Kelli Anderson

Kelli Anderson has found that design — and paper engineering in particular — enables one to find possibility hiding in plain view in our world. Interactions with even the most ubiquitous, low-tech materials can reveal amazing facets of our reality. This is because these radically minimalist structures still behave in concert with the physical and social forces which structure our world. With no hidden parts, humble paper can act as a direct interface on sound, light, and time; making these abstractions tangible and accessible, in a way that more black-box tech obscures. It can show us what it means to be human.

Kelli Anderson is an artist, designer and paper engineer who pushes the boundaries of ordinary materials and formats by seeking out hidden possibilities in the physical and digital world. In 2008, she worked as part of a team to distribute a recreated copy of The New York Times — filled entirely with articles from a Utopian future. The group won the Ars Electronica Prix Award of Distinction for their work. In 2011, she created a paper record player that garnered major attention from numerous media outlets including Mashable, Kottke, Slashdot, Make, PCWorld, Swiss Miss, Wired, the Toronto Star, and NPR. Her work has been published by Wired UK, Gestalten, Rockport Publishing, iDN, How Design Magazine, and Hemispheres Magazine. In 2011, she left her position as a digital collections photographer at the American Museum of Natural History to focus on independent work. Her live/​work space houses a 1919 letterpress and ​“an assortment of other benevolent contraptions.” 

Anderson’s talk will focus on her paper engineering work, her continued risograph animation experimentation, and using paper as an interface on the physical world.

With support from University of Michigan Library and the Ann Arbor District Library.

Series presenting partners: Detroit Public Television and PBS Books. Media partner: Michigan Radio.