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Since 1999 we have made work that explores the nature of the doppelganger and suggests how circumstances, such as conflict, indifference, and cultural governance, drive the self into a binary position. Through research, constructing intimate objects, and revisiting past acts of violence that thwart personal self-reliance, we create work that illustrates a self-liberating doubled body. For example, Diplomas (1999-2003) explores one�s ability to be socially recognized as a doubled entity. For this work we attended two institutions of higher education, fulfilled the requirements for two degrees, and received two legal diplomas under different names. In Reconstitution (2003) we appeared before a judge and legally changed our name, omitting a last name and combining two first names into one to legally become CarianaCarianne. Management of

Participating in a legal process allows us to draw the flesh in a deeply personal way. Moreover, it allows us to persevere toward the complexity of a shared world and the intensity of a shared past. For us, the double body is an intentional way to suspend the ever-present, authoritative �I� and to allow the �we� to find form. This leap of faith molds our collaboration and allows us to explore the non-complicit nature of the collaborative body.


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Top to bottom: Drawing and Being Drawn (2007), MASS MoCA, North Adams

Expectations: How does one become what one is? (2004) also followed in this legal vein. Presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, this multi-media installation project collaborated with an estate attorney to acquire a legal last will and testament for two selves living in one body. Comprised of videos and bequeathed objects, this installation explored the task of defending oneself after death. Specifically created for The Drawing Center, Witness to a Social Drawing (2005) collaborated with the Illinois Office of Secretary of State to legally prepare a peace accord for a doubled body. Comprised of notarized documents, sculptural artifacts, and video recordings, this installation explored the potency of contracts and self-preservation. Recently created for MASS MoCA, Drawing and Being Drawn (2007-2008) collaborated with science, law, and art to legally patent a life-form for a doubled body. Comprised of patent drawings, sculptural prototypes, and video recordings, this multimedia installation not only explored the moral and political implications of recent advances in biotechnology, but it also investigated the act of invention and examined the limitations that exist within intellectual property.