Do:
Make a machine that makes marks and creates images/pictures/abstract drawings.
Include a switch.
The tutorial in class will explore basic construction, but the assembly is a craft operation, with your choice of materials.
Work in pairs.
Materials: hobby motors, battery packs, conductors, craft materials
How:
First, learn to make the motor run. Try different types of hobby motors.
Next, play with support structures and mark-making possibilities.
Iterate your design to amplify the affordances of the motor and marking materials you’ve chosen.
Surprise: BEWARE COMPLACENCY. What can you control? What emerges in and with the material conversations. How does process connect meaningfully with product?
Why:
Why do we make marks?
When do “marks” become pictures?
Where does the desire for pictures come from?
How does “expression” get attached to that desire?
If a machine makes marks, does it also have desire?
Why or why not?
This Material Inquiry was the most hysterical (because you have to laugh through the tears sometimes) and the most frustrating. It really wasn't a tearful experience, but let's face it, not getting what you want sometimes is hard, even for adults.
The motors and batteries were simple to use, just connect and go. I can see this being easy, even for a first grader. Construction and result were the most difficult. I would have to suggest at least 4th grade or up, only because you have to have a lot of patience and determination to keep trying after repeated failures.
We were all given adjectives for our mark making machines to convey. My partner and I were given the word ANGRY I envisioned heavy short zig-zag lines back and forth on the page.
Want and get were two different things. We started with two pencils taped together in opposite directions, they worked initially.
The construction held up , but needed some modification to withstand the durability of repeated use, the pencils after repeated spins kept slipping down over the small spinning part of the top of the motor restricting it from moving. We used broken popsicle sticks to fashion a lift to hold it in place, but then it was too heavy. Marks were made on the paper, so in that regard we were successful, however the marks were too delicate and didn't embody the term ANGRY. It was time to re-visited the drawing board.(pun-intended)
We went to look at the displays and gather ideas for a different tactic.
Poking the motor top through the cup with support of another underneath looked like a good possibility. It meant different marks would be made because the marking materials would require different positioning. That was disappointing because it would change the design of our model and I wanted it to be different, so many other designs looked like this. (Sometimes tried and true works?)
To help balance the device and reinforce the ability to move in motion with the spinner we anchored the top with two popsicle sticks. Keeping them on there was tricky to say the least. We tried rubber bands, tape, binder clips... 2 binder clips...3 binder clips...
We tried multiple times to get the popsicle sticks to stay mounted to the top of the motor, but they kept flying off. We were growing really frustrated and pretty soon we were going to need to put on some safety goggles before someone lost an eye.
The pressure was building because time was running out. Other students were finished, they were creative and successful while ours was basically a copy of Justice’s which only worked for seconds until the top flew off. Fail. I felt defeated and embarrassed that ours was so basic. Time to present. Preparing to be humiliated I was shocked it worked, the review was successful and a fellow classmate said it looked like we were holding an ANGRY dog on a leash. Wow, relief! I would love to show you a video of the completed mission however, it hasn’t worked since. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, what matters the most here is, we never gave up and we were able to laugh through the whole process.
