PRISONERS' INVENTIONS OVERVIEW

PRISONERS' INVENTIONS
BY ANGELO AND TEMPORARY SERVICES

This project was a collaboration with Angelo, an incarcerated artist. He illustrated many incredible inventions made by prisoners to fill needs that the restrictive environment of the prison tries to supress. The inventions cover everything from homemade sex dolls, condoms, salt and peper shakers to chess sets. We collaborated on this project with Angelo for over two years. We had many additional collaborators who made a book, exhibition of re-created inventions and a prison cell possible. This page offers an overview of the project thus far.

"When first approached with the idea of illustrating examples of inmate inventiveness, I was skeptical, thinking that there would be little of real interest to depict. When I set my mind to the task, though, I recognized the surprising range of inventions and innovations that I had witnessed. I had just become so used to it all that the uniqueness no longer registered." Read the rest of Angelo's introduction.

WHERE TO SEE PRISONERS' INVENTIONS:

September 10 - December 2, 2007, Destroy Athens (Athens Biennial), Athens, Greece

April 7 - July 2, 2006, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco

December 9, 2005 - January 28, 2006, I-Space, Chicago

May 2005, Kunsthalle Fridericianium, Kassel, Germany

February 4 - 8, 2005, Transmediale Festival, Berlin, Germany

June 29 - Mid September, 2004, La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain

April 2004, Sunderland University, Sunderland, UK

April 2004, Basekamp, Philadelphia, PA

March 8 - 27, 2004, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY

December 2003 - March 2004, Lothringer 13, Munich, Germany

July 26 - October 12, 2003, Halle 14, Leipzig, Germany