10.-22.-38 Astoria* is an ongoing project in which FICTILIS transforms a gallery or other space into a functioning pop-up copy shop that is pre-stocked with a wide selection of ready-to-copy artworks by thousands of artists from all over the world. We use a special tensioned-wire system to create a massive interactive exhibition celebrating the art of xerography (photocopying). Visitors can use on-site machines to add to the collection and contribute to its evolution over the course of the installation. At the end of the exhibition, FICTILIS works with a local book artist to produce a print version of the show.

Typically, the copy shop has a fee structure similar to the following:

FREE: one copy of anything you bring in (two if you give one to us)
$1 for one copy of anything on the walls
$5 for one original on the walls, if you replace it with a copy
$10 for one original, without making a copy

10.-22.-38 Astoria first appeared at our studio/gallery space in Seattle in November 2011. The book was made by Amber Nelson of Alice Blue Books. 10.-22.-38 Astoria II was hosted at The Lab, San Francisco, in November 2012. The third iteration is scheduled to happen at Counterpath Books in Denver, late 2014  Contact us if interested in hosting the next iteration of the project in your space.

*NOTE: Permission for us to use the image and phrase “10.-22.-38 Astoria” (the first image/phrase ever produced using the technology known as photocopying) was generously granted by the Xerox Corporation, who, we’d like to remind you, does a lot more than just copying nowadays.