replicators invites you to make an original
work of art, to make an object that will
become part of an unlimited sequential edition
of "replicators." confounding traditional
methods of facture and meaning, tyson gives
you a set of directions that involves making
one object based on the description of another.
then you take a picture of your object, write
about it, and send this documentation to Tyson,
who returns it to you with a certificate of
authenticity. tyson's project makes the
children's game of "telephone" or "chinese
whispers" concrete. tyson complicates issues of artistic process and intention by annexing his audience -- not just as receivers or perceivers -- but by making them complicit as makers and interpreters. the material results stay hidden from view as private property, accessible only in the form of description. the first replicator, a desk-top sculpture tyson made from readily available materials, has permutated like genetic material based on the quirks of individual interpretation. since 1995, tyson has been making works with his "artmachine," a computer database with hypothetical materials, processes, and presentation methods which are combined by chance methods to produce descriptions of a proposed work of art. |