Yellow Pages Catacomb is a sculptural installation which explores themes of obsolescence and anxiety. Since the dawn of modernity technology has moved at an unprecedented, seemingly exponential pace. These rapid technological advances have unpredictable socio economic effects, entire industries and sub cultures are created and then just as quickly dissolved by the ebb and flow of innovation and obsolescence. This environment of constant change can leave a person with a permanent lingering sense of anxiety, trying to predict the oncoming obstacles of an unknowable future which could potentially render any given person irrelevant in their own lifetime.
This project creates a physical space to explore these anxieties by presenting a catacomb constructed from the obsolete materials of unwanted editions of the Yellow Pages. The Yellow Pages have existed as a useful and profitable business model for nearly a century only to be made largely irrelevant in the span of a decade by the spread of smart phones and internet access. Despite their declining utility the Yellow Pages are still widely distributed, this piece was constructed entirely with phonebooks found in neglected heaps in apartment lobbies.
Bio
Tobias Williams is a Toronto based artist and educator. His work is concerned with exploring the historic and contemporary relationship between technology, culture and creativity. His art practice is primarily based in print and digital media.
Tobias graduated with an MFA from York University in the spring of 2013 and currently works as faculty in the printmaking department at OCADU. He’s exhibited in various galleries around Toronto and has received several grants and awards, including the 2009 Don Phillips scholarship at Open Studio and a 2013 emerging artist’s grant from the Ontario Arts Council and a 2014 artist’s grant from the Toronto Art Council.