Exposed: Black Box & Crystal Ball
Invitation (proposal) for the ‘contemporary media art project in public plaes [in London]’
2006
What are the assets of this project to exploit?
unconventional intervention in the city (the works will be displayed in various places in London, including Harrods department store);
the great, (perhaps intentionally) obscure and mysterious title.
Then the design should…
suggest the project’s located-ness;
imply some aspects of the venue(s);
be intriguingly obscure, without any typical, direct references to the medium (no obvious signs of ‘media art’; no techno-aesthetics).
What is the most famous black box?
Flight data recorder.
What is the actual color of it?
Orange.
Can the actual locations of the project be incorporated into the overall graphic identity?
Yes, by showing the spots only, disembodied from the actual city-map.
Anything to add?
A flight data recorder usually has two parallel, thick white diagonal lines, which may be introduced to the design as a signature element. When applied to invitation, for example, they accidentally look like rays of light, cutting across the borders.
The design has not been implemented because, according to the organizers of the exhibition, it looked ‘too pretty, too commercial’.