FMP Week 7

If the organic components were once living, there is an obvious connection between that mortality and the prescribed 'life' we project onto machines (i.e. when they are functioning), however if the objects I place beside the screws were never alive in the first place, is all meaning lost?

I think it depends on the object. I collected stones from my garden, tiny pieces of gravel in a variety of colours that my parents paid to be placed in the garden. I arranged them colour order because I could.

Now, if the proposed 'life' of the object is not only over, but never existed, then presumably I would feel that the work has lost its meaning. But I think that this displays the universality of function - stones that I found had a function (to form the drive way). And if I found stones in the forest? Well, they have chipped off larger and larger pieces of rock, which could have been a boulder, which could have been a mountain, which could have been pushed up from magma deep under the Earth's crust, which could have melted from an ancient asteroid launching itself into the side of the planet. Does this mean it has a function? No, it has no function, it simply is.

I think that what prevents me from equating lack of function to lack of meaning is that I am of the mindset that every object has a history. Because every rock is potentially part of an epic space tale, nothing makes me stop.

The above image shows the gravel from my garden in a gradient from cream to near black. This was a trivial decision (though no trivial task) and I think that inevitably it depicts a clear difference between the organic stones and the metal - the stones are simply far more engaging to me. This differs from viewer to viewer, namely to prove who finds what more captivating, something shiny or something brightly colourful.

Strangely enough, in the final week of my project I have not yet found any particular summative images that are obviously stock for exhibit. I plan to view the final space I am given before making any decisions about what to display and how to do so - all of my pieces are still in unattached components that can be reused anytime without trouble.

One idea I have is to create a flick book that flicks between different components in the same position to draw instantaneous parallels between their roles in the functioning whole - including shells, screws, flowers and stones, potentially additional components of the machines I took apart.

This project has however already taught me how presenting trivial objects can create huge meanings and infer complex and coherent stories, depending entirely upon the viewer.