KIT
is a fluxing collaboration of artists, architects, programmers
and writers. Working together since 1995, we have produced
interactive robotic, sound, video and photographic installations,
projects for architectural competitions and curated touring
exhibitions. KIT projects have been realised in galleries,
museums, festivals and off-site spaces across Europe, North
America and Asia.
Reflecting the format of the group, the word
‘KIT’ means an assembly of many parts. As a non-gender
specific name it allows for all sexes to identify and work
within it. Those who form the collaboration for any given
project never use their own identities within the context
of KIT projects and therefore assume anonymity.
The group consists of members from a diverse
range of professions. Utilizing a wide range of skills and
techniques, we examine the spatial, temporal and socio-political
roles of mechanical and digital technologies within contemporary
society. The celebration of dystopian interactions and transmissions
within communication and transportation networks has been
an ongoing theme throughout KIT projects.
The by-product, the crash and the virus within
the system have all become reasons to (dis)believe. They are
contaminations, events and lifeforms, which seize and subvert
the global flow of bodies and information. When such phenomenon
occurs, it exposes our dedication, reverence and dependence
on technologies that offer escape and ultimately salvation.
Escape technologies such as the Internet
and the aircraft propose movement and progress, but also carry
the inevitable cargos of stasis and hi-jack within their holds.
KIT proposes that it is the latter events, which better expose
the psychological economies and belief systems currently shaping
and directing contemporary culture.
Directions that currently interest KIT include
the new cultural dynamics created by the utilization of viral
methods, models, codes or structures. The virus, traditionally
deemed to be a destroyer, is now a source of inspiration for
biologists, computer programmers and marketing strategists
alike, who wish to better understand and mimic the most efficient
process for spreading an idea or an anti-body.
Understanding that the innate politics of
working in such contexts could lead to didactic outcomes has
led KIT to developing an approach which aims to defuse such
readings. Through the use of bathos and black humour we champion
the dynamics of the accidental, the inert and the parasitic
within networks that are based on the promise of constant
deliverance.
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