Skipticism No 1, 2017
Public Sculpture; Diokno Pasilan, Pete Gregg & Scott Fredericks
What has become of the typewriters and turntables and tape recorders of past generations? Where do we look to find them again as fashion determines that their qualities are again desirable? The collaboration of Diokno Pasilan, Pete Gregg & Scott Fredericks has grown from a shared interest in using reclaimed materials to create new artworks - as well as a desire to explore the transition at work today in the evolution of work, skills & resourceful living.
A sculptural installation in the forecourt of Backspace Gallery, SKIPTICISM is a meditation on the relationship between two intergenerational & iconic industrial objects - the skip bin and the sewing machine. One was once the symbol of progress, status & ability; used when there was value & pride in the skilled making & repair of garments. It was also a domestic machine of intriguingly Rube Goldberg complexity that allowed for the transfer of these skills & these values from one generation to the next. The other is the repository for what society no longer considers of value, and is itself seen as a modern symbol for what we purchase cheap and discard often. As the construction of domestic clothing has become increasingly industrialised & factory-driven, the object once considered a must-have for resourceful living is now increasingly consigned to the skip bin.
SKIPTICISM interprets the skip bin as a vessel for the discarded, contrasting the once-familiar sight & sound of the whirring sewing machine with the harsh reality of their destruction. We are left to ponder whether new generations re-discovering the value of what we once discarded will ever find what is left.