Artist Statement

The Tandemic Corporation promotes hope for a better tomorrow by delivering ways to overcome our fears in risk taking. This corporation of my invention produces a series of products designed to protect life in potentially unsafe activities associated with American subcultures.

My corporation carries various brands and products including motorcycle helmets, double-sided matches, cigarettes, condoms, temporary tattoos, and apparel. In the spirit of Dada and Surrealism interventions on the ready-made, I modify these items and multiples to perform a specific function or carry a new visual aesthetic invested with attributes of specific sub-cultural identities. The fully functional designs sustain and normalize dystopian aspects of society, while offering utopian solutions for our fears. These limited edition products direct their appeal towards subcultures, commercial interests, and high art connoisseurs simultaneously.

Tandemic is presented in three ways:

1) A website that advertises the merchandise (subverting the realm of virtual promotion). <www.tandemic.org>

2) A trade-show stand used to display the products and give them a legitimate platform for marketing.

3) A promotional performance in which I assume the role of CEO of the Tandemic Corporation.

The outwardly fearful objects promoted by Tandemic demonstrate less desirable aspects of our society while proposing designs for a hopeful alternative from exclusion. The audience is left to interpret the rationality of my products as leading the way in the path of progress, or as an absurd proposal that portrays the unresolved contradictions of our indeterminate future.

Jacob Christopher Kubisz