About the project
Condition:Used gathers bits and pieces of intimate spaces found online to create domestic scenes made out of paper. The pieces of furniture comprising these uncanny miniatures are replicas of items for sale on eBay: The listings’ images were transformed into printable/foldable paper templates, assembled to form intricate scenes, photographed, and displayed on the Condition:Used website. The visitors can click on each element in the dioramas to get a detailed view and a screenshot of its original eBay page. They are also invited to download and print any of the templates to create their own “paper doll house”.
Buying and selling platforms such as eBay are treasure troves of furniture and trinkets that make up our private dwellings. These items for sale online occupy an interstitial space in several ways: between owners, between physical and digital, and between personal and public. Condition:Used extends this liminal state by capturing these tables, chairs, lamps and carpets during their short sojourn online, transforming them into tangible objects, and providing a photographic archive of their eBay listing (which eventually becomes unretrievable from eBay's server).
Condition:Used is a 2014 commission of New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc. for its Turbulence.org website. It was funded by the Jerome Foundation, now celebrating 50 years of the creative spirit of emerging artists.
Special Thanks: Marianne Petit, Helen Thorington, Ryan Billia
Artist's Bio
Anna Pinkas is a Swiss-born artist living in Brooklyn, NY. She holds a BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and received her Master’s degree from New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program. She uses a variety of media (from traditional animation, to web-based projects and interactive installations) to explore the act of collecting and what it can reveal about the mundane. She teaches Media Arts and Technology at The Borough of Manhattan Community College / CUNY. More of her work can be found at www.annapinkas.com