Last night Dustyn and I proposed an interactive installation for the San Diego Museum of Art, Summer Salon Series. They asked that the proposals be in response to the question "What does a city need?" which is in relation to their upcoming exhibition, Gustav Stickley and the American Arts and Crafts Movement. So here it is, our proposal which was frantically sent out at the final minute (or a tiny bit after) last night. Hope they consider it!
Project Description:
In observance of the question, “What does a city need?” we immediately consider the presence of the family and communal structure. Communities are dependent on the interaction of its inhabitants and the familial structures that are established within the group, which we feel is quickly dissolving in our current culture. Traces of these relationships are most evident in the domestic setting, particularly around the dinner table where standards have changed; the home cooked meal has quite frequently turned to take out or quick-fix meals. As two people living in San Diego, separate from our families in the mid-west, we are sensitive to the lack of traffic that occurs within the household, and the movement and interplay amongst the dinner table. We are interested in creating an interactive installation that documents the traffic generated around a table when a meal is served to a group, and whether those tracks are altered in accordance with its subjects.
We intend to construct a table and chairs from plaster with a hidden internal steel frame that reside on a coarse, black substrate in order to document movement and traffic. As an interactive piece, the traffic pattern will continually change as people penetrate the table setting. The effect will be comparable to the austere appearance of markings on a chalkboard, which never seem to fully disappear. We anticipate that people will interact with the setting as they would in their home, whether an individual is persistently serving others at the table, or if someone scoots their chair closer to another, and so forth.
I love the idea. I hope you guys get to do it. Dusty Mcgee is such a fancy drawer.
ReplyDeleteI think this idea is great! How will you get the viewer to be lured into the form, will there be other objects that possibly entice the viewer to explore more in regards to the dining table and chairs? Also, how about the other pieces of furniture that share a close association to family convergence, like the couch? We as a family never ate around a table, so there is a lost part of that history within my own childhood. I can't be the only one that shares this sediment. Looking forward to seeing this work get off the ground. -V
ReplyDeleteI was going to ask the same question Vince asked about how to draw traffic to the installation. Is there going to be food? Is society changing our notions about a "dining table" or is it our individual habits that direct our use of our living space?
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