LAUREN PRADO

ARE YOU TOUCHING MY 0’S & 1’S?

25 MARCH - 5 APRIL 2020

homebase is pleased to inaugurate our 2020 programming with Portland-based textile artist, Lauren Prado. As society moves forward in the field of technology, it seems as though the companies and businesses that have their hold on the economy are figuring out how to use our passive data for their benefit. From the websites you visit, pictures you like, how long you stay on a page, to how often you open apps, these are tracked, broken down, and analyzed. Once that’s figured out, you all of sudden get just the right AD for that specific thing you were talking about yesterday. Everyone's data, their zeros and ones, are up for grabs. This data contains power, the power to persuade consumers to do or buy things based on their likes, routines, and patterns. In the end, the question really comes down to, who is touching our data?

So what does Prado do with this knowledge and this power? She makes it tangible, she weaves it into the very fabric of her woven works. Melding these two disparate desires, to virtually reach someone and to  literally touch something, come together for an even deeper desire to understand our stake in the world. Questions such as who's using our data, whose selling it, who's making money off it, and ultimately, what to do about it are embroidered into the very binary of Prado’s rugs. Existing in real time, our data now becomes even more accessible and inescapable.  

Lauren Prado (b. 1992 in California) works in fiber, yarn, and needles to create representations of the digital images/products that flood our online feeds. Prado was a high school teacher for three years, and that experience largely influenced her interest in pop culture and the millennial lifestyle that centers on technology, online presence, and self-presentation. Currently living and working in Portland, OR, Prado takes inspiration from the city, its pulse, and the daily inundation of our virtual selves in every facet of our existence.