The idea is coming from the cardboard that I pick up last week. The cardboard says “Broke & Ugly” which I believe it must have been used by a homeless to raise money for his or her pet dog. Then I start to think the meaning behind it, the homeless people use used material to become a signage to make money for whatever purpose.
The image and text on that cardboard make me think about low arts which simply use scribbled cartoon and text to express his need for help. Then I think it would be very interesting to combine the idea of using recycled material and transform the original signage to an installation. I accidentally pick up a huge box in my neighborhood, the box is a long and narrow box come from MUJI house ware store. On the narrow side of the box has the image show it has cabinet inside it. In order to make the box become an installation, I start to make the 2D image to 3D. The idea is to extrude the 2D image to a drawer. Suddenly, the scraped box becomes street furniture that Homeless people can carry very easily. And for the original signage, it still becomes part of the installation.
After I finished the “Space Drawer”, I was so excited to put the installation on the street but kind of confused what kind of role should I be in this installation.
Initially, I want to put the camera within the installation and see how people react to this installation without any interference. But for the technical issue, I could not let this happen. (The box is too light, and I also don’t want to lose my camera.)
In the end, I still decide to sitting next to the “Space Drawer”. The place I choose to put my installation is Time Square subway station. Amazingly, the installation actually works pretty well. People start to pay attention to the installation. Maybe the drawer is somewhat too well design, the way people look at the box is kind of bizarre and confused. Also, the way I dress is also confused them, they don’t even think I’m a homeless people a bit. The place I put the installation is right next to a street singer. Surprisingly, the money I raise is more than he did.
http://vimeo.com/5698193
The intriguing thing I think in this installation is it shows very strong contrast. The signage is so shabby and the space drawer is relatively in very good shape and well-design. That’s what confused people, but it is also very funny to see how people react to the installation. In my point of view, this installation is a piece that combines street low art (graffiti) and normal art(design color, proportion) which also involve my act in it. These three things make the installation have a little bit of action art flavor.
