Dimensions vary
2006 - ongoing
Additional Media:
Video
Each work in the Unauthorized Repairs series is modeled after a functional object found in the public landscape. These models are constructed of paper at 100% scale and rendered to capture only the essential features of the original object that they mimic. The finished models are then installed in public, either alongside the actual object or as a substitute for the original.
The value of a digital device is inversely proportional to its age—with time, computers, cell phones, printers, and more become less useful as they are replaced by more advanced versions of themselves. These devices are often still operable, only losing their function conceptually, relative to our expectations of modern technology. Compare this to functional, non-digital objects, like a plow or a sword, that can retain their value as long as their simple, core function remains. As the use of digital tools grows to obscure all else in the popular notion of technology, we can observe a shift in the way that devices are valued in relationship to their age (regardless of whether or not they still function).
Once an object is accepted as an established element of the urban environment, it is easy to forget that it exists. This is especially true for functional devices that have ceased to operate. Derelict bicycles, parking meters, and payphones previously had an active relationship with people on the street, but now their function is inert and their presence ignored. Unauthorized Repairs returns these objects to public consciousness by restoring their physical forms. The irony of the “repair” is that it doesn’t address the intended function of the original object, pointing to the transitional identity of a device that has fallen out of use.