Exhibit: Rube Goldberg’s Ghost: Confounding Design and Laborious Objects

Rube Goldberg machines were never intended to actually be built and used. Goldberg’s cartoon images of impossibly complicated low-tech machines poked fun at bureaucratic systems and the laborious machinations required to traverse them. While Rube Goldberg took a light-hearted and humorous approach to serious public concerns, this exhibition presents objects that give plausible deniability (i.e. a wink and a nod) toward some of society's current obsessions, ills and issues. In the spirit of the Rube Goldberg machine, this exhibition examines social, cultural and design questions through ingenious d.i.y. engineering and 'what if' solutions.

Curated by Elizabeth Burke-Dain

Participating Artists: Matthew Aron, Karen Bovinich, Brian Dettmer, Fischli & Weiss, Juan Chavez, Conrad Friedberg, Joan Giroux, Joanne Greenbaum, Joseph Hersher, Taylor Hokanson, Industry of the Ordinary, Heidi Kumao, Betsy Odom, Erik Peterson, Mark Porter, David Sprecher and Michael Thompson

Exhibition Contact: Mark Porter, mporter@colum.edu, 312-369-6643