Approaching the Nanofax Singularity

In 2010, (ƒ)utility projects were invited by curator Tom Burtonwood to generate a site-specific piece for a weekend show at the tenth annual Bridgeport art festival Version (displayed as Vers10n). This piece would simultaneously work as an exhibition pavilion for the other exhibiting artists and exist as an artwork unto itself.

The exhibition on display was titled Approaching the Nanofax Singularity, riffing on a corporation in a William Gibson novel, All Tomorrow’s Parties. The exhibition was a group show showcasing artwork made using newer computer-based technologies. The show as displayed at Benton House during the NFO XPO, a two-day fair during Vers10n.

Deriving our intervention from the regular, rhythmic cadence of the alternative-art-fair display booths installed on Benton House’s gymnasium floor, as well as from its unusually shaped ceiling joists, we calculated a perspectival extension of the space onto the exhibition stage using a simple 3D model using Rhino. Our wood, string, and paper intervention generated navigational paths for the exhibition, in addition to providing visual separation of the works in ways that enhanced viewers’ experience of each piece.