I played around with big concepts. How does someone capture curiosity? How does one pursued adults to act as children? How can you get this experience from a static object such as a monument? I knew that I wanted to make a monument to childhood curiosity and I wanted the project to ask the viewers to interact with it. But how? In class, Nova and I were talking about our ideas for the project. One of us made the comment that a moving monument would be an awesome idea but it would be so problematic in the real world with it getting lost or stolen. And that's when I was hit with the inspiration for a moving monument to curiosity! How better to capture curiosity's ability to bring people to new and unexpected places then to have a monument that did just that? Explore new places. In theory, a GPS would be attached to the piece and the piece could be tracked on some sort of stationary setup or online.
From this idea I worked out various designs and ideas. I knew that I wanted to physically make a statue because I wanted to be able to work with my hands as well as actually drop the monument into public for instant audience reaction. I thought about which cartoon character that I use that would be the most inviting for the general public. I decided upon the bunny character I draw. This character is innocent, adorable and all around heart warming. After picking the character, I had to decided on the size. I knew that I wanted the rabbit to be big. Bigger than a child for sure but also big enough for an adult to feel as though she or her were a child again surround by a world bigger than her or his own self. I knew that weight would also be a factor so I had to compromise the size to a foot or two smaller than I would have liked. Next mobility. How do I get this rabbit to move? With wheels, but how? Do i make them? Can I find them already made? Do I have to make my own axles? I drew out a couple of designs for the wheel, trying to figure in balance and weight of the rabbit. While designing the mobility aspect of the monument, I also realized that I would have a problem transporting the monument to whatever location I chose. I drew out some designs that included hinges and various slits and slots so that the monument could be assembled and dissembled on site. I was hopping to make it compact enough to fit in my 2 door Hyndai Accent but that was to great a task so I settled with a design that would be able to be transported via my friend,s truck. Lastly, I thought about the location. Where would a giant bunny make the most sense? or at least be the most interesting? At first I pictured him in union square with a mass of people around him. However, I realized that moving the rabbit from the parking structure up onto street level would be to great a task. I then thought about Golden Gate park. I decided that I liked the idea of setting the giant wooden rabbit free in its "natural" habitat.
With my designs in hand I showed my dad the project. Being a carpenter himself he was able to help me finalize the design and set up a list of materials needed. The next day I went out to the store and with the help of my friend, bought and transport plywood, 2x4s and cans of paint to my house. From their I drew out and measured the materials. My dad volunteered to do the cutting of the wood (power saws are not my friends) and help create the box base. I painted the whole set and varnished the piece to make it water resistant (since its been raining off and one for the past couple of days).
After working a couple days, my friend and I loaded up the rabbit pieces and drove from Antioch to Golden Gate park. We found a good place to park and assemble the rabbit. Standing about 7 ft tall, Curiosity monument (aka Cody the Carrot Crusher) made his debut in the park. He was a hit with children and adults alike!
Here are some of the design sketches as well as the final!
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