March 2018
remote storage
Sean Ripple
For REMOTE STORAGE, Ripple has made a triptych peasant scene or genre view for the internet-enabled age, using 39 books from The University of Texas at Austin’s Fine Arts Library (FAL), the same 39 books from his personal collection, and Tumblr. Inspired by Bruegel’s painting The Triumph of Death, the Kyle Flea Market, and the University’s decision to transfer close to 60% of FAL’s titles to an offsite storage facility, the work is primarily a meditation on trauma, death, and loss as they relate to the rise of digital culture.
During the exhibition run, the 39 books from the FAL will be on view at DDP behind a locked glass door on Saturdays and Sundays. Mondays through Thursdays, Ripple will hold public viewing hours inside the FAL using his own personal copies of the 39 books. He will also be digitizing various titles from the stacks during this time and will be requesting participation from the public to help him with this task.
At the end of the exhibition run, Ripple intends for the books to be returned to the library in an effort to archive/bury his peasant scene within the tomb of the academy.
Peasant Scene for REMOTE STORAGE
peasantscene.tumblr.com
Download a PDF of the printed matter here.
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Documentation of "The Library, A Performance," held at DDP on March 31, 2018, officially closing REMOTE STORAGE.