About the work
Things that were are things again is a project that was initiated in the mid 1980's and represents an early exploration of local economies of scrap materials, scavenging, and recycling networks. The process of production was simple and open-ended. It involved melting scrap aluminum objects and open-casting the metal in shallow molds made by pressing objects into soil. These shallow molds capture an imprecise, foot-print like a trace of the original object, the identity of which is sometimes clear and sometimes not. The cyclical, transformative nature of the process suggests an interconnected universe of objects captured or documented by this primitive, transformative, mode of production. The castings themselves find a new state of being--neither renovated nor renewed but part of a growing archive of ragged "things made from other things", each piece capturing the brief moments, and chance occurrences of cooling and solidification.
Things that were are things again have been exhibited in variously configured installations, in New York, Berlin, and Paris.
-Dan Peterman
About the artist
Since the mid 1980's DAN PETERMAN has combined innovative strategies of local engagement and activism with national and international art projects, exhibitions and installations. Peterman explores intersections of art and ecology, frequently focusing on networks of recycled, or discarded materials that function interchangeably as stockpiles, sculpture, functional objects, and critiques of environmental oversight and neglect. In the early 1990's Peterman developed a building and cultural site located in a contested urban boundary between the affluent University of Chicago and a low-income neighbourhood to the south. This project, known simply as the building, fostered diverse cultural, educational, and small business initiatives--and became an influential model of cultural activism and urban placemaking that helped stimulate further innovative cultural developments on Chicago's Southside. After a fire in 2001 destroyed the building, Peterman rebuilt the facility, and co-founded the Experimental Station, a 501c-3 non profit organisation that continues to provide independent cultural programming and infrastructure for local enterprises.
He is the Founder of Blackstone Bicycle Works--now an ongoing youth education program of Experimental Station, and Founder of Monk Parakeet, a flexible experimental art project and curatorial platform co-located with Peterman Studio and Experimental Station.
Peterman is Professor in the College of Architecture and the Arts at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His works have been exhibited at Documenta 14 in Athens and Kassel, Germany, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL; Venice Biennial, Italy; Van Abbe Museum Eindhoven, NL, Kunsthalle Basel, Basel Switzerland; Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL; among other venues.
Dan Peterman
