www.simonwhetham.co.uk
"Made to Malfunction in Chiba" for Chiba City Art Triennale
One of six successful applicants to the "Social Dive" themed open call for projects, I am developing a new Made to Malfunction project in Chiba, Japan for the Chiba City Art Triennale. Over two months I will collect donations of old and unwanted technology from the local community and reconfigure the objects to be triggered in various ways by the public during the exhibition.
Below are links to a few short videos that show the initial products collected and the various ways that they are being adapted for the installation.
20th June 2025
The process and progress of the project so far...
The project has been in planning for several months, however there have been a few obstacles along the way which has meant a delay in getting the 'open call' for donations publicised. I arrived at the beginning of the month to have a few devices left in my workspace (some small vacuum cleaners, two music systems, a circular saw(!), a rotating heater and a fan) and managed to find a DVD/VHS player in Hard Off near where I stay which was ¥550 (£3 approximately), then had a donation of some computer parts from MacLab in Tokyo thanks to participating artist Alexey Krupnik and his unfortunate computer issues, the very kind Misako Sasaki of the Triennale organisation brought a huge printer/scanner and a rice cooker last Sunday. Alexey also found an old radio cassette player in the street and brought it back for me. Thanks so much to all those who donated so far!!
