We created the “Kohler Pile”, a large floor installation comprised of over 75 glossy black toilet tank lids with miniature glass models of the original Kohler Factory Plant during an Arts-Industry residency in the same factory in 2010. As Artists-in-Residence we created our own work alongside factory associates utilizing the same technologies and processes that they were using to create Kohler bathroom fixtures. The resulting image represents our interest in the dynamic relationship between early American industry and the towns that grew up around it. This focus in our work– the domestic landscape– is a direct result of our experience living in a small Michigan town that lost its primary employer in 2000 and was registered as a superfund site within the same decade. Our approach considers the tension between historical modes of manufacturing and contemporary notions of efficiency and industry’s influence on the individual and collective narratives in the surrounding communities.

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