In 2014, Sarah Urist Green and John Green created The Art Assignment to explore art and art history. The channel initially featured established and emerging artists who created art assignments for anyone to complete as a path to understanding their art practice. The site expanded to explore art through a variety of different forms but it is the Art Assignments that inspire me to dig into my tool boxes and make something.
My next art assignment is to:
- Take something from the virtual world.
- Make it physical.
- Upload a photo of your physical object using #theartassignment.
In early 2019 I decided to suspend my Facebook account, and after a year I realised I had no use for Facebook or their corporate practices. As I set about downloading my data I realised this would be a perfect digital archive to turn in to a real artefact.
I created a series of books to capture my Facebook posts, messages, photographs and personal data – seven books in total. Then using Blurb, I printed them as trade books, and they produced very good prints.
The books needed a suitable container, and after trialling several options I settled on a wooden briefcase.
I built this briefcase in my high school shop class over 45 years ago, and it served numerous functions throughout its life. I replaced the hinge, catches and handle with brass fittings and gave the wood a new coat of lacquer before adding a foam insert covered in black velvet.
It took almost a year to realise this project because I did not anticipate how much time is required to turn a website into a physical object. However, the piece is a great addition to my personal art collection and wonderful way to peruse my down deleted Facebook timeline.
