first time printing
Days into a project, I sat in my room, still stumped. In that moment of creative block, the worst happened: my printer jammed. The printer, like myself, had malfunctioned in its purpose of creation. It all felt very meta. My printer was personified. I was mechanised.
Jolted into a hyper-awareness of the creative’s die-hard over-reliance on technological production tools, I captured the error with a wide-angle lens, flash poised. The exaggerated perspective distorts our sense of scale; it could be the inside of a warehouse or factory, high ceilings, metal machinery, conveyor belts, or production lines.
From then on, I archived every misprint, error notice, nozzle cleaning sheet, and print-head alignment grid.
The layout of each page is determined by a malfunction, completely arbitrary; photographs emerged half-chopped off, slightly crumpled, and pitch-black, with CMYK ink staggered across the page.
I became fascinated by its regular rhythm, the tttzzz ttzzz ttzz. I was jamming to the jam, quite literally. I contacted a musician, a friend of mine, to request a collaboration on a sound piece. I sent him audio recordings of every printer function, from which he created a soundscape.
By definition, the multiple meanings of the verb, to jam:
Jolted into a hyper-awareness of the creative’s die-hard over-reliance on technological production tools, I captured the error with a wide-angle lens, flash poised. The exaggerated perspective distorts our sense of scale; it could be the inside of a warehouse or factory, high ceilings, metal machinery, conveyor belts, or production lines.
From then on, I archived every misprint, error notice, nozzle cleaning sheet, and print-head alignment grid.
The layout of each page is determined by a malfunction, completely arbitrary; photographs emerged half-chopped off, slightly crumpled, and pitch-black, with CMYK ink staggered across the page.
I became fascinated by its regular rhythm, the tttzzz ttzzz ttzz. I was jamming to the jam, quite literally. I contacted a musician, a friend of mine, to request a collaboration on a sound piece. I sent him audio recordings of every printer function, from which he created a soundscape.
By definition, the multiple meanings of the verb, to jam:
- An improvised performance by a group of musicians, especially in jazz or blues.
- An instance of a thing seizing or becoming stuck.
- An awkward situation or predicament.
- Squeeze or pack tightly into a specified space. OR push (something) roughly and forcibly into position or a space. OR crowd onto (a road or area) to block it.