Chris Combs, Insert 25 Cents to Feel Something

$4,995.00

Interactive: If you pay, it shows you a cat picture and plays you a silly song with

meowing.

Requires electricity. Wall-mounted. 

2024

Lens, LCD, steel enclosure, acrylic, polyurethane, coin acceptor

15x12x7in or 37x29x18cm HxWxD

Interactive: If you pay, it shows you a cat picture and plays you a silly song with

meowing.

Requires electricity. Wall-mounted. 

2024

Lens, LCD, steel enclosure, acrylic, polyurethane, coin acceptor

15x12x7in or 37x29x18cm HxWxD

Chris Combs is an artist based in Washington, D.C and Mount Rainier, Maryland whose sculptural artworks both incorporate and question technologies. His show "Supercycle" (IA&A at Hillyer, 2023) invoked cycles of hype, e.g. AI and cryptocurrencies. "The Next Big Thing" (MoCA Arlington Innovation Studio, 2024) recreated Hokusai’s "Great Wave off Kanagawa" with E-waste that reacted to visitors’ faces and movements. "Outsized Effects" (Gradient Projects, Thomas, WV, 2023–4) included the room-sized "Allegheny Data Company," examining data mining through the visual lens of coal mining. "Industry Standards" (McLean Project for the Arts, 2023) featured 18 works of reclaimed industrial components, reflecting on surveillance and environmental destruction. "Madness Method," a public art collaboration with David Greenfieldboyce, was part of 2021’s Georgetown GLOW. He has also shown at VisArts, DC Arts Center, Rhizome DC, and other DC-area institutions.

Chris was selected as the 2025 Artist in Residence at the Sanford Underground Research Facility, and is a fourtime recipient of the DC CAH Arts and Humanities Fellowship program. He is a graduate of the Corcoran College of Art + Design and was a photo editor for National Geographic. He joined Otis Street Arts Project in 2021.