Job Lot

(2022)

Mixed-media sculpture with mobile phones

 

Job Lot is a sculpture constructed from obsolete, decommissioned Clifford Chance mobile phones. Made obsolete by upgrades not function, the phones are arranged vertically on colourful acrylic poles and selfie sticks. Peering down at their previous owners, the phones illuminate on receipt of occasional SMS messages. Even as waste they continue to perform, communicating messages from nobody to no one. The acrylic tubes are stuffed full of detritus from the mobile phone manufacturing process. By watching the many videos online that document this process and the workers involved, the artist recorded the redundant objects that form part of the overall manufacturing process but that are not present in the final commercial object. From blue latex gloves, pink hair nets and polyurethane sacs to commuter train tickets, fake nails and high-vis jackets. The sculpture reflects ideas of purpose beyond obsolescence, material abundance, and the substantial human and environmental resources required for every product.

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Winner of the 2022 Clifford Chance UAL Sculpture Award, Job Lot (2022).