full circle

proposal for interactive sculpture, 2013

Taking a familiar play-structure and through a simple rotation giving it a new logic and spatial arrangement endows it with the possibility to spur communication and dialogue between its users. No longer partaking in parallel movement as on a typical swing-set, the users of FULL CIRCLE will be confronted and involved in a playful dialogue. The individual user will further decide whether to face into or outside the circle, thus determining his or her level of interaction with other individuals and the artwork. 

While overtly referencing playground equipment, the artwork bears a more subtle allusion to more charged seating arrangements. Symbolic round tables are often found in political situations where powerful individuals come to make decisions of consequence. While this layer of reference to governmental and corporate power structures is a potent parallel to the interaction of ordinary citizens as mediated through the artwork, it is nevertheless a subtle undertone.

A critical quality of abstraction takes the spatial arrangement of a round swing-set beyond its roots. Each of the components and their connections will be analysed and distilled to its most simple form and the whole assemblage will be treated in a monochromatic finish to achieve an overall sense of uniformity. This abstraction through simplification will have the effect of flattening the swing set when viewed from a distance so that it will appear to be a two-dimensional drawing from afar. Only as the viewer approaches will it become apparent that the artwork is in fact a fully-functioning three-dimensional swing set.