Utility: Signal Yellow, by Charli Tapp

Opening on the 23rd of February at MONO Lisboa, Charli Tapp’s first solo exhibition in Lisbon is dedicated to /What is Useful/and /What is to be Used/.
For this exhibition, Tapp will present a series of installations in a building-site-like setting, among which The Stereos, a pair of twin construction-site-grade sensitive tripod-mounted soprano glockenspiel robots.
Following the display of Velocity0, an autonomous machine-like self-playing piano, at the latest Venice Art Biennale, The Stereos is the most recent addition to Tapp’s arsenal of robotic and mechanic entities.
“I look at them as if they were a band, The Stereos is their band name. They co-exist in the same universe as Velocity0, a universe parallel to ours.”
Utility: Signal Yellow introduces an aspect of Tapp’s work conversing with the Scrap and Rebuilt culture central in Japan where the artist is based.
Japan’s architectural turnover is tremendously fast with the average life-span of a building ranging from 25 to 50 years before being destroyed, in a state of constant construction-site ballet. Machines roll in-and-out of building sites in a choreographically precise fashion, both harsh yet delicate.
“Relationship with our means of production is key. But the expertise required by the high-demand seismically active environment reduces the role individuals may undertake in fixing, modifying, or repossessing built-things.
Signal Yellow is one of the most important colors. It’s an information-carrying tint separating authorized personnel from unauthorized personnel, and trained individuals from neophytes. But it’s also a playful color, and it should be reclaimed as one”
Utility: Signal Yellow is a rough and sensitive place, where fragile meets tough.