BADS_lab 2026

BADS_lab, the touring artist lab of the Center for Concrete and Abstract Machines directed by Muindi Fanuel Muindi, entered its third year in 2026, moving through Chicago, São Paulo and Dar es Salaam after earlier iterations in Chicago (2024) and São Paulo (2025). Fellows and exhibiting artists were asked to send a process germ: a small, portable, remixable trace of their practice.

Three pieces travelled with the lab in Nimrod’s place: an ambient-light harvester (solar panel, ceramic capacitor and a single LED, with no battery), a hand-built copper-and-saltwater solar panel, and a Khazar-style emblem clock on an e-paper screen that draws a synthetic archaeological pendant unique to each minute of the day. The Chicago iteration opened on 3 May, with the shared day of materials and seeds on 17 May.