Rutherford Chang and his analysis of identity within mass production

Rutherford Chang’s work focuses on a fundamental question: how do objects maintain their individuality when they are manufactured identically to millions of others? His innovative approach involves meticulously compiling and documenting thousands of uniform items to reveal the particularities inscribed by time and human interaction in each one.

Iconic Projects Challenging Standardization

Through notable installations such as ‘We Buy White Albums,’ ‘The Class of 2008,’ and ‘CENTS,’ Chang demonstrates how seemingly identical objects develop unique characteristics. In ‘We Buy White Albums,’ for example, he collects copies of The Beatles’ self-titled album, showing that each copy tells its own story through wear marks, annotations, and modifications. ‘The Class of 2008’ examines university diplomas as representations of a shared moment but individual experiences, while ‘CENTS’ transforms pennies from the same year into visual narratives of variability.

These projects represent a systematic archival shift where Rutherford transforms repetition into singularity, questioning our perceptions of the mass and the personal.

From Physical Preservation to Digital Inscription on Blockchain

Chang’s work extends into digital territories through the exploration of data inscription on Bitcoin. This methodological expansion redefines traditional concepts of value and preservation in the digital age. By transferring his archival practice to the blockchain, Rutherford examines how decentralized technology can serve as a means of permanent documentation and identity authentication, even in contexts of mass standardization.

This transition marks a convergence point between contemporary conceptual art and technological innovations, where the notion of individuality remains a guiding thread of his artistic research.