Statement of Intent
For this project, our aim was to create a representation of the hidden (or not really so hidden) truths behind the carnival and its expansive history, and the aspects of this tradition that lie behind fragile facades beyond which we are not meant to see. The carousel was one of the earliest additions to the traditional carnival that is recognized widely across western societies today. As a result, although it has remained relatively consistent in its original concepts, style, and function, it has been present within much of the history of the carnival, with a view of both sides of the inner workings of its history. One of the main ways in which we emphasized these two contrasting realities in our design was through the use of bright, primary colors traditionally used within a carnival setting on the outer facade, and a dark, foreboding application of these colors accompanied by a heavy use of black on the interior. By placing the structure on the head, the wearer takes the position of the insider; those behind or with knowledge of the less desirable aspects of the carnival’s past and present inner workings. The individual wearing the headpiece sees the brightly decorated horses seen by outsiders on the carousel as only skeletons, their gold poles worn and discolored. The decorative panels are impacted similarly by a clearer, more advantaged view, with the inner sides becoming either black or splotchy, with tape placed over the area on which they are attached; a suggestion of the temporary intention of such carnival structures. Those on the outside are able to get only a glimpse into the space behind the bright and colorful decoration on the exterior, only being able to truly see what lies behind if they take on the position of the wearer. They can also take a position above the wearer, where they would be able to gaze down into the space between the tent and outer panels, continuing to play into the idea of the ways in which those in higher positions keep their true intentions from those looking from plain view, even when the truths are right in front of them.
Ideation
The ideation process was started in class by means of a timed exercise, in which each group created a body augmentation based on a randomly selected body part, concept, and aspect of the carnival setting. The three prompts my partner and I received were arms, “dirty money”, and ring toss. From this prompt, we had two hours to develop and construct an idea.
Following this exercise, we definitely had more of a grasp on the underlying concept of the project, and had a clearer idea of how to communicate such things through augmentation and costume ideas. Our next priority was to brainstorm our own ideas and concepts, which occurred mainly through quick sketching as we discussed.
We also looked into AI as a class, which attempted to use to build more inspiration. The results were definitely not as helpful as we maybe expected, but it was still an interesting exploration and something I kept on hand throughout this process. It was especially interesting to see some the characteristic visuals of these AI – generated images, specifically how when you looked closely at many of them, you can see sort of the the inner-workings, or places where images were almost stacked and pasted together. Something is always slightly “off” with the images, no matter how photorealistic or convincing they might be. I found this to be a notable conceptual overlap later on iteration.
We found that the concepts we were generating seemed to center primarily around the general hidden darkness behind the fun and idyllic facade of carnivals, and how these deceptions are truly different from the different perspectives we hold in society. We were especially interested in aspects of consumerism, exploitation, and how those most powerful, who don’t have the best interests of others in mind have used these things to create some of our fondest forms of entertainment. We were able to narrow-down our concepts to two potential options, which we created more in-depth sketches exploring.
The final ideas we were debating between were a more mechanical, roller-coaster inspired design that circled around the body, and a carousel-inspired hat, the inside and outside of which would be representative of the face-value presented to the masses by the carnival’s inner workings. After testing with the mechanics of the roller-coaster inspired concept, especially with a mechanism that might allow for two sides of an object to switch between each other seamlessly, we decided it would be more effective to continue on with our carousel-hat design, as we felt its concept was developing more strongly, and its mechanisms would be more attainable within the given timeline. We then began the process of further synthesizing this concept, and creating more sketches and plans for how we would kick-off production.
Iteration/Production
Production began with planning for which mechanisms we wanted to include, as well as how we would split up tasks to create our final product as efficiently as possible.
We decided that my partner would focus on building our spinning mechanism, while I would focus more on concept and design of the composition. We communicated back and forth during this process to make certain decisions, especially when it came to the sizing of the main octagon structure, which would hold the decorative panels and act as a support for the carousel horses to hang down from.
As my partner worked on the spinning mechanism of the carousel, I gathered inspiration and research into colors traditionally associated with the carnival, and other aesthetic aspects to influence the visual design of the carousel facade. I ended up deciding to work with the three primary colors; red, yellow, and blue, to keep the design as typical and traditional of a carnival setting as possible. The aim of the outer face of the structure is to appear nostalgically and almost cartoonish and playfully recognizable, inspired by the typical associations one might have with a carousel and its place in the carnival setting as a whole. I also conducted further exploration with AI, just to see how certain characteristics might provide additional visual influence to our concept.
From here, I created Illustrator files for the designs of the decorative panels that would make up each side of the carousel’s octagonal overhead frame. We initially planned to print each panel and attach it to chipboard, but we decided to use layered paper instead, so as to minimize the weight of the structure. My partner ended up adding an additional set of supports on the interior of the outer frame, as we were concerned about the weight-bearing capabilities of the structure, especially when sitting on the head. I printed each of the panels, adjusting the files according to the sizing of the finished spinning mechanism to account for any uneven side lengths, potential gaps between panels, etc.
I also worked on testing and constructing the hat that would support the overall structure upon the head of the wearer, using recycled cardboard as one of our planar materials. I started with a cross-over design, which we decided would not be sturdy enough when compared to the main chipboard structure. However, using this same concept I was able to create a sturdier version of this using parts of chipboard layered with cardboard to create a more sturdy, square, yet still flexible design. This, combined with the hat’s adjustable back would allow for a flexible, yet sturdy structure that ended up supporting the final structure perfectly. I painted the cardboard red once this was finalized, as it would be openly visible from the outside, to create a coordinating, but not distracting background for the carousel horses in front.
I continued using the DALL-E art generator, and was able to generate a decent inmate of a carousel horse to use as a reference for tracing a silhouette on Illustrator. I added a pole to this outline, with two different lengths that would alternate to create the illusion of up-and-down movement when the spinning mechanism is activated. I used the laser cutter to cut sixteen of these outlines in total in chipboard, so that each side of the octagonal structure would have one horse with two separate sides.
Next, I used the same outlined horse silhouettes to create designs to print and attach to the chipboard horses, one a traditionally-styled carousel horse and the other a skeleton of a horse, as prototyped earlier in iteration, implementing the same primary color scheme and horse design used in the decorative panels. We decided to include four different horse color variations, just to add variety in a way that would maintain overall consistency through the still-identical costumes.
I then printed these designs, and we glued each to an individual chipboard horse cut-out, making sure each horse had a matching skeleton version of itself to be glued to the opposite side of it’s pole. After attaching these to the chipboard poles that my partner hand-cut, I added rounded tips to the end of each pole and painted the front sides with a metallic gold paint, and the insides with a mix of metallic gold, black, and red to create a dark rusted, almost decaying look.
I also painted the underside of the main structural supports this same dark mix of colors, and painted the upper part of them, visible from a top view of the piece, the same red of the hat, just to continue this element of contrast throughout.
The horses were then strung onto the outstretching supports of the central spinning octagon, which allowed us to attach additional pieces between each support that would hold the decorative panels. Next, we attached the decorative panels after I resized them in Illustrator according to the side lengths of the octagon. We ended up being glad we chose not to create the panels with chipboard, as they ended up being slightly too heavy for the overlying structure. To help the panels stay as the glue we used dried, we attached some tape onto the back of each panel, which ended up being something we made permanent although not needed structurally, as it emphasized the aspect of our concept relating to the temporary nature of carnival structures, and their facade of permanence and stability. I later added streaks of black paint to the backs of these panels in addition to the tape, as we wanted to further emphasize this part of the concept if one were to peer into the interior of the carousel from above.
Our finalizing piece was the overhead tent, which we decided to construct from paper to keep the challenge of limiting materials. I initially wanted this to be an octagonal tent, and did some extensive tests of constructing a tent with this shape.
However, even with a perfect octagon as a net, the shape would not work as a tent for our structure, as it would only lay in a manner that covered too wide of an area and did not appear as desired when viewed from a front-facing view, as it is intended to be initially. Through my testing, I did notice that, although it didn’t work as an octagon, when I would remove sides and/or attempt to fold the structure, it worked almost perfectly as a hexagon. Although this shape was not a perfect fit with our base structure, it ended up looking exactly as my partner and I had wanted from a front-facing view.
After discussing and finalizing our design choices, we were able to attach these final elements and photograph the final product.
Reflection
Before starting this project, I was definitely feeling a mix of excitement to collaborate with one of my peers for the first time, and some suspense as to how this new way of working on and approach a progress would play out. The collaboration aspect definitely presented some challenges in the final production stages of our project, no matter how on top of our tasks my partner and I were, and definitely had both me and my partner questioning our project’s outlook at certain points, in all honesty. However, despite any unexpected design challenges we encountered and aspects of the physical project and concept that turned out differently than we might have expected, I feel that everything came together in unexpected ways that ended up being far more interesting both visually and conceptually than if this has been an independent project.
Portfolio Project
The page showcasing my final Body Augmentation project can be found through the link below!