The blog of author Dennis Cooper

Cardboard

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Zimoun Various, 2015 – 2020
‘The collision of the boxes and the friction caused when they collide gives rise to a multitude of sounds and noises,’ said Zimoun. ‘The acoustic perspective changes as the viewer moves along the exhibition space and can be experienced in constantly new ways.’


658 prepared dc-motors, cotton balls, cardboard boxes 70x70x70cm


435 prepared dc-motors, 2030 cardboard boxes 35x35x35cm


52 prepared dc-motors, 364 cardboard boxes 40x40x40 cm


240 prepared dc-motors, cardboard boxes 60x20x20cm

 

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Phranc Combat Boots, 1999
‘Although Phranc has been known as the “All American Jewish Lesbian Folksinger” since the 1980s (when she toured with such acts as The Pogues and The Smiths), she has been involved in the arts since childhood. As a teenager she attended The Feminist Studio Workshop at The Woman’s Building in Los Angeles, CA where she took courses in silk-screening and was shown in a 1978 group exhibition. Says Phranc, “From the time I sat in my first refrigerator box submarine I knew the cardboard sea was for me. I have been creating objects, food, toys, advertisements, shoes and underwear out of ‘found’ cardboard for many years.”’

 

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Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan Another Country, 2015
‘Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan work as a husband and wife team primarily in the medium of cardboard. Their soaring installations fill gallery spaces, reaching from floor to ceiling and wall to wall. The duo’s massive sculptural works are comprised of miniature homes that have been piled and stacked, creating dizzying towers of comingled landscapes. For many of their installations the artists work with students and community members to collaboratively build the cardboard structures, inviting participants to reflect on and channel their own migratory experiences. The Aquilizans moved from the Philippines to Australia in 2006, and much of their work centers around the migrant experience, and having a foot in two worlds.’

 

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Heimo Zobernig Untitled, 2004
cardboard, glue, approx. 34.5 x 49 x 35 cm, on packing box, 80 x 60 x 40 cm

 

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Martin Creed Work No. 876, 2008
cardboard boxes, 42.4 x 23.9 x 18.5 inches

 

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Danful Yang Packing me softly, 2020
Handmade embroidery on canvas, foam

 

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Ralph Roosen Portraying a cardboard box Sculpture, 2018
‘The silicone that I use for my molds looks like rubber. If you pour it out over a surface, it will fill all the gaps and cracks. Thanks to its flexibility in solid form, you can still pull it out of the cracks. Silicone is therefore used when the elasticity of the material is required; when you desire to achieve a human approach in the reproduction of the object. I therefore cannot escape the idea that I am looking at a torso.’

 

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Cyprien Gaillard The Recovery of Discovery (The Beer Pyramid), 2011
‘In 2011, Gaillard created the Recovery of Discovery – an installation of a pyramid-like sculpture made of 72,000 beer bottles in cardboard casings that he imported from Turkey. In this installation, Gaillard denounces the barbaric act of tourist colonialism. Recovery of Discovery was meant to be interactive as well as self-destructive as viewers were invited to climb up the pyramid and drink the beers in them.’

 

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Tom Burckhardt Artists Studio, 2005
‘The artist Tom Burckhardt built a lifesize artists studio and workshop entirely out of cardboard. Tom only used some additional hot glue and black paint to create a floor, roof and various workstations.’

 

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Florian Baudrexel Various, 2016 – 2020
cardboard on wooden frame

 

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May Tveit Various, 2017
‘An associate professor of design, Tveit said she obtained the cooperation of the local factory soon after she arrived at KU in 1999. The Lawrence Paper Co. makes corrugated cardboard, boxes and packaging products. “I said I would really like, initially, to just come in and be an observer. I’d like to be able to walk around and take photographs and video and to think and sketch and take notes. For almost two years I would periodically go to the factory to wander around. I have a little nomadic desk in the design department, in the prototyping area.” Tveit was afforded the use of the prototype-cutting table and the corrugated material to make the artworks in “Universal Boxes.” She stacked layers of precisely cut cardboard and glued them together – using factory glue – by hand.’

 

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Alex Uribe Untitled, 2010
recycled, corrugated cardboard

 

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Christo Wrapped Box, 1966
Cardboard box, brown paper, and twine

 

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Alexander Sychov Creating cardboard boxes in Unreal, 2017
‘Creating a diffuse texture was a bit of a process. I admit that I was thinking of using simple cardboard textures from the internet, but after a few tries, I gave up on that idea. Who uses photo textures these days anyway? Not me, thanks. I decided to find some basic free substance materials on the internet and then improve them to my particular specifications. I definitely made the right decision, since this gave me possibilities to control dirtiness, alter the internal structure of the edges of the cardboard, and explore other procedural options. Procedural materials for everyone! Hell yeah!’

 

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Dylan Shields Sacrifice of Isaac, 2016
‘British artist Dylan Shields challenges our perception of high art by creating sculpture from cardboard, a seemingly throwaway material, to reconstruct biblical scenes or those from classical mythology, usually associated with the Old Masters.’

 

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Andy Warhol Time Capsule 262, 1981
‘Warhol’s ‘Time Capsules’ comprise more than 600 boxes filled with photos, letters, as well as some truly unique memorabilia – a plastic inflatable birthday cake signed by Yoko Ono, an invitation to Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ party, and the original stencils for some of his most innovate pop artwork.’

 

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James Castle Various, (dates unknown)
‘Born deaf in rural Idaho, James Castle (1899–1977) never learned to speak, sign, read, or write. He spent most of his seven decades—often all day, every day—making art. Shunning conventional artist’s materials, Castle drew with a concoction of spit and soot collected from his woodburning stove, applied with sharpened sticks. His “canvases” and constructions were made from bits of ephemera found in the general store/post office run by his parents and connected to their home. He disassembled packaging, and used discarded mail, cardboard, and twine.’

 

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Anila Rubiku Casa all’italiana Superleggera, 2008
Sewn and perforated cardboard paper, light implant, cotton and silk thread,

 

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Walead Beshty Fed Ex, 2005 – 2014
‘LA-based artist Walead Beshty packaged his artworks in FedEx boxes and shipped them across the country to exhibitions and galleries. But unlike most artists who utilize every bit of care to protect and pad their artwork from the inevitable rough handling of mail carriers, Beshty designed his pieces to break. For his famous FedEx works he constructed laminate glass objects that fit seamlessly within the dimensions of standard size shipping boxes. Through the “normal” handling the objects would inevitably crack and shatter and it was up to curators and gallerists to carefully remove each piece for display. The fragile volumes were then given titles that specifically mention the date, tracking number, and box size of shipment.’

 

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David Sleeth Sculpture, 2012
‘I hope that by elevating a culturally or structurally familiar object to a state of uselessness I can elevate it’s aesthetic significance. I want to create work that alludes to the beautiful qualities I recognize in historical objects without replicating them.’

 

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Tom Sachs Prada Death Camp, 1998
cardboard, ink and adhesive

 

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Robert Rauschenberg Cardbird Boxes, 1971
paper and cardboard with photo offset lithograph

 

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Merlin Carpenter Paint-It-Yourself, 1967.
Eight primed canvases and a box placed in the middle of the room full of ready-to-use oil paint tubes, and protected by plexiglass.

 

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Christian Boltanski Reserve Detective III, 1987
shelves containing cardboard boxes affixed with captionless mugshots, anonymously merging perpetrators and victims of violent crimes.

 

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Hreinn Friðfinnsson Box Interiors #1, 1992-2015
cardboard carton “floor piece” sculptures with fluorescent box interiors

 

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Gavin Turk Brillo 2, 2001
Painted bronze

 

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Scott Fife Various, 2017 – 2020
‘Created entirely from archival cardboard, artist Scott Fife conjures life-like busts of people building up layers of cardboard with glue and a screws, including a variety of texture and color, culminating in the expressive features of celebrities.’

 

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Rachel Harrison Sculptures with Boots, 2017
cardboard, burlap, cement, acrylic, polystyrene, chicken wire, and framed pigmented inkjet prints

 

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Jake & Dinos Chapman Death, 2009
Death is a depiction of a couple in a 69 position performed on an inflatable floating device. The model shows two crudely cut and pasted cardboard figures placed on top of each other, their flattened bodies contrasted by the roundness of the floating mattress. The cardboard bodies are faded, flattened, and lifeless – closer to death.’

 

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Ben Vautier Mystery Box, 1964
Sealed cardboard box with screenprint, containing unknown contents

 

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Bernard Lagneau Moving cardboard scenery (Lieu mecanise), 2011
Monumental kinetic sculpture built almost entirely from corrugated paper and cardboard tubes at ‘Arkady Pankrac’ shopping mall, Prague, CZ, September 2011.’

 

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Jeroen Cremers Three tires, 2020
cardboard

 

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Gabriel Orozco Empty Shoebox, 1993
Empty Shoebox (1993), is simply that. A plain, white, unadorned and unlabeled shoebox, sitting in its lid, open and on the floor. Before I had learned anything about Orozco and his work, I likely would have felt the same bewilderment and disappointment at this unremarkable object placed within a context that insists all of its objects are extraordinary. In studying Orozco, I came to understand that the object, this shoebox, was not the actual artwork. In fact, in a number of lectures given and conversations had, Orozco has stated that the shoebox’s purpose is to create confusion, to be picked up and puzzled over, to be moved, to be kicked across the room, to be ignored. Its rather obvious placement in a gallery in MoMA makes it impossible to ignore–really, what the hell is that thing doing there, is this a joke? This is all very well and good, but to get to the point, I kicked the shoebox.’

 

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César Baldaccini Compression carton, 1976
compressed cardboard cartons, glue

 

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Bernard Aubertin Dessin de Feu, 1974
Application of burnt matches on cardboard, surmounted by painted burn marks

 

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Louise Winter Untitled, 2015
Cardboard box, styrofoam and battery fan

 

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Noah Loesberg Sewer Pipe Delivery, 2008
A set of 8” sewer pipe, rendered in heavy duty cardboard, bundled in two ‘palletized’ stacks.

 

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EVOL Various, 2017 – 2020
Spray paint on cardboard

 

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Bill Barminski Security Entrance/ Banksy’s Dismaland, 2015
‘Bill Barminski has a long history of playing with cardboard. It was the most natural fit ever when Banksy tapped Barminski for Dismaland, where, among other things, Barminski created the entire security entrance set-up with metal detectors, body-search wands and everything at the entrance to the park. “People went through it!” marvels Barminski. “I don’t know if they thought it was real or if they were just playing along or what—but they did it.”’

 

 

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p.s. Hey. ** Travis (fka Cal), Hey, Travis! Awesome list, thanks! That Magma and that Dr. John, yes! Lots of exciting stuff. I’ve noted the unknowns in hopes of making them knowns. How are you today and in general at the moment? ** David Ehrenstein, Ah, thank you! I’ll imbibe the vid/tune as soon as my p.s. duties are over. ** Dominik, Hi!!! Oh, wow, you listened to the Branca and liked it, that’s so cool. Ha ha, I wish I was a language analyst and could explain your visual mishap. I used to be good at handwriting analysis when I was younger, but that wouldn’t help. Love explaining to me why anyone in the world cares whether Harry Styles spit on Chris Pine or not, G. ** T, Hi, T. Yeah, I like other BSS too, but for me that record set a standard and high hopes that were never quite met again, I guess. Absolutely true about Coil. Hm, I think ‘Horse Rotorvator’ was my entree into them too. What’s up, man? Let’s hang. ** Misanthrope, Hi, G. Yeah, sorry I’m such a Doors bitch. I’ll try to be better. Yesterday a friend of mine who saw the fave albums post tried to torture me by pretending me his all-time fave album was ‘LA Woman’, ha ha. Headache has vamoosed! Awesome! I bet your mom unknowingly learned things during those 45 minutes that will make her life in finitely more exciting from then on. ** Tosh Berman, Hi, Tosh. Yes, I thought so too. Well, obviously, I guess. I think there might be a bio on her in German, no help. That’s fascinating about your grandmother. You should write more about that, no? I will make a beeline to your blog whence your list is up. Alert please. ** _Black_Acrylic, Yay! The blog did its job. Next week? Oh, man, so hoping no obstacles unexpectedly appear. That’s super exciting! ** Brendan, Hi. You’re the blog’s Metal dude. It’s official. Put it in your CV. Yes, yes, about the photos! I’m in the midst of yet another taxing and consuming moment in the film’s longed-for life, but I will respond in a minute. In a word, amazing! ** Bill, Yeah, right? Me too: I’m fighting off the urge to go back and update my list already. Oh, man, that first Specials album. What an amazing thing. I saw them live on their first tour, and it was crazy. Even I was kind of dancing sort of. ** Sypha, ‘Melt!’ is great, gotcha. Who’s Budge? I was half-wake when I saw your comment, and you’d just mentioned Siouxie, so I thought you were saying Budgie translated that book, which blew my mind until I finally woke up. Nice bookstore scores, especially the Slayer in my book, obvs. Keep having fun while you can. ** politekid, Hi! I’m doing the kicking myself thing too big time, so you are not alone. I am going to revisit that Weather Report. I saw them live a few times back in the day, and their live show was, you know, exciting. Oh, man, hugs and thorough mind and body commiseration about your grandma. I went through that kind of thing with mine, and, oh, it was so dark. Very awesome about the PhD sorting. I loved ‘The Magic Mountain’ a lot. It’s been ages. He’s real good. If you have the engine, that’s really, really important and probably puts you further along than you even realise, based on my experiences. Whenever I’ve figured out the engine, the project always ends up panning out, even if the original engine ends up being the sketch of the engine eventually. Exciting! So much encouragement you cant even imagine! My end is still all about trying to get to the point where Zac and I can make our film. And we will, and we even have a start date, but there’s so much fucking stuff and problems to sort out before we do. Otherwise, fiddling with some short fiction and celebrating what appears to be the end of that miserable summer at long last. Cool, cool. I hope to see you again very soon! ** Right. When’s the last time you spent quality time thinking about cardboard? Blog at your service. See you tomorrow.

11 Comments

  1. T

    Cardboard, huh? Yesterday I watched this video of cats going through cardboard mazes. There are lots of those for some reason. Pretty entertaining though.

    What’s up? A lot and nothing at the same time, somehow. Right now, I’m trying to write samples of short fiction for people to look at. Hopefully something clean, but I always end up writing something racy. It’s like I have no control over what I type.

  2. Dominik

    Hi!!

    I indeed can’t remember the last time I spent quality time thinking about cardboard, haha. I’d love to visit Christian Boltanski’s “Reserve Detective III.” And I like Walead Beshty’s “Fed Ex” too. And of course, Warhol’s “Time Capsules.” Thank you for this collection!

    You’re interested in handwriting analysis? I’ve recently bought a pretty serious psychology book on the subject, and it’s so interesting.

    Ah, fuck, I have no idea. This is yet another “what the fuck is humanity” moment for me – when hundreds of articles are born on the subject of someone allegedly spitting on someone else. Love offering to pay you €100 for every book you read, Od.

  3. Misanthrope

    Dennis, Hahaha, it’s okay. We can’t like everything. Though you have said you thought The Doors’ first two albums were a’ight. I can get down with that.

    Oh, man, my mom. Shit. Hahaha. But that MRI…it actually didn’t go well. She got calls from her primary doc and the GI doc yesterday. The ducts were all clear, but they found a mass on her right breast and she needs to get a mammogram ASAP. Ugh. She said this will be her last test, and if she has cancer, she won’t seek treatment. I’m like, woman, I’m pretty strong and all, but if you die, I don’t know that I can carry your body to the recycle bin without dropping it.

    Seriously, though, she’s gotta get this mammogram and then go from there. She’s lost over 20 pounds in the past few months without trying. That concerned me and her doc. I’m thinking nothing good is gonna come of this. But we’ll see.

    I think I played with the cardboard box one of our refrigerators came in more than any toy I ever had. Cardboard is king.

  4. Bill

    Those Scott Fife heads, wow.

    Saw Shellac last night. Very tight, good fun.

    Bill

  5. Brendan

    DC’s Metal Dude. Finally my life has purpose!
    Sorry to hear about the taxing and consuming. Filmmaking is a pain in the ass. Sending thoughts your way.
    I’m off to NY again tonight for more photography – it’s Fashion Week, you know.
    B

  6. _Black_Acrylic

    For some reason, the council Wi-Fi here at the East Leeds Recovery Hub is not working right now. Whether that’s because of the Queen’s health issues, I cannot confirm! It does mean that I’m unable to see all the images in today’s post but I can read the text and it makes for an interesting enough experience.

    I have the feeling that England is in for a very weird experience over the coming months.

  7. Sypha

    Vaguely recall seeing some of Warhol’s time capsules when I visited the Warhol museum in Pittsburgh back in… 2011 I think it was?

    Ha ha, no, the Budge I was referring to was the Egyptologist E.A. Wallis Budge.

    Today the sun finally came out after being MIA the last 3 days, so we decided to take a trip to North Conway in New Hampshire, which is around 40 minutes from our cabin, and a place we often visited during Maine vacations when we were kids. Took in some of the mountain views, did some shopping (I purchased a Lovecraft Cthulhu journal at a bookstore), and we hit another mini-golf course, Pirate’s Cove. This place was actually huge, 2 18 hole courses, and had this whole pirate/nautical theme: cannons, fake gravestones with the names of famous pirates, a big waterfall (behind which was a cave holding one of the holes), Jolly Roger flags, water traps had these head and shoulder busts of floating pirates: hell, each hole even had signs with pirate factoids (Oscar would have loved this place). The landscaping was really elaborate as well, with lots of pretty flower arrangements, and we saw a ton of monarch butterflies… sadly there were also a lot of bees, which might explain why my score was so bad (though I did get a hole in one at the very last hole).

  8. john christopher

    Hey dennis, its me. can you hear me ok? it’s really loud here. they’re playing music in my house. okay. this cat loves me she just hugs me and holds on to me. three twinks walked past me earlier today and one of them said that the queen is dead. I was reading COMA. I was reading TWITTER. I played pj harvey, then I cleaned the house. what’s that noise it sounds ugly it sounds new. dennis? dennis are you th

  9. Tosh Berman

    Dennis here is my favorite albums of all time: Dedicated to you of course! Read it here:
    https://tosh.substack.com/p/my-favorite-albums-of-all-time-part?r=352m9&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

  10. Steve Erickson

    I’m happy that the first volume of Serge Daney’s collected writing, covering his 19 years at Cahiers du Cinema, was published in English this week. I wish Semiotext(e) made it available cheaper – it’s a hardcover with no Kindle or paperback edition, but they’re apparently issuing his complete texts at the rate of one volume a year. It only took 30 years after his death for this to come out!

    I’ve seen one-man shows based on the ideas and lives of Daney and Lester Bangs. I’m not sure what other film or music critics would be suited to that treatment.

  11. Robert

    Forgot to respond to you yesterday–yeah, King Gizzard is sort of a mixed bag for me, some of the albums are really fun and then others I just can’t stand at all, they sort of veer all over the place stylistically but sometimes it’s fun. Also, do you find that you’ve gotten more afraid of dying as you’ve gotten older or less?

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