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Big Medium presents 147 Devices for Integrated Principles by Hillerbrand+Magsamen, Kirk Lynn, and Peter Stopschinski featuring photography, video and sculpture and an interactive closing Zoom event.

Rooted in our society’s ever-growing desire to exercise control over our lives through various devices, 147 Devices for Integrated Principles is informed by the artists’ experiences during Hurricane Harvey. Prior to the storm, the artists were confronted with a need to prepare a “hurricane box” with devices such as batteries, canned food, toilet paper, and bottled water. As the hurricane passed, the water receded, and their lives started to return to normal, they realized that it was actually not returning to ‘normal’ – that the feeling of being overwhelmed by many external forces still existed. Not only was it the stress of a natural disaster, but also, divisive politics, economic pressures, and concerns with the aging of elderly parents, that brought Hillerbrand+Magsamen the idea to invent new devices for more intimate and personal problems. They turned to the concept of homo faber, or the notion that human beings can control their fate and their environment through tools. This turn of the century idea, a response to the Industrial Revolution, is as applicable today as it was then. Once again, our culture is faced with a new wave of technology that can either help us with our problems or exacerbate them.

January 16, 2021 – February 27, 2021, Thursday – Saturday, 12 – 6pm by appointment only.

This project is supported in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department.