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Entering into Geoffrey Sirc’s “A Basic Box” activity

Entering into Geoffrey Sirc’s “A Basic Box” activity, I found myself revisiting childhood memories. Initially, upon starting this activity, it was my intention to follow Sirc’s prompt precisely as it was presented. In his prompt, he asks that students juxtapose found images with found texts. However, as I began my journey, rummaging through random Google images, I found myself veering off into another direction.

Suddenly, the overall picture of what I was creating became clear: I was going to make a display case for all the items I have lost. It was my way of preserving those items for all time. I figured if I found images that were similar to the items I had lost, I could reclaim them through memory, memory being “a man’s real possession…In nothing else is he rich, in nothing else he is poor” (Alexander Smith). I began my journey by setting out to find the perfect display case.

I needed a box that could open and close, if I was going to be successful in preserving these memories.

The text I would attach to each item, would not be random quotes to illuminate the item’s meaning but, rather, personal notes I would attach to each item. This I felt would be more meaningful to me and the viewer because, as Sirc points out in his article, the creating of the project should be “life-long.” In the article Sirc describes Jean Suquet’s reaction to Marcel Duchamp’s “The Green Box and Large Glass” Project as life changing, an “encounter” that changed “Suquet’s life.”(113).

After finding my display case, the next step was to glue in some colored paper, my choice happened to be blue. I wanted to highlight my images and texts by providing a bright color in the background.

After the initial set up phases, I began my Google search for images; however, these images were already conceptualized before I began my search, which goes against what Sirc’s project has asked. Instead of just looking though random images, choosing which ones to juxtapose together, I decided to look for specific images. I wanted to create a box filled with lost items.

I figured this amending of Sirc’s activity would be alright because Sirc did say that the images should “bestir associations” (116). Well, my images certainly succeeded in doing that. They all represented items in my life that I had lost--some more important than others.

Included in my list were socks, pets, jewelry, clothes, property, and my parent’s happy marriage. My intention was to choose images that I could associate personal feelings with. I wanted them to evoke personal feelings/attachments.

Truth is, I’ve done many text and image assignments where I have made collages that juxtaposed images and texts. This time I wanted to do something different. I made a list of personal notes to substitute the quotes Sirc’s asked us to use.

| Lost Items in a |

| |

|Found Box |

|Red- the cat that left and never came back |

|Frosty- the dog my mom gave away |

|Canary- the bird that flew away before named |

|Corduroy Black Jacket- best fit for going out |

|Sports Illustrated Grey Sweatshirt- cozy at night |

|Burgundy Blouse- also a good fit for going out |

|Lonely Socks- never a pair |

|6th Grade HW Assignment- Got in trouble because of you |

|Mother’s Engagement Ring-which was stolen by my friend |

|Mother’s Wedding Ring- also stolen by my friend |

|Amethyst Ring- Taken by me when I was 5 |

|Pearl Earring- Bought in Monterey |

|Childhood Home- a home my father sold |

|Happy Family we were before the divorce |

I organized my list by combining the like items first: pets, clothes, and jewelry. However, there were a couple items that could not be combined such as my 6th grade homework assignment, our childhood home, and my parent’s marriage. These items were organized by order of importance: homework assignment to parent’s marriage

(see sample A).

After students created their “exhibits” or found objects, they were then asked to write their commentary. This commentary was supposed to reflect on the entire process: from searching to composing. Upon finishing my creation, I discovered something about myself: I enjoy creating alternative projects. This assignment for me was very fulfilling.

Geoffrey Sirc defines “Box Logic” as

He uses Duchamp’s Green Box and The Large Glass, the collection of personal notes to illustrate his definition (111)

Text as a collection of interesting, powerful statements

Pt he’s trying to make is that the “formal requirements were left open” the “focus was on the idea behind the composition, the statement it made” (113)

Logic of the Box

Joseph Cornell, Walter Benjamin, and George Maciunas

Focuses mainly on Cornell who would make collages of found objects

While his purpose was to juxtapose fragments: “glass fragments, mirrors, and astronomical parts,” my goal was to

Readers ready to “enter an exhibit” Students as “curators” (116)

Text as box-author as collector

Activity described is for students to search for “interesting visual material” (search)

2. Student conferences / they discuss what they have or do not have

Discuss ideas evoked from images -Draw associations between

3. Juxtapose quotes and images

4. Write expressive commentary

Found images with found text

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