John Osorio-Buck

Cambridge, MA
Residency: February-March 2008

About the Artist
For the past few years, I have been engaged in developing my work away from the process of creating singular autonomous art objects and towards a method of creating work or Projects, that may produce objects, yet are more conceptual in process. In many ways, I am trying to build upon the legacies of the established form of ‘Process Art,’ conceived to undermine the capitalist demand for art to be a profitable product, and the work of artists like Allan Kaprow and Robert Smithson, who sought to blur the distinctions between ‘art’ and ‘life.’

My current work is an attempt to engage the discourse of survival, personal or social, either long-term or short, and the associative systems that support these basic needs. I have researched and assembled survival kits for a variety of emergency situations, lived on the streets of Boston for a two month period to explore the realities of displacement, and have attempted a guerrilla urban gardening project, to grow ones food in unlikely places.

Through humor and presence, I have been able to engage people in discussions from serious social issues to sustainable building practices. I believe that this work, and in particular this project, has an important and timely relevancy in the current political and environmental situation we find our world today. My hope is to create a work that pursues a positive and alternative solution, possibly raises awareness, informs and encourages others to do the same.

Project Description
Project Title: U7K55 ; Sustainable Kiosk System
Project Synopsis: This project is an attempt at an exploration of a globally ubiquitous shelter. The kiosk is a universally recognized structure of exchange, either of goods, information, or ideas. In this way, I am trying to explore the way the kiosk encourages social survival. While influenced by both utopian/ dystopian readings, as well as disaster films and literature, U7K55 does not inhabit a particular region or scenario, for the context of the kiosk varies by each individual’s prior experience. The U7K55 is a self-sustainable structure powered by solar panels; it includes a greenhouse, sleeping and point-of-purchase space, and supplies for purchase or trade.

Personal Comments: My residency at Sculpture Space has been a very beneficial experience, particularly in respect to my current project. Since I am working towards a different end display, the luxury of time to re-evaluate was invaluable. I was able to re-think, re-make, re-assemble, something that in my own studio, in my own schedule, would be impossible.