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Adam Basanta

The Tower

Mixed media: 47 modified CD/DVD writers, metal, hardware, cable, custom electronics.
36 x 36 x 84 inches 
2026 

Tower is an abject monument to the fantasies offered by the the iconic CD/DVD burner (~1998-2004). Advertised through metaphors of speed, efficiency, and technological democratization, the CD burner appears in hindsight central for the transformation of the musical experience to the consumption of enumerable digital units. The individuated cycle of hoarding, harvesting, and burning, paved the way for and is now superseded by recommendation engines that canalize culture into giant stroads of taste. 

The tower, spinning around itself, lurching towards collapse, performs elegant wave-like gestures, opening and closing empty drives, clicking and clacking with no musical media. A visualizer with no music, it asks ‘if this is where we started, where are we going?’. It moves through choreographed, sequenced gestures - from continuous wave-like motion to individual drives opening and closing in counterpoint - with a cohesive behaviour reminiscent of an organism.

While tracing a turning point in our recent past, the work projects itself conceptually into an unknown future in which technological objects, and perhaps even Music-as-we-know-it, are both obsolete and persistent. How do we move forward without losing precious values of the past?

 
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Frequently asked questions

We represent emerging, mid-career, and established artists with a focus on contemporary art.

We handle custom framing on behalf of our collectors. We work with trusted framers based in Ottawa. Framing takes 2 to 3 weeks. Quotes are provided before fabrication.

We offer a complimentary service to deliver, hang, and install artwork for collectors in Ottawa.

For all other major Canadian cities we have a list of recommended art handlers.

We provide both domestic and international shipping. Quotes are prepared on a case by case basis depending on the size, weight, and medium of the artwork as well as its destination.

We are located in the heart of the Glebe neighbourhood at the intersection of Bank Street and Fifth Avenue. Metered street parking is available infront of the gallery and 1-hour parking on the residential streets surrounding the gallery.

We are proud members of

de Montigny Contemporary Inc. is located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, the unceded and unsurrendered Territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation whose presence here reaches back to time immemorial.

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