For most artists coming into an Arts/Industry residency, one of the biggest unknowns is how they will interact with the standardized environment of the Kohler Co. factory. While there is ample room for artistic experimentation, many aspects of producing an object are set. These include the materials used for molds and final works, the order of operations for producing a work, the time these operations take, and the schedule on which they occur. These portions of the residents’ art making are pro forma, Latin for “as a matter of form.” In many ways, the factory and its systems become a key material in the artists’ work.

Process Pro Forma features work that foregrounds various processes that are part of the industrial production at the Kohler factory. Many of the works highlight one step in the typical sequence of fabrication, often a step that is not apparent in the final product.

By revealing hidden parts of art making, the works on view provide insight into the Kohler Co. factory and the system in which artists find themselves. This interaction between artists and the factory is an essential component of the unexpected outcomes of the Arts/Industry residency.

Process Pro Forma presents works created during Arts/Industry residencies and gifted to the Arts Center. It is part of the yearlong Work in Progress theme celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the Arts/Industry program.

Image: Arts/Industry artist-in-residence Steven Bradford in the Kohler Co. Foundry, 1994. Photo: Kohler Co.