“Assembly Line” features new video and photo-based work by Artist-in-Residence Kristin McWharter. The prints document the human residue of assembly lines in an industrial factory. Working in situ in a manufacturing facility, McWharter created monoprint cyanotypes that capture the tools, parts, ditritus, and disorder of factory workers' stations. The softness of the abstract compositions belies the rough and tumble materialities and chaotic labor left only as traces on the prints. The accompanying video documents McWharter's improvised performance with a 3D-printed hand as it travels across surfaces throughout the factory's machines and terrain. Its uncanny movements and prosthetic-like quality evoke an unsettling intimacy between bodies and machines.
The work captures the intimate evidence of thought, hands, and bodily remnants within industrial processes.
— Kristin McWharter
"Surface Tension: Assembly Line". 2026. video with sound. TRT: 19 minutes 8 seconds.
"Assembly Line" is a series of works that document the human residue of an industrial assembly line during a fellowship in collaboration with fabricator Material Solutions Inc. Working in situ, monoprint cyanotypes captured the hand tools, odds and ends, and accumulated disorder of workers' stations at the facilities production assembly line. The work captures the intimate evidence of thought process, hands and bodily remnants within industrial processes.
Special thanks to Material Solutions Inc, Vermont Studio Center, School of the Art Institute of Chicago for their support.
Kristin McWharter uses performance and play to interrogate the relationship between competition and intimacy. Her work conjoins viewers within immersive sculptural installations and viewer- inclusive performances that critically fuse folk games within virtual and augmented worlds. Her software installations and performative objects incorporate experimental technologies and playful interaction to produce performances that speculate upon alternative forms of social behavior. Inspired by 20th century sports narrative, collective decision making, and technology as a contemporary spiritual authority, her work blurs the boundaries of intimacy and hype culture to challenge viewer's relationships to affection and competitive drive within our current social context. Her work has been exhibited at The Hammer Museum, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Bangkok Arts and Cultural Center, Ars Electronica, Museo Altillo Beni, and FILE Festival. McWharter received her MFA from UCLA in Design Media Arts and is currently an Assistant Professor in Art & Technology Studies at SAIC where she teaches courses in experimental media, art & technology practices, and virtual reality.
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