Appreciating the Ordinary

A review of /kōō/, by Brandon Siscoe and Mike Stephen, and Prayer for Springfield, by Industry of the Ordinary, at Demo Project in Springfield.

“Pulverized wisdom teeth cast into penny. Zinc coated lemon and quilt.” These are a few of the strange relics on display at Demo Project’s exhibition of /kōō/ by Michael E Stephen and Brandon Siscoe. While outside of the gallery, Industry of the Ordinary conducts a barbecue promoting the message: We Want to be Ordinary.

vestige: pulverized wisdom teeth cast into penny

never sweet: zinc coated lemon and quilt

                /Kōō/ consists of an array of sculptural objects, placed around the white walls of the house that is the Demo Project. At first glance, these objects do not seem especially remarkable – ordinary, even. One may see only a broom in the corner, or a tv tray with a remote and a glass of milk placed on it. The really exceptional aspect of these pieces is in the materials, which could be found listed on a separate sheet of paper at the gallery. On this sheet, the remote is revealed to have been sculpted out of incinerated VHS cassettes and diamond dust. The broom is accented with a real crow’s foot and placed next to a mottled black and white piece of paper, which turns out to be an enlarged photomicrograph of a moon rock from Apollo 11. Upon closer inspection, these seemingly ordinary objects turn out to have very interesting stories behind their creation. In some cases, they also contain very valuable materials, as in the case of the remote, or special edition – a magazine plated in 24k gold.

Back wall of the exhibition

Left wall of the exhibition

muted: incinerated vhs cassettes and diamond
 dust cast into zenith tv remote with tv tray
and cold glass of milk

broom and crow foot: broom, crow foot,
 and enlarged photomicrograph of an
apollo 11 moon rock

Enlargement of the moon rock photomicrograph

special edition: issue #1 of fangoria magazine (1979) plated in 24k gold

                Outside, Industry of the Ordinary’s barbecue contains a series of propaganda-like messages promoting the value of being ordinary. A flag hanging on the side of the house proclaims “I WANT TO BE ORDINARY.” The buns are each branded with the word “ORDINARY,” and the cups read “I AM ORDINARY” on one side, and “YOU ARE NOT” on the other. Apparently some people were unhappy with this because taken along with its title, Prayer for Springfield, it seems to be encouraging Springfield to be ordinary. Being ordinary is viewed very negatively in a society which, according to Demo Project’s web site, “values celebrity above substance and material wealth above simpler pleasures.” The idea of the piece seems to have been to promote a more positive connotation of the word ordinary. With this in mind, the two shows actually complement each other extremely well.

Ordinary buns

Ordinary banner

                 None of the objects in /Kōō/ seem very special at first glance. There is a ladder, a book, a quilt, a paper airplane. These are objects we see every day, and it may be unclear at first why they are in this gallery. What is the “art” here? It was only once I picked up the paper and found out how these objects were created that I appreciated how interesting they actually were. The exhibition provided me with a new idea of the ordinary which I could use to understand Prayer for Springfield. In this conception of the ordinary, there is no need for fame and riches because everyday people are appreciated just as much as celebrities are now. We have learned to recognize the value in seemingly average people and things, instead of striving desperately to be viewed as special.

ascension: photo of hale-bopp comet folded into paper airplane

earplugs: carved from a fossilized inner ear bone of a whale