Backstory

Our involvement with this project has been a somewhat long and winding road, with many twists and turns, false starts and a lot of questions being raised. Here's a bit of background:

We began by having a series of discussions about the project itself, what we thought it meant to us, how it connected with our individual art practices and with TangentProjects overall. Our initial proposal, made earlier in the year, was based on what was then known as the ‘Sandwich Box Project’, and is outlined below. Initially, we were to work within the framework of The Sandwich Box, and in some ways found it problematic, as the tent aspect never seemed to connect with us. When the project evolved into The Travellers Box and that aspect was removed, we found it a lot easier to engage with the project and things began to fall into place.

Initial Proposal

Using the text of TSB, “The intention of the Sandwich Box is to challenge or make visible elements of intimate spaces and to make opportunity for direct dialogue and activity about intimate spaces” as our trajectory, we would like to explore this idea over a six month period. Although our plan at the moment is to explore the initial concept outlined above, there is every possibility it will change and evolve into something entirely different. Ideas grow out of ideas, after all, and the collaborative process is itself a series of unfolding - of ideas, exchange of ideas and negotiation.

Whatever the overall outcome, the collaborative process itself will be documented. We see this unfolding as a piece of work in its own right, and specifically in relation to TSB, it is more about the journey than the destination.

Framework

The Box -
 While keeping our ideas open and flexible, we plan to base our starting point on the box ‘object’ itself. Using the box ‘object’ as a physical manifestation of a building or dwelling, we propose to invent a series of dwellings / buildings, some of which will be actually physically made (models, in scale with the box) and others of which will be drawings, possibly of imaginary structures / dwellings / buildings which would be impossible to make in the physical world.

The Models -
 Some of the models have the possibility of being constructed from found objects and materials, while others might be scale models constructed out of lightweight wood or similar. The idea of crossover between fantasy and reality is interesting to us, as is the idea of using found objects as metaphors for other ideas.

The Drawings - The drawings might speak of imagination and the secrets of the mind. They might represent what cannot be articulated in the physical world yet are real and valid nonetheless. In one sense, the drawings can also reference the notion of ‘intimacy’ because they are by their very nature, physical manifestations of the intimate reflections of one’s imagination and how limitless that is.