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An old iphone, a cracked ipad, an outdated computer — where many people see technology that is no longer useful, Colby Richardson sees art.
Richardson is a media artist and experimental filmmaker from Regina who currently lives in Winnipeg. Much of his work revolves around “appropriating technology” — taking what most consider to be technology that is past its prime or no longer functional and turning it into art.
“My aim is usually to take something that isn’t commonly used to express artistic forms and find ways within them to kind of appropriate their functions and treat them as gifts,” he said.
While quarantined in his home because of the COVID -19 pandemic, Richardson decided to complete a project he had slowly been working on for years.
The piece, titled “Performance for aging Apple devices,” features 10 old iphones.
“I’m using the functions that they have, whether it’s the ring tones, the reminder alerts, and primarily the Facetime calls between them, and treating them as if these phones were built explicitly to make art with,” he said in a recent phone interview.
“What I’m doing with this performance is taking those things that are not viewed as art and trying to put them in the context of art.”
The performance, co-presented by The Art Gallery of Regina and PLATFORM centre in Winnipeg, shows an overhead view of Richardson’s desk. Richardson brings different Apple devices in and out of frame, opening apps on the devices so they interact with one another.
Although he had been working on the piece long before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Richardson said the event changed his vision for the performance and he began creating it specifically to be livestreamed.
“When we are allowed to congregate again and gather in venues, I will never perform this piece in front of a live audience,” he said.
“It is intended for livestream and it wouldn’t work in front of an audience.”
After viewing the performance, Richardson hopes people look at the technology in their lives differently, seeing every object not just for the purposes it was created to serve but for the potential to be used for functions for which it was not intentionally created.
“Performance for aging Apple devices” will be livestreamed on PLATFORM centre’s Youtube channel at 6 p.m. on June 1 and June 4. Extra parts of the piece, from the perspective of the devices used in the performance, can be streamed on Instagram Live on the accounts @brokenphone003 and @brokenphone006.