The Temporary Art Repair Shop

Tobias Sternberg

OCTOBER 3 - 31, 2015

MEDIA

PRESS

'"The Temporary Art Repair Shop" at Transformer" - The Washington City Paper
"Artist remakes useless stuff into, well, it’s anyone’s guess" - The Washington Post
"Artist Turns Gallery inro Repair Shop" - Make

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Transformer is pleased to present The Temporary Art Repair Shop, an ongoing project conceived of and run by Berlin-based artist Tobias Sternberg. Throughout October, Sternberg will reinvent Transformer as an art repair shop and sculptural studio, encouraging the public to drop off an object for repair to be transfigured into a sculptural object by Sternberg.

Hosted by various art institutions and galleries across the world, The Temporary Art Repair Shop only appears when an agreement has been reached between Sternberg and a suitable host. In this way, it will surface in different parts of the art world for limited periods of time, perform its function, and then disappear again.

A mix between a simple repair shop and a sculptor’s studio, the workshop will take-over Transformer’s 1404 P St, NW location and will be staffed by Sternberg and various assistants. DC audiences are invited to come in and present the artist with an object that is broken, faulty, disproportionate, ugly, unsuccessful, inappropriate, and/or in some way not suitable for its intended purpose. Tobias will then use his skills as a sculptor to turn the received objects into artworks.

Recording the objects' faults as a starting point, Sternberg will in no way necessarily attempt to repair the objects, but will instead explore the nature of the problem, allowing it to reveal something about the relationship between its owner and the object. When, and if, finished, the object will be documented and subsequently displayed in The Temporary Art Repair Shop until its closing day. There are no guarantees that Tobias will have time to turn every received object into an artwork, but in previous editions, more than half of the visitors got their objects back transformed into art.

On the last day, all participants are invited to collect their sculptures for free. All they need to do is show up with their receipt, and if they feel like it, contribute their impressions of their newly acquired artwork. Photographs of before and after, together with the comments and descriptions collected, are posted on Sternberg’s blog for anyone to partake: http://artrepairshop.com/wordpress/

The Temporary Art Repair Shop is supported by American University Department of Art, in collaboration with Andy Holtin, Associate Professor of Art and Director of AU's MFA Studio Berlin program.