Hand Tools (or Tools for No Master) , 2017-2020
Media: Stainless steel, thermoplastic; shown on wood peg board
Custom hand tools and hardware, cast in stainless steel, inspired by children’s toys and the oft quoted Audre Lorde statement, “the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house…” ; includes Hand driver, hand wrench, hand nuts and bolts, foot hammer and toe nails.
the video ~tingly~ hand tools ASMR *gentle* whispering scratching is a 10 min 5 sec video documenting custom cast stainless steel anatomical hand tools and hardware. The video makes use of binaural audio and hand movement techniques associated with autonomous sensory meridian response.
Documentation photos by Isla Hansen and Jessica Morgan.
The exhibition Human Pyramid by artist Isla Hansen explores the relationship between body and technology, confronting the feeling of oppressive technological progress with objects of play. Through the use of digital fabrication processes and automated technologies in combination with the hand made, hand modeled, hand molded, and hand finished, the artist aims to reveal the myth of automation -- the often hidden human labor that is always a necessary part of using automated tools, often perceived as more technological than our own bodies. Human Pyramid explores the contradiction, absurdity, tragedy, and joy inherent in the human attempt to build worlds and control them through the use of tools and labor. Inspired by DIY home construction shows, erector sets and construction games, objects of play, sports media, and the notion of self-replicating machines, Human Pyramid searches for an aesthetic that reclaims the tools of oppressive systems constraining bodies at play and bodies at work.