{"id":139087,"date":"2025-11-14T08:07:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T08:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/139087\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T08:07:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T08:07:14","slug":"70-artists-transform-matchboxes-for-joy-machines-general-strike-colossal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/139087\/","title":{"rendered":"70+ Artists Transform Matchboxes for Joy Machine’s ‘General Strike’ \u2014 Colossal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joy Machine is excited to present General Strike<\/a>, an exhibition of 70+ matchboxes, opening on November 21 in Chicago. <\/p>\n

What does solidarity mean for the artist? Or, what can art do in a time of crisis? The concept of a general strike is appealing to many advocates and activists because, in the face of oppression or inequality, it\u2019s one of the few options available to the general public. General strikes are sometimes thought of as the \u201cpeople\u2019s veto,\u201d and for the un-unionized among us, are less about joining our colleagues on the picket lines and more a call for solidarity. They ask us to pinpoint our strengths and identify how our skills can best be of use.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"aChristina Keith<\/p>\n

Writing about the need and dream of solidarity, activist and novelist Sarah Schulman describes recognition, risk, and creativity as the essential tools in harnessing \u201cthe people power necessary to reach the tipping point that transforms lives and, in the most extreme conditions of brutality, actually saves lives.\u201d For artists, these three tenets\u2013recognition, risk, and creativity\u2013are often already the building blocks of a practice. Discerning eyes and trenchant observations, personal sacrifices and provocative positions, combined with a wealth of imagination, are evident in both the studio and the streets. Artists are in many ways world-builders, helping to illuminate what\u2019s previously gone unnoticed or otherwise been thought impossible.<\/p>\n

In General Strike, we witness more than 70 approaches to a singular object: a large, wooden matchbox. Containing purple-tipped matchsticks, these vessels of potential display a wide array of mediums and methodologies offered by artists across North America. While some revel in whimsy, beauty, and the pleasures of life, others direct us toward bold, decisive action. All, in their own ways, speak to an innate impulse to transform something simple into another thing entirely.<\/p>\n

Like any crisis, whether tangible or of conscience, what\u2019s required is a variety of responses, the best of which fan the flames of courage and ultimately insist on our shared humanity. The particularities of such approaches\u2013and those stoking their creation\u2013are what make this fight worthwhile, especially when we\u2019re all striking together.<\/p>\n

A portion of the proceeds from all work sold in General Strike will be donated to the ACLU. RSVP to the opening reception<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"aAndrew Hem<\/p>\n

\"aBarry Hazard<\/p>\n

\"aStevie Shao<\/p>\n

\"aGraham Franciose<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joy Machine is excited to present General Strike, an exhibition of 70+ matchboxes, opening on November 21 in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[307,304,305,306,308,93,61,60,80162],"class_list":{"0":"post-139087","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-matches"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}