Energetic Accumulators
The "Energetic Accumulators" at Regen Projects are an extension of the "Raugh Furniture" series, which I first began in 1998. This body of work attempts to embrace human imperfection through the creation of a mindset or ideology. This endeavor also points to our desire for rules, guidelines and structure, as well as how perception is shaped more by psychological function than by actual function. While working on some recent "Raugh Furniture" works I began to reconsider the shared properties between furniture and sculpture. I am especially interested in the shift that took place in twentieth century sculpture where vertical monuments transitioned to a state of horizontality - ultimately establishing a relationship to the ground in which it was located, and thereby introducing sculpture to the realm of living. These property's horizontality and gravity lend both sculpture and furniture a natural tendency to "accumulate."

"Accumulators" are any object with a horizontal surface (including sculpture, furniture, and even floor coverings) which literally become a platform for the activities and accumulations of life. The "Accumulators" in this show are works that have taken longer than usual to complete. Some of them have lingered in the studio for a year or two, and as a consequence they began to accumulate objects of day-to-day use, the occasional sentimental trinket, as well as the residues of their own production. Over time not only do these accumulations begin to generate their own logic but also to disrupt the value system and hierarchies of the original work. Rather than terminating as a static installation, the accumulators will continue to absorb the elements of their venues and in fact adapt and change with them.

Token Exchanges
I first started thinking about how formats of exchange influence the understanding of value when I started a retail project called smockshop. I began to notice that each person had a different understanding of the value of the work - partly because they were being sold in a hybrid situation which was half art and half not. These works became slippery in a very interesting way as they were able to take on multiple forms of value including personal, creative, monetary, and even as a kind of souvenir...

The smockshop enterprise underscored how the value of art in general is composed of a diverse range of purposes and meanings, such as intellectual, visual, moral, social, philosophical, historical, sentimental and monetary. With "Token Exchange" I would like to propose an understanding of exchange-value that transcends any specific market and relates instead to the psychology of desire, as well as the social relationships that are enacted through the art of initiating an exchange. "Token Exchange" asks viewers to become aware of their own projected value systems and in the process to reveal larger patterns of meaning.

-Andrea Zittel, Los Angeles, 2008

Andrea Zittel lives and works in Los Angeles and Joshua Tree. Andrea Zittel, a new survey exhibition is currently on view at the Schaulager in Basel, Switzerland through September 21, 2008. Most recently, Andrea Zittel: Critical Space traveled to the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston; the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, NY; MOCA Los Angeles; and the Vancouver Art Gallery. Publications are available for both exhibitions.