Forcefield

Forcefield, an artist collective that began in 1996 in Providence, Rhode Island, has forged an aesthetic program that encompasses music, performance, installation, textiles, printmaking, and video. All activities are anonymous and group-oriented, and the collective's members go by inscrutable aliases. Members P Lobe and Meerk Puffy founded Forcefield as a two-man band, and were later joined by Gorgon Radeo and Le Geef, at which point the four broadened their scope and range of media. Three of the four Forcefield members were among the inhabitants of Fort Thunder, a 9,000 square-foot living space in Providence, which was furnished with layer upon layer of found detritus. Live events hosted at the space included music shows, craft fairs, indoor fireworks displays, cookie bake-offs, radio plays, costumed wrestling matches, garden competitions, bicycle repair, and Halloween mazes. Forcefield's work is situated within this disparate and self-contained cycle of creation and exhibition, and continues to employ a healthy disregard for disciplinary boundaries. The videos operate on several levels simultaneously, with a sensibility that oscillates between utter seriousness and a sublime form of deadpan. Goofball humor and a sense of menace may arise at the same moment. The group is also concerned with technology's uses and abuses, and throughout their work they employ vintage analogue signal-processors and defunct electronics. This strategic emphasis on "low" forms and formats, poor…