Sculpture Studio Spring 2010

Project 2: Kinetics and Interactivity

For this piece in the interactivity unit, I wanted to focus on the participant’s expectations or lack of them, and alter the result, and thus their subsequent expectations for what to expect next, through their experience with interacting with my sculpture.

My final piece is a large black box with 9 holes throughout, meant for viewers to put their hand inside and feel—or hear—what’s inside. Either black fabric or black tissue paper covers each hole so viewers cannot see what lies within. I wanted the box to remain neutral yet mysterious, and to achieve this, I decided to paint the box black, a color that denotes mystery as opposed to the clean and pristine feeling that is the connotation of the color white. Black might cause viewers to wonder what it is that they’re in for, and I wanted this to happen. But I wanted to alter any potential expectations, and I believe I achieved this when seeing my classmates’ reactions.

On one side of the sculpture, one of the holes contains play dough. This particular type of play dough is squishier than the usual kind and participants have the urge to squeeze the dough through their fingers. As they do, they start to feel something hard, and as they squeeze it harder, something sharp—a nail. If this happens, it means that the participant did not proceed with caution, and they let their urge to squeeze take over. The other hole contains small jingle bells. This doesn’t do much texture-wise, but it catches viewers off-guard, because when they only expect to feel something, they end up hearing it too.

The next side has two holes as well. One hole contains a couple handfuls of seashells. In this hole, I wanted to challenge viewers to use their hands to figure out what exactly the shapes are. One of the interesting aspects of my sculpture is that depending on which hole the viewer places their hand in first; they might expect something different in the following holes. If a viewer feels a nail within the play dough in their first hole, they might be apprehensive when feeling the next holes. If viewers feel shells first, they might think that the rest of the holes contain objects as innocent and will proceed with less caution. In the other hole on this side is a box full of glitter. Viewers are able to immerse their hand in something that feels a bit soft and a bit cold; something that is not distinguishable as glitter or as anything really. When they pull their hand out, however, the glitter is stuck to them. I like this because it is a reminder of what they have just done. Viewers take a part of my sculpture with them.

On the next side, one of the holes contains glass stones that are covered in lotion. The rocks are slippery and some viewers are drawn to continue feeling them, and some immediately withdraw their hands. The other hole on this side contains feathers. When viewers put their hands in, they feel the softness of the feathers, but also the less comfortable stem. When the viewer pulls their hand out, feathers come out with them. They either fall to the floor, or if the viewer has already put their hand in the lotion rocks, the feathers will stick to them. Also, if viewers feel the glitter after they’ve felt the lotion, the glitter sticks even more than it does if viewers did not feel the lotion first.

On the final side (not that there is any particular order as to how viewers experience my sculpture), one of the holes is simply the inside of a trash bag. When viewers put their hand in all of the holes, the object that they feel is inside of a 6x6x9” cardboard box. In this hole, however, the top of the cardboard box is cut out. If the viewers spend the time to feel around the entire inside of the box, they will feel that the top of the box is cut out and that the trash bag extends out of the top of the box. This allows viewers to feel, through the trash bag, the inside of the entire box, and each individual cardboard box from the other holes. This box is unlike the other boxes in that it gives viewers more freedom to move around than in the other holes—if they are curious enough to find it. Another hole from this side has dried hot glue and wood glue. Both of these glues are textures that speak to people’s urge to pick. The last hole on this side is half blocked by duck tape on the bottom of the hole. When the viewer gets past this, there is another duct tape block about an inch back, on the top half.

I like elements from my project stick with viewers after they’re done with my project. Once they’ve decided to withdrawal from my project, elements are still there. What they wanted to be rid of lingers. If I could change anything about my sculpture, I would’ve spent more time learning how to make a wooden box before making my final product. I might’ve made a smaller practice box first. The top of my box does not fully attach. It is not detrimental, but it looks less clean. I also would’ve sanded each piece of wood so that it looks cleaner, and less like wood. I’m pleased with the reactions of my classmates when they interacted with my objects. Generally, they reacted the way I expected them to, and they reacted the way they didn’t expect to, which is exactly what I had intended.