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28---------- IT IS ALWAYS LIKE THIS (with Temporary Services) (2008)

Everything in Turku, Finland, as in most cities, is in its predictable and
expected place. Bikes lean against walls, signs hang on stores,
advertisements are pasted on poles, and every fixture has an obvious
function. The public art is predictable too. It's made from durable materials;
it looks like it has been around forever and will stay around forever.

As a small but visible challenge to this tedious routine, the groups IC-98
(Turku) and Temporary Services (Chicago) have teamed up to build and
circulate a series of 24 wooden sandwich board signs which carry phrases
that advertise nothing and aren't always terribly positive. Many of the texts,
written collaboratively by the two groups, point to our frustration with the
monotony of city spaces and the high degree of political control that is
exerted over them.

Not wanting to make something as fixed or permanent as the situations
we are critical of, we have made the signs lightweight and given them handles.
Passersby are free to move the signs as they wish. Our placements of them
can be viewed as suggestions. We've created a situation that we can't control,
just as we don't wish to be controlled by others.

About IC-98 and Temporary Services:
Both groups formed in 1998. Members of the two groups first met in Puerto
Rico in 2004. Among their common features is a shared concern with self-
publishing and designing free publications. This is their first collaboration.
A small booklet on this project will follow. Examples of Temporary Services'
and IC-98's past booklets and books will remain on view at Titanik during
their project.

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Installation view, Gallery Titanik >>
Sandwich boards: 1>>, 3>>, 4>>, 5>>, 6>>, 7>>, 8>>, 9>>
The Publication (full PDF version, screen resolution)
Publication cover >>