Factoid #5, We had noticed early on that the manner in which Factoid manipulates architecture, allowing it to spread like a force of nature, has something in common with Kurt Schwitters’ Merzbau. Thus, it was appropriate that the most recent installation in this series was created for a conference and exhibition at the University of Chester entitled Kurt Schwitters in England – Authenticity, Reproduction, Simulation. Michael read a paper at the conference detailing Factoid’s connections to the work of Schwitters, as well as several other artists, including El Lissitzky, Theo Van Doesburg, Gordon Matta-Clark, Brion Gysin and William Burroughs. For the exhibition, the two-meter-high poster of Carina used in Brussels was placed in a hallway leading to a theatre, with architectural forms added to the adjoining walls and doors created with taped lines extending from those on the poster.

Text by Michael Laird