So, this week was really not my area.
We were tasked with imagining “Wonderland”, whatever that may be. We were not given any indication as to exactly what we were expected to deliver for assessment - only that it was to be something we were interested in.
After being hammered by the tutors from the past 3 weeks about precisely what it was that we were to show: X no. of design sheets, Y # of A1 research sheets and Z # of A1 sheets with nicely mounted work; this new attitude came as a shock. Not a welcome one either. I enjoy clarity, and for me, the brief this week was far too nebulous a concept to sufficiently grasp within the 1 week we had to provide a result. Regardless, I attempted it anyway, below I’ll set out my method, and what I would have done. Forgive me if this entry is starting to sound less like an art student’s blog, and more like a scientist’s, as I am indeed an ex science student.
To try and tackle the problem, I set out 3 questions to ask others, to help spur my own creativity. These questions themselves were inspired by a double-spread in the latest issue of MARK (#58), which mapped out hundreds of private islands for sale in the world. Ones that stuck in my head were a 1.2 million square metre island group off of Mexico, which was going for €97 million, and a 445 thousand square metre island off of Thailand, which was going for €142 million. With this in mind, I decided to look into “the Price of Wonderland”, as if it was a tangible thing.
The 3 questions:
What would your “Wonderland” be?
How much would you pay to see it realised?
What lengths would you go to to see it become a reality?
I interviewed 19 colleagues, and got a satisfyingly varied response. From these responses I brainstormed and tried to figure out how to represent all this information. I went through several ideas - chandeliers, accretion discs (solar system formation), orreys, crystallised illustrations. I finally settled on an installation, taking inspiration from the Aurorae. It was around this point that I realised I messed up the questions, specifically #2 & #3.
What I needed were measures of value to provide context to the illustration dreamed from question #1. Whilst I had the right idea - asking two similar questions in order to ascertain equivalent responses, the questions asked were too similar. The questions I should have asked were:
What would your “Wonderland” be?
How high a cost would you incure to create it?
What lengths would you go to, in order to protect it?
I feel that these would have provided me with more actionable information, whilst also providing the interviewee more chances to answer the central question of “How much do you value your Wonderland?”.
Ultimately, this research would lead to an interactive installation drawing inspiration from the Aurorae. It would involve differeing materials: glass, acrylic, acetate, metal; lighting elements such as programmable LEDs, motion-sensitive spots, possibly even lasers, or focused directional lighting; as well as sound.
I can sketch this.