Developmental Process and Construction

Contextual Statement:

Simply a suitcase as an object is inseparable from a wide raft of connotations and associations: travel, holiday, movement, mystery. The original brief encouraged the exploration of the suitcase as a symbol of modern life, in such a society where we move around a lot more, are more globalized and often pack up our entire lives in a suitcase, whether by choice (migration) or necessity (refugees). Increased mobility in a changing world has also impacted on the suitcase; it is often the object of scrutiny, regarded as potential threat until proven otherwise - which suitcase contains the condensed and compartmentalized life of a humble traveller, and which contains a terrorist threat?

I chose several of these elements to draw upon. The mystery and intrigue of this banal, everyday object is in the mystery and uniqueness of it's contents. Though my suitcase is open, most of the internal section is concealed and with it all the mechanics. The viewer is confronted only with the sleek reflective black surface and weighty metal cubes.

The interactive nature of the work is that the viewer is asked to unpack and repack the suitcase. It is a strange paradox of control where their actions determine the result of the output, yet they aren't consciously aware of how they are effecting it. How often is this the case with modern technologies where we aren't often fully aware of exactly what the implications of our interactions are? And yet, we can interact with them without fully understanding.

It is in fact these technologies which have had an impact in shaping what we call modern life. I chose to look at the work of the Futurists who 100 years ago were exploring the implications of their modernity with the emergence of the mechanical age. Between WWI and WWII the immense social and economic change stimulated by the technical achievements of the modern age created the founding manifesto of Futurism, that the world's magnificence has been enriched by a new beauty: the beauty of speed. They celebrated the dynamic synergy of man and machine and the inescapable presence of speed in modern life.

Since then, technologies have exponentially developed and our concepts of time have been greatly influenced by networks that offer instantaneous information and connectivity. The speed of modern life dictates that we must always be on the move, always be accessible and must be in touch with these technologies to not get left behind.

Futurists tried to represent concepts of time in static forms through sequences of movement sweeping across a single composition. I chose the medium of photography as it can represent the accelerated pace of modern life by recording in sharp, frozen detail a minute slice of movement too quick for the eye to see. The pressure sensors act as the interface, the metaphorical 'pressures' of modern life which dictate the pace at which we must live our lives.

My final work, though not yet fully resolved, explores the movement of a figure, represented within the suitcase, manipulated by the contents and arrangement of the contents of the suitcase. The suitcase represents a life determined by movement and mobility, condensed and compartmentalized. The pace and way we moved is controlled by external elements outside our control. Modern life has sped up to the point where clarity is lost, moments are fleeting and it all becomes a blur of movement.

Are we no more than a suitcase, a vessel within which we pack out lives, only to be moved around on the conveyor belt out of our control?

Construction commences

As deadline draws near, it has become inevitably important to start on the fabrication process. Beginning the construction of the suitcase, there were several important aspects to consider.

The Suitcase:
An obvious given which probably shouldn't have been delayed this late as ultimately, the aesthetic of the suitcase should reflect the project.

Originally, we were all to use the same suitcases but seeing as we didn't have these from the beginning, we all explored different avenues to what we might've had we had them from the word go.

I went out in search of a suitcase and was shocked to see how expensive they were. There was nothing that really appealed to me with my project in mind. On Trademe though I stumbled upon one that was quite possibly perfect (pictured top right corner). I like the sleek metal and geometric aesthetic of it and that it had compartments. My only concern was that the overall size was quite small (43cm x 31cm, x 12.5 cm) and was more of a briefcase than a suitcase.

The solution was quite simple in the end, I discovered in my own house an old, unused, large suitcase, similar to the ones pictured above with a hardshell, dark silver / metallic finish.

The Mechanics:
Essentially, all the mechanics will be concealed underneath a layer of acrylic which sits upon an existing lip about 2/3 of the height of the bottom section of the suitcase. Everything will be running off a Mac Mini; the Arduino running the code and the projector displaying the output.






The Acrylic:
The base plate of acrylic consists of 3 sections for easy insertion/removal. On top of this are a series of dividers (Image to the left, red lines) which create the compartments for packing into.

Within each 'compartment' will be a layer of conductive foam and then another layer of acrylic the same shape and size as the compartment to conceal it and equalize the pressure place onto the foam by the cubes.

The shapes and sizes I required were quite a tricky size to accurately meaure and sketch up so my final laser cut pieces weren't completely accurate. I was able to fine tune these in the 3D lab to fit where required, as pictured below.

The Cube:
I wasn't completely sure what I to use for these that had a reasonably nice finish and cube shape and enough weight to register on the pressure sensors. I looked around North Shore Steel and the closest to what I needed came in the form of two long squared poles with quite thick poles. They weighed a tonne so I figured they'd do the trick.

At the work shop, I cut them up into 50mmx50mmx50mm cubes and attempted to polish the paint off. It was quite hard work getting just one cube done (and I have 41 in total) so alternatively, I can look into just repainting them.

Originally I had envisaged my cubes as sleek, metallic cubes so the finished result wasn't too far off. The only issue is that they are hollow so I am going to experiment with filling them up with a clear resin. Originally, I had also imagined that they would visually represent something, my earlier examples being folded out of paper with literal representations of the pressures of modern life printed on them.

I had moved past this idea, deciding to leave them just nondescript or leaving it open ended to figure out once I had the materials. Now the opportunity does pose itself to embed something inside the cube, floating it in the resin so that the object itself becomes more interesting visually compelling. This would also open up possible connections to be made when finalizing exactly what my visual output is going to be.

One week until deadline and there is still a lot to do...