For his new project, ‘Err’, artist Jeremy Hutchison contacted various factories around the world, and asked if one of their workers would produce an ‘incorrect’ version of the product they make every day: in doing so, the functional objects became artworks. “I asked them to make me one of their products, but to make it with an error,” Hutchison explains. “I specified that this error should render the object dysfunctional. And rather than me choosing the error, I wanted the factory worker who made it to choose what error to make. Whatever this worker chose to do, I would accept and pay for.”

“‘Err’ is about creating deliberate miscommunication, forging a moment of poetry within a hyper-efficient system of digital exchange. It’s about an invisible global workforce, and their connection to the relentless regurgitation of stuff. It’s about Duchamp and the readymade, but updated to exist within the context of today’s globalised economy. It’s about the rub between art and design, the mass-produced and unique, the functional and the dysfunctional.”

Error — High Heels, Qing Li, Lina International Shoes Ltd, Huizhou, China
Error — Chair, Lee Ming, ShowOwn Ltd, Hangzhou, China
Error — Shovel, Henryk Wegner, Romanik Tools S.A., Gdansk, Poland
Error — Comb, Mr Kartick, Mr Ram, Mr Vikash, Star Creations Ltd, Kolkata, India
Error — Sunglasses, Mr King, Wenzhou Yidao Optical Co, Ltd, Wenzhou, China
Error — Pipe, Soner Demirel, Pipsan Pipes, Istanbul, Turkey
Error — Trumpet, Lie Liu, Tianjin Jessy Musical Instrument Co, Ltd, Tianjin, China
Error — Ladder, Jack Lee, Shijiazhuang Dadaoyuan Trading Co, Ltd, Shijiazhuang, China
Error — Walking Stick, Carlos Barrachina, FCA Segorbina de Bastones, SL, Segorbe, Spain