L’art du treillageur
Trellis has been used as a structure to support plant growth for thousands of years. Drawing from traditions of participatory performance, conceptual art, and social practice, L’art du Treillageur is a project that utilizes the trellis form as a historical and aesthetic reference for thinking through support structures relevant to our current moment.
The work engages participants in construction and reflection; supplied with materials mailed to them from the artist, participants build and document their own artworks while contributing their documentation and written reflections to a community archive. This archive is hosted online, with participants’ contributions housed in a sculptural installation.
This work continues to grow as a system of social and economic relations through subsequent works, additional collaborations, and social media presence.
How To Build A Trellis
Participant Submissions
Before
After
Video walkthrough
About
M. James Becker is an artist researching the relations between political and artistic practices through participatory performance, installation, drawing, and video.
Becker’s work has been presented in public and independent art spaces in the United States and abroad, including the Opera House Palace of Arts, Cairo, Other Places Art Fair, San Pedro, and the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History. His work and projects he’s contributed to have been featured in print and online in Hyperallergic, Complex, Curate LA, The Daily Bruin, and Alive Magazine St. Louis.
He holds a B.A. from the Design | Media Arts program at UCLA, and is currently an MFA Candidate in Digital Arts + New Media at UC Santa Cruz.