I wanted to address the absurdity of the USA stockpiling guns and toilet roll - two very different objects driving the same human behaviour. I also wanted to reference the process of Noam Toran's 'The MacGuffin Library' which I have discussed before, using a film synopsis to help communicate. I wanted to show how crazy a time we live in by writing a synopsis for a film or narrative that has a MacGuffin, where the MacGuffin could equally be a gun or toilet paper. I also thought 'Wipe Out' would be a suitable title for my fake story.
Here are the research and planning pages in the lead up to producing my resolved response:
I wanted to come up with a format that showed the direct relationship between one thing (the synopsis) and a pair of others (the two objects). I thought of using a two-sided card or a container that revealed the synopsis with the objects on the outside. However, this missed out the idea of the two object's equal relationship with the synopsis - I really wanted this to stand out. I came up with a two-sided book idea, where a book has two covers that hold equal status, removing hierarchy or any other suggestion of which object is the real MacGuffin.
I wanted two symbols for both of my objects and wanted them to somehow mirror each other. I used collage and simple outlines to create identifiable yet simple shapes.
I didn't want the background of the language to favour either object either, so I used a 50/50 balance of black and white here too. This maintained the balance that I had achieved on the covers with the symbols.
After binding it on either side with a string that can be untied to open it both ways, the result was a small book:
This test had some parallels with the 'Faking it' project from earlier this year. They both show two different perspectives on the same story. However, in Faking it, both sides of the story contributed to the experience at the same time, while in my gun/loo paper test, the perspectives are applied on separate occasions.
Moving forward, I would like to look at actually making a physical MacGuffin prop. I have been looking at Annie Atkins' work and would like to respond to some of her stuff.
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