The work in ‘Iterations: Production Culture’ focuses on methods of industrial production and fabrication, specifically referencing CAD nesting software, tabbing structures, and die-casting framework. Cassandra Ferguson manipulates the concept of efficiency in technological production by removing all functionality from what are considered logical processes of standardized and optimized production.

Cassandra Ferguson is an artist based in Hamilton. Fuelled by the seductive character of common objects, Ferguson produces sculptures and drawings that reveal an interest in architecture, industrial manufacture and design practices. She explores a multi-faceted relationship to objects that draws from, and is reminiscent of, furniture design, yet is discursive and non-functional. She received her MFA from the University of Guelph in 2019 and her BFA from McMaster University in 2015.

Ferguson’s work borrows from design practice to understand the evolution of commodity production and consumption, and it elevates the everyday chair to a metaphoric representation of human culture, positioning it as a transcendental object that permeates our lives. She focuses on the chair as the exemplary object to tie together themes of the fetishized object or commodity, the human body, and machines/technology. Her work strives to operate in the space between sculpture and design to produce objects that speak to, and have the ability to masquerade as mass-market commodities. The work is elevated to its most satisfactory peak the moment it discreetly, and at times humorously, disguises itself within the culture of commodities.