ARTIST: SID (Cathy McClure and Seth Sexton)
TITLE: Disassembly Line
MATERIALS: Video on nine 13" monitors displayed in a horizontal line
DIMENSIONS: Variable
DATE: 2005

DESCRIPTION
Our video installation uses the assembly line as a metaphor for mass production. Through video, SID continues to reveal and manipulate the mechanisms within plush toys. These uncovered toy bots personify a society surrounded by mass consumption where products are shipped out of factories in record quantity. These stuffed animals have been quickly discarded as the latest fad eclipses the last and fuels new frenzied buying. By disassembling and videotaping the underlying robotics we evaluate the toy and the process of consumerism.

STATEMENT: Unmaking It….The story of S.I.D. INC.
SID Inc. is the collaboration of two artists involved in imaginative play. By redefining familiar objects, we introduce a new reality to the forgotten toy. We take discarded thrift store stuffed mechanical rejects and invent ways to display our play.

Our plush toys and their constructions are based on recurrent action sustained through consumer whimsy. All of the mechanisms we choose are activated by motion, sound, or touch that stress the importance of education through entertainment.

We propose that the marketing, purchase, and speedy donation of these toys allude to a consumptive market characterized by buying escapism and frenzy. Toys have a very short shelf life that leads to an even shorter home life. We believe that consumer involvement in this repetition is a blazing sign of its success.

In a future presentation, we plan to construct our discarded "toy-bots" out of sterling silver. This contrast between the discarded forgotten object and the cherished precious one underscores our societal contradictions. There is a fleeting value placed on low-priced multiple objects while the cleverly crafted art object becomes a deified possession. What's the difference between a beautifully designed plastic toy and its sterling imitation?

CONTACT
Cathy McClure
cathy AT cathymcclure.com
Seth Sexton
seth_sexton AT hotmail.com
www.sidinc.tv