Contraption number 2

 So the maquette for my second contraption came out today, this is a 4 cog version ( no point making all 7 or 8, the idea works and besides, it nearly killed my still recovering shoulder), the final will be a freestanding situation,

possibly with6 maybe 7x 20 inch cogs, these are 10 and will be an offset skewiff type thing with the centre cog driven by a handle resembling bike pedals. I thought about mounting it on a shovel or broom or something but that won't work so it would have to be a purpose built "wobbly stick" thing with a broom or shovel head on the bottom.. for a bit of fun.I'm thinking the top one should be the image viewer with the acetates and a projection light but I am not sure, I think really these contraptions should stay as they are.. a bit of purposeless, harmless pedal powered fun.

I like it, I am feeling more confident about the project in general and looking forward to putting these contraptions together as well as working on the others I want to do. I have looked at people like Arthur Ganson's contraptions and some Rube Goldberg machines for inspiration, well I say that but I have already been making these and then came across this stuff, great to make and I hope, fun in an exhibition setting.

contraption number 1

Today I was able to get a first maquette done so am now more easily able to plan out my gadgets and contraptions, these hopefully will be done on the laser cutter with wood and painted. I'd like to make it look a little funky so the cogs are like rotary phone dials and you intuitively go up and start dialling it.. now I am still undecided as to whether or not it will serve a purpose, I think this one I think will not though. It is a combo of inspirations from Metropollis and Duchamp's Disks Bearing Spirals, I want the whimsical side, the piece for the sake of it, if it makes you smile it has worked. I enjoy watching the cogs go round and am really looking forward to building the real deals. I also feel a lot better about the brief in general, less stuck, floating and wandering, more focused so full steam ahead eh...there is  plenty of design work to go but at least the ideas will work, stay tuned for more mad machinery and weird artwork!

Time to get started

I am still a little up in the air as to what direction I would like to go with this project, a possibility is to continue with some of the more interesting and interactive elements from the visual languages brief and work out some exciting analog and digital outcomes, although this feels a bit lazy because it is a continuation, however there was and is so much in that brief that I had not had time to explore that it is a viable option. I really want to explore how we take visual cues, what we look at and why so this does fit.
I see so many people walking around who are not looking at anything but their phones, almost being run over, missing out on wonderful things that are there or are going on so I want to look at what it takes to capture people's attention, how to make them look up from the phones and either pay attention to the world around them or look at something specific. I am a person who is looking around at eveything all the time, I don't miss much so I find this fascinating.

I'd also like to really go to town with printing and go back to the idea of making my inks and papers for whatever I do, I want to look at different inks and in particular a conductive ink that makes a 2d work interactive. So these are all exciting ideas with a lot of scope. I am sure a few days with all my journals and sketchbooks will help bring it all together.

I want to really also look at the concept of art as a precious thing to be put behind glass and velvet ropes, not to touch and to be revered and almost afraid of, this came from a visit to Australia's national gallery in Canberra a few years ago where if a person got ever so slightly too close to anything, honking great alarms would go off and it really made me feel pretty crappy and not want to be there at all, it was and remains the single most unwelcoming experience I have ever had in a gallery or museum. As an Aussie it was also pretty embarassing that the visitors to my country were being greeted this way. So this has informed a lot of the shows I have put on and has been in my mind a long time. So I'd like to create an exhibit that is purely tactile, either in a darkend space or something similar.

So three ideas, I think the printing will have to keep for now, it is not really beefy enough for this brief so the looking one or the touching one are the way to go.. now to choose and refine the concept.