"Boxstillation" and the war on packaging

Authors

  • Kay Cowley

Abstract

Deconstructed and reconstructed packaging materials create an installation of plastic netting; suspended and piled-up boxes lit by ultra-violet and LED lighting. Post-World War text, Cargo (DF), parodies names of everyday commodities, as text cues prompt the participation of a comedian, the Merry Prankster, in a satire of the contemporary "shopping experience". An urban soundscape of random African suburban sounds forms the auditory backdrop to the comedian's humor and actions. The performance, and documentation thereof, including any subsequent interactions, is recorded and played back with the installation. Through humor, observation (and hopefully participation in a mock shopping experience) the observers experience and question their role in either contributing to packaging waste or consider taking a stand as conscientious consumers. It is through consumer participation that the global populace determines the levels of pollution and environmental degradation of their home, planet Earth. Wake up and see the garbage!

Full text at ACM

Published

2012-09-01

Issue

Section

SESSION: Short Papers, Industry Cases, Workshop Descriptions, Doctoral Consortium papers, and Keynote abstracts