Home Economics locates the hidden value in otherwise obsolete domestic architecture through alternative forms of maintenance. Expanding the classical preservation debate between “scrape” and “anti-scrape” strategies, novel tactics of peeling and pounding intend to prolong the lives of apparently destitute objects. In peeling, cast details of houses on the verge of demolition are transformed into consumable products--housewares displayed in a Detroit storefront. Through pounding, robotic earth ramming infills to restructure and re-organize existing buildings: a dirt-cheap way to insert new forms into existing containers.
A process for the robotic pounding of complex surfaces out of rammed earth was developed, with the intention of producing furniture objects. The process experimented with various tools and approaches to the sand ramming process, ultimately producing the display tables used by the Exhibition. These tables are as much indices of the Detroit houses referenced as are the objects cast from them, be they chocolate, tiles, a table-and-chairs dining set, scented candles or candy glass.
The Exhibition is on display at the Metropolitan Observatory of Digital Culture and Representation in Detroit, and streamed live to the Taubman College Gallery in Ann Arbor.
The Exhibition is on display at the Metropolitan Observatory of Digital Culture and Representation in Detroit, and streamed live to the Taubman College Gallery in Ann Arbor.
