This website has been archived and is longer updated. For more about this project, see art.peteashton.com.
Artwork for Humans
The Instruction Station takes in data and information from visitors, weights this with the biases of the artist and produces works which are presented as art. Here are some of them.
The Black Box
The Black Box spits out a piece of paper on average once a minute. On this paper are “instructions” in text and visual form. The visitor is invited to take a piece of paper that resonates with them and use it in whatever way they see fit.
The Black Box references black box systems “which can be viewed in terms of their inputs and outputs without any knowledge of its internal workings.”
Data Cult
Data Cult - An Instructional Event for Humans consisted of two new performances presented to the public on Monday November 6th 2017 by Emily Warner and Alex Wojtulewicz. Documentation of the performances will be treated as artistic material for the creation of further works.
Data Cult is being archived in full on this page.
Cell Tower Mast For Sympathetic Magic Rituals
A wooden triangle structure with three H shapes on each corner mimicking the antenna of a cell tower mast.
Inspired by a photo from Puerto Rico post-hurricane where people are gathered around a cell tower waiting for the signal to come back on. Traditionally folk would gather at the church or town hall for information or solace, but this is now provided by the digital network which is physically manifested by the tower.
This connected with my interest in the post-WWII cargo cults of the South Pacific and the gestures and rituals that have emerged during the Internet age.
Transcripts of Humans
Conversations with the artist are recorded because the artist has a terrible memory. These recordings are summarised by the transcriber, Karen Cameron. The artist has loosely edited the summaries to remove sensitive information and presented those from the first month on the walls of the gallery. The transcriber continues to summarise conversations, some of which are now about her summaries. This produces interesting feedback loops.
The transcripts are archived online here.
Data Vacuum From A Cross City Walk
A special Cross City Walk was undertaken by the artist and Andy Howlett on Sunday 8th October where they walked in as straight a line as possible across suburban Birmingham from Sarehole Mill to Tiseley Station. The artist picked up any unnatural object that caught his eye and fitted in his hand. These are on display in the gallery.
The Madness of Crowdfunding
A box on the gallery shelves into which visitors are invited to place an idea for an artwork along with £1 to fund it. Towards the end of the exhibition in December the artist will combine all the ideas and all the money and produce a Frankenstein amalgamartwork.
Instructions for Humans is open at BOM (Birmingham Open Media) Wed - Sat, 12 - 5pm until December 13th. Subscribe to this newsletter to stay informed of things.