CASSETTE TAPES

Unconventional form of art

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Author`s Background Fact/About the are form
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CASSETTE TAPES
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Author`s Background
01
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 Erika Iris Simmons

● Born in St. Louis, USA (1983), Erika Iris

Simmons is a self-taught artist who focuses on
using non-traditional, discarded and/or donated
materials to create works of art. Specifically, she
has a love for the archaic/nostalgia and uses
materials such as sheet music, wine labels,
money and old cassette tapes.
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 ● In her series titled “Ghost in the Machine”, she uses cassette tapes to create portraits
of iconic celebrities, “associating the item with the people…” (Simmons) and
blending “conceptual art with craft-making and popular culture” (Simmons). She
states that her idea comes from a philosopher named Gilbert Ryle, who believes our
spirit exists in our body. Simmons “imagine[s] we are all, like cassettes, thoughts
wrapped up in awkward packaging” (Simmons).
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 ● What I like most about Simmons is that she “hope[s] that not everything which has
outlived its use goes to waste” (Simmons). I am attracted to the idea of discovering
new purposes for objects, as it focuses on exploring creativity and can reveal novel
ideas such as the work of Simmons.
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FACT/ABOUT THE ART FORM
02
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 • A cassette tape is also known as a cassette. It is used for recording or
playing back audio and video in tape recorders, cassette decks, video
cameras, and VCRs, as well as storing data by some small computers.
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― Irene M. Pepperberg
 ● What she’s created with some old cassette tapes and reel tapes is
simply remarkable. Using these old tapes, she has turned them into
works of art in a series that she calls “Ghost in the Machine.”
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 ● The series portrays celebrities and musicians such as Marilyn
Monroe, Bob Dylan, Robert DiNero, Jimi Hendrix, Ian Curtis, and
Jim Morrison.
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 ● In her series titled “Ghost in the Machine”, she uses cassette tapes to create
portraits of iconic celebrities, “associating the item with the people…”
(Simmons) and blending “conceptual art with craft-making and popular culture”
(Simmons).
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Thank you!
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