projects for art, design, and cultural organizations. Her making & research practice explores software & online communities. She has taught
at RISD, MICA, & The New School.”
~ANNAKA OLSEN
PHOTOS & TEXT: NANCY SMITH – SEPT 30, 2023