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Janet Abrams

Fossils of Our Time

2009, Plaster (casts of rubber keypads of remote controls), Sizes vary

These plaster casts, from a series made in Fall 2009, explore the symbolism of an everyday domestic technology: the remote control. After ripping apart nearly 100 such gadgets (bought for a song at Salvation Army stores), I extracted the rubber keypads from within each one and cast them in plaster. The configurations of their buttons, now in negative, become abstract patterns like an ancient code. No longer functional interfaces to TVs or VCRs, these commonplace devices are transformed into a modern Cuneiform, or fossil records of contemporary life. Many people have observed that they also resemble skyscrapers when lined up side by side with their different heights and depths — an unintentional but plausible interpretation!

Janet Abrams - Fossils of Our Time

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