Re-Purpose at the Carnegie Art Center

To re-purpose is to derive new meaning and function from what already is. It is at times to bring forth what is hidden through the process of transformation. Yet also, it is to hide, scatter, rearrange, deconstruct or rather revert  a thing or concept to its chaotic and nonsensical beginnings. Depending on the medium used, a variety of purposes open the doors of interpretation. But for many of us, due to its deep history in the realm of the sociopolitical, collage will forever be a satirical response to the ever-transitioning systems that try desperately to define and command the world around us. To quote Friedrich Nietzsche in his work, Twilight of the Idols or How to Philosophize with a Hammer, he so eloquently states, “There are more idols in the world than there are realities: that is my ‘evil eye’ for this world, that is also my ‘evil ear’.” Therefore, collage, due to its reuse of what already is, often resides in the domain of critique and polemics.