I AM WHAT I WISH
INTERACTIVE INSTALLATION. STORYTELLING.
An installation intended to provoke a meaning out of a selfie by exploring the power and influence of wishes.
Created by Allison Spiegel, Jonas Escobedo, and Makenna Considine.
Installations are so incredible to me. One can immerse him or herself in a temporary world created by someone else’s imagination. Incredible.
Our installation idea came to us one day when I showed Jonas and Makenna a paper crane for a conceptual project about realizing 3D objects. I was reminiscing about a time in elementary school. I told them that my teacher taught my entire class how to fold a paper crane with the intention of folding one thousand and sending them to victims of the September 11th attacks. The one thousand cranes are based on a Japanese legend that when one folds one thousand cranes, they are granted one wish. This was the core of our concept.
Folding.
We started by folding. We folded one thousand cranes. One. Thousand. Cranes. It was extremely ambitious, but we were adamant that we needed to reach this number in order to accomplish the symbolism that would prove the installation successful. To keep storage easy, we folded the cranes to a point where their wings, head, and tail weren’t opened yet. Once we were ready to string the cranes, we went ahead and opened them all, folding them completely.
Stringing.
We realized we wouldn’t be able to string each crane individually. There would never have been enough time and there was no advantage to it. Stringing multiple cranes on a line provided a sense of fluid movement to the cranes that added to the “living feeling” of the installation as a whole. We used a needle to string fishing line through each crane’s neck allowing the crane to be upright however the string was hung up.
Hanging.
We then began to hang the pieces. We started by hanging the mirrors. We had 8 mirrors to use and we wanted the mirrors to play off each other’s reflections. Upon hanging the mirrors on the structure overhead, we realized when we brought them in at an angle towards the back, the reflections were much more successful. Up top, our structure looked like a V, four mirrors hung from each piece of the V, creating two walls of mirrors that faced each other. After we hung the mirrors, we began to hang the cranes. We created a “flock” of cranes that led the visitors into the selfie piece of the installation. We also hung a large concentration of cranes in the selfie room. There were also small silver clips on some of the strings of cranes, giving people the opportunity to make a wish and attach a crane to the installation, becoming one, live piece of work.
Takeaways.
It is possible to create a beautiful art installation in a short amount of time. Things we would change: We would have liked to play with the lighting a little more in order to give a magical energy with possibly different color lighting, and more lighting shining on the flock. We would have liked to have more fabric enclosing the entire exhibit too. Overall we were extremely happy with the outcome of our installation. We were able to make a beautiful installation that evoked a magical energy for the time that it was alive.