the reckless abandonment of young sheldon blank, aged 3 and a half

Taking a page from the narrative currently being developed by thesis student Ken Borton, I've started to develop the story of the character during his childhood. It is an attempt to possibly gain insight into the site itself - where these mechanisms came from, their history, and the relationship of these machines to their owner.

Leading up to this project, it is important to recall the nature of the research - the mechanized grotesque and theatre of cruelty were important influences in determining that the site has enormous potential within these contexts; the story of young sheldon blank is therefore grotesque in nature, and highly mechanized.

The mechanized collage created to tell this story is comprised of a few components. Firstly, the original hole from the fence has been used as a blank stage for the piece, allowing the collage and the mechanisms to act as players. It has been painted in traditional matte black; it acts as a representation of the fence on the actual site, placing it in our physical world, but allowing the collage and the mechanisms act the story.

Sheldon's story starts in Point Douglas, in the mid 1900's. The son of a wealthy industry owner, Sheldon spent much of his infancy in the care of hired help. During these times, it was common for industry owners to reside in Point Douglas; it was close to work, and there was a strong community spirit.
As the industry started to override residential needs in the area, pollution became an increasing problem. A shift began to occur among the residents: wealthy owners started to vacate the area, leaving the lower classes to occupy the houses among the smog filled factories.

For unknown reasons, Sheldon's parents leave Point Douglas without their son. In their place, they leave a series of strange machines and mechanisms, each performing a different function, and each raising the young boy.



The Mechanized Collage: Scene One

The collage tells the beginning of Sheldon's life on his own, including the interaction with a few of the mechanisms.
A cradle gently rocks the young infant to sleep...a noise sounds, waking the child. He rises, and continues the regiment that he has begun since the day he was abandoned: sorting through the mechanized grotesques that were left behind, more is learned about his family, his past, and himself.

The imagery used in the collage was deliberately chosen: on one hand, animals like deer, turkeys, and monkeys (all present in the composition) all have various cultural symbolisms associated with them. They were chosen for their meanings, however in the surrealist fashion, I did not want to dictate the imagery and meaning that would be formulated on an individual level. They have therefore been altered in various ways, and manipulated to form a new and more personalized symbolism.

Technically:
The collage is designed to work with arduino. The cradle, a mechanism of wheels and elastic bands, crawls up and down a string, rocking the infant. When a sound triggers a switch, arduino is programmed to stop the first motor, and start another.
This motor is connected to a series of gears (thought processes and self discovery). The gears turn, eventually triggering a separate mechanism: a randomized light generator. It comprises of seven lights, 6 of which light of separate areas along the gears, illuminating various stages in the self discovery process. The 7th light is wired into the projection mechanism - when it is randomly triggered, the mechanism lights up, symbolizing Sheldon's main realization of the day.
A photocell is wired into this machine - once it picks up the light from the LED, the gear motors stop, and the cradle begins to rock again.

The system is ultimately a closed loop, taking in information from the surrounding environments to instigate movement.

Labels: mechanized grotesque, Point Douglas, theatre

posted by chelsea @ 9:44 AM