List Projects: Ethan Hayes-Chute

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Rows of round tin cans with homemade white labels holding cone shaped mounds of various colored substances and textures

Ethan Hayes-Chute, Spice Trade (Production Line), (detail), 2016. Wood, metal, plastic, plexiglass, spice jars, Epson HX-20 computer printouts, assorted granular materials, Installation view, MIT List Visual Arts Center, 2016

Location
Bakalar Gallery
Featured Artists
Ethan Hayes-Chute
Explore all artists who have exhibited at the List in our Artist Index.

Ethan Hayes-Chute’s installations, sculptures, drawings, text pieces, and performances explore ideas of self-sufficiency and self-preservation as alternative models for living.

He constructs small, near-functional cabins and partial interiors out of entirely salvaged materials; the structures variously make reference to landscapes on the margin, life off the grid, ecology and waste. Many of Hayes-Chutes’s sculptures and installations use technology to solve everyday problems. He programs nearly obsolete computers for practical applications, lending retro-futuristic undertones to his rustic assemblages.

His new installation for the List Center includes the display of a number of Epson HX-20 computers. Hayes-Chute reprograms the near-obsolete machines—considered to be the first laptop computers and becoming widely available in the United States in the early 1980s—and uses them for a range of practical applications, including as a labeling device for his absurdist home-made ointments, sauces, and custom spice blends.

The New Domestic Woodshop (2016) is Hayes-Chute’s contribution to the artist-run television channel CONGLOMERATE.TV founded in Berlin earlier this year. Billed as bringing “domestic fantasies to life,” the video series riffs both on television shows such as This Old House as well as the more recent proliferation of amateur tutorials posted on YouTube. 

Ethan Hayes-Chute (b.1982, Freeport, Maine) lives and works in Berlin. His work has been included in solo and group exhibitions at Kinderhook & Caracas, Berlin; Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport; Entrée, Bergen, Grimmuseum, Berlin; the Marrakesh Biennial, Morocco and others. Hayes-Chute received his BFA in Painting from the Rhode Island School of Design.

List Projects: Ethan Hayes-Chute is curated by Henriette Huldisch, Curator, MIT List Visual Arts Center.

Sponsors

Exhibitions at the List Center are made possible with the support of Cynthia & John Reed and Terry & Rick Stone.

General operating support is provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Council for the Arts at MIT, the Office of the Associate Provost at MIT, the MIT School of Architecture + Planning, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and many generous individual donors. The Advisory Committee Members of the List Visual Arts Center are gratefully acknowledged.

Images

A group of labeled spice jars, different sizes and some with bright color lids, a flat tube, and a taller jar with a stopper
A wood slatted wall, wood table and shelves filled with tools, papers, pencils, pictures, a hanging lamp, on with a warm glow
Rows of round tin cans with homemade white labels holding cone shaped mounds of various colored substances and textures
Wood work bench covered in scraps, tools, a toaster oven, a lamp, and a monitor with an image of the artist holding a pizza
A slatted wood wall, shelves and objects like books, a light bulb, pictures, a tin with pens, an electric plug, a red heart
A monitor with an image of paper rolls hangs on a wall in a wood frame, an electric drill and rolls of paper sit on top
Installation view of a work bench with a monitor, tools, a lamp, a yellow chair, a framed piece and shelf on the wall
Installation view of a space with wood framing, shelves, a spice rack, found objects, and a narrow table with a lighted lamp
An open space with wood framing, shelves, and various found objects lining the walls
A small computer/ printer on a ledge, paper spooled over into a woven basket on top of a paint can, a lighted lamp in back
A small table with a lighted lamp, a bowl, computer, a briefcase, coffee can and books, a framed mirror on the wall above
A work bench with a monitor, tools, a toaster oven, a lamp with a warm glow, and a yellow wood chair in front
Installation view of List Projects: Ethan Chute, exhibited at the MIT List Visual Arts Center, 2016.
A space with workbench, lamp and chair in back, a picture and shelf on the right, a mirror and table with a lamp on the left

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List Projects: Ethan Hayes Chute

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