Repair Shop, 2009
CEPA Gallery, Buffalo, NY
During the second week of September, Material Exchange, InCUBATE, and Adam Bobbette traveled to Buffalo, New York to develop a project called Repair Shop. The Repair Shop is our contribution to the larger exhibition entitled, Conversation Pieces, hosted by CEPA gallery.
The following images document the project from the build-out to the opening night. Objects are still under repair. There will also be a 180 page catalog that where we will produce a group-written text, as well as a flip-book style animation of one of the object repair transformations.
Project Description:
The Repair Shop is a platform for experimentation. Repair is a process of transformation, determined through conversation, problem solving, and making-do. When an object, or and infrastructure appears to break (fall apart, peter out, decay, lose steam, or simply change), an opportunity is provided to reconsider our relationships to these things and re-make them in a way that pushes in a different direction. The Repair Shop addresses a number of things in need of repair (ordinary objects, the infrastructures of our everyday lives, and how the larger artistic community is supported in the current arts funding system). The strategies we use: an object repair service, a temporary space for non-profit use, a soup café and bar, all generate money for artist projects through the Repair Shop Grant. The grant is a means to facilitate new projects. These divergent yet resonant strategies experiment with the opportunities and constraints of broken things.
