Markus Berger

Markus Berger is Professor in the Department of Interior Architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design. [https://www.risd.edu/people/markus-berger/] He is a registered architect (SBA) in the Netherlands and founder and director of The Repair Atelier. He co-founded and co-edits Int|AR, the Journal on Interventions and Adaptive Reuse, [http://intar-journal.risd.edu/] that encompasses issues of preservation, conservation, alteration and interventions. His work, research, writing and teaching is a critique on modern architecture and focuses on forms of change such as art and design modifications and interventions in the built environment.

Derick

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Jeff Boomer

I am a conceptual portrait artist whose subject is intellectual property. For nearly ten years, I have examined dozens of patent diagrams daily in my role as a patent examiner. The monotonous, routine work of patent examination easily drains the creative spirit and in an effort to rebel against - and thereby transform - the tedium, I choose to collect the emerging geometric patterns and shapes which are revealed through the every-day ritual of examination. My process is an attempt to translate the purely practical, utilitarian patent figures into the emotional world through the dynamism of color, scale and material, while also capturing the trance-like state the examination process imprints on the mind. My main subjects are inventions largely invisible to the public: the mechatronic control systems and algorithms that power the contemporary world. While invisible, these inventive ideas define and run the modern world much like the invisible hand of physics, biology and chemistry set rules for the natural world. Much like nature, unseen technologies are beautiful, awe inspiring, fear- inducing, revolting and always mysterious. In repurposing patent diagrams, I attempt to reveal the complex emotional dialogue these inventions have between both the human mind and the world at large. My technique involves juxtaposing the stark diagrams of fast-evolving inventions with the traditional, immobile medium of oil paint, the mature craft of glazing and the manual process of oil transfers. Through the old, the new reinvents itself.

K Lou Cornell

K Lou Cornell is an artist and designer in Providence, RI. Since 2018, they have been using the body to display garments that challenge global conformities, specifically those pertaining to gender and identity. Inspired by 80’s and 90’s fashion, drag, and the queer community at large, K Lou’s work is a vehicle of visibility that they use to wear their humanity on their sleeve, literally.

Just like the human body transitions throughout a lifetime, fabrics and materials can be transformed, and take on new identities. The artworks and garments displayed are the early explorations of this ideology, featuring unconventional fabrics like curtains and blankets. Using mostly discarded materials, K Lou’s work also serves as a platform to promote sustainability, restoring value to items that have been deemed worthless. Their goal is to design and create for the local community, while inspiring deeper thought about identity expression, the allocation of value, and excessive waste.

Kabir Berger

Kabir works for the Repair Atelier as a Technical consultant. His computer science background helps us with digital transformation, data analysis, and visuals.