Sequential Collecting

These are looking at sequential collecting, possessing an artefact for a short period only and then ejecting it from the collection. It's like a snake or an intestine. It's hard not to remember the psychoanalysts views of collectors as anally retentive when looking at a model like this. I like that the objects shapes are still slightly described by the material.

Artifact Net Bag Capture Storage Thing

This is a net for capturing objects, and once the object has been netted and captured the net turns to a storage bag, ready for storage or transfer.

One Minute Collection

On the last day of modelling week i got everyone to help me make a one minute collection and got everyone to bring me one item. Artifacts collected were: A bowl & sweetcorn; Crushed beercan & small amount of beer; Mug (dirty); Plastic Flower pot; Knitting and wool; Speaker cover; paint brush (large & new); Paint brush (small & used);; Drawing pins; Small amount of wool; Cheque book with no cheques; Sean Connery mask; Cardboard gun; 5p coin; 1p coin; Rind pull; Miniature plastic snowman; Safety Pin; Laser cut Christmas tree (10cm high); Receipt; Mug (clean); The cat in the hat book minus covers; Old toothbrush (unused with packaging); 'I Love you Luke' note; Chicken Box (damaged); Unidentified piece of metal (computer cooling?)

I attempted to force groups from these and came up with categories looking at material similarities (card/paper, metal) colour, use (containers, tools etc.), themes (Christmas, money, etc.) and ended up looking at the rhyming objects- it was interesting to note that items began to 'rhyme' better when they were not just laid side by side but interacted with each other, it added to the dialogue and the way the objects referred to each other.

Tutorial and Stuff

Having a good time at the moment but I'm getting worried that my project isn't getting where i want to be fast enough- part of this problem is not knowing where i want to be, i just know I'm not there! I had a good tutorial with Rosario she harked back to an old project of mine: the one with the puddles in bags and water collections. She pointed out that it's success came from a specific thing- a context, a problem and that now i had good research but that i was in danger of letting my research outdo whatever outcome it might be that i come to- i need to start getting specific- and pretty soon- I'm going to say that by the end of January for sure (hopefully sooner) i will have concluded my research to do list and that i will have a more specific area of interest to run with and make real good. We talked about which bits of my project were interesting...... i like this drawing and the idea of getting movement involved, time passing, motion, something happening during the accumulation/ collecting process- the way i see it the collecting process goes:

start static---------during, movement, interest, play, motion, active-----------after i.e. completion static once more, lack of interest, shelved,

slopes, conveyors and time passing interest me with that. We also talked about completion:

this shows an item given which contains one item, with spaces to fill, promoting collecting and accumulation- this links to one of my interests previously about a frame with a label will attract not just more of the same item mentioned within close proximity but will actively attract like a magnet, other artifacts of a similar label. A split box is better at suggesting collection by implying a set and an aim- a completion- something of a particular size for instance, when compared to a large empty cardboard box. Levels, compartments, trays, sections all describe and imply a set. I fancy making a group of objects some with 2 parts ranging up to many parts. Making tools/ objects to instigate a collection in someone- i guess to an extent i have it with my book a week framework, why not make other tools for others.

Rosario was also interested in the industrial process of standardisation. That when everything is manufactured to be 'perfect' the imperfections become the rare collectibles. If there are limited editions, or only a certain number of an item in existence (as is the main norm with collectibles- here defined as anything collected) then they are ripe to be collected. I'm wondering, what if every thing was different, but still was a product of an industrial mass process, then every one would be collectible- so none would be as each was as valuable as the last and the next. This leads on to the idea of the specimen- the best artifact within a comparable group of artifacts. Would this evolve despite having nothing to be directly compared against. Could a specimen still be manufactured..............

Food and Gaps

This is a sketch for the food i made but stupidly forgot to take photos of. It is a roast beef dinner minus the roast beef. The meal acts as a collection, where it's gap is the summing up artifact. This absent item defines the collection. If however it were present then the meal/ collection would not be thought about, it would be complete and unremarkable. A collection no longer in process has no movement and no momentum.