Discarded printers, DVD players, and coffee machines, computer fans, Motors, Micro-controllers, Cables, Scanner lights, Plastique pipes, Metallic marbles, CD
I am printing myself
to print is to convert data
I am printing myself audio visually;
into mechanically-inked movements which imprint on paper and paint the wall in light.
I am printing myself by converting what once was functional but obscure, unknown, distant
into hacked technical evocation.
I am printing myself through the new lives of these objects.
I am changing my identity.
I am gradual
and therefore became a printer.
Boris Allenou dismantles and hacks household electronics such as discarded personal printers and DVD players to (re)connect technical objects to himself; reacquainting them in new forms. This installation is a culmination of the artist’s residency at Aspex Portsmouth and is a (re)appropriation exercise. Printing Myself / Gradual Conversion questions the social role of ‘conversion’, re-imagining how technological instruments could be used, ultimately exploring their ephemeral lifespan and our relationship with technology.
A first occurrence of Printing Myself / Gradual Conversion has been presented in Aspex Portsmouth in July 2024.
It was the result of a month long residency and a edition of my workshop Dynamis.
Boris Allenou 