I'll put that box inside another box, and mail it to myself, and smash it with a hammer
July 11, 2011 3:01 PM Subscribe
Fill in the blanks so I can make a fun art project for a friend:
Life, Death, Time, Space, ____, ____.
In the fine tradition of getting way too carried away with things I have an internet friend with whom I've recently exchanged mailing addresses in the interest of becoming penpals/mailart buddies, and I'm getting to work on the first thing I'm going to send to her.
It's a small papier mache box with six slightly-smaller-than-a-film-canister cylindrical boxes inside of it. I like to be rather silly and esoteric so each interior box will have a symbol painted on the lid and the contents will be related.
"Death" is a tiny little Dia de los Muertos skeleton I'll attach a ribbon to for a necklace. "Life" will be a tiny wire and leaf-sequin tree. "Time" is full of watch findings and 100 watch hands in a little stoppered capsule (I may make these into hair thingies of some sort). I'm not sure about "Space" yet, but possibly a cool looking key and lock with chalk? (Like, you know, L-space, fairytale conventions, draw a door on the wall, insert key, make your own space, kinda.) Maybe something about stars?
I've been kicking around something shmoopy like "love" and "magic" for the last two boxes, but they don't please me that much. I feel like there's probably a pre-existing fantastical system or silly philosophical concept that involves six elements like this that I can crib from, but as soon as my brain starts thinking about elements I trail off into D&D and get stuck on fire/water/earth things and that's an angle I'm specifically avoiding.
One cylinder should have a message scrolled up inside it, so if one of the blanks could be something about communication or words or something, that would work swimmingly, but I'm not sure what its counterpart would be. And if nothing fits I can always put the message flat on the bottom of the bigger box.
Clearly, I am overthinking this and am probably missing something obvious. Any ideas?
In the fine tradition of getting way too carried away with things I have an internet friend with whom I've recently exchanged mailing addresses in the interest of becoming penpals/mailart buddies, and I'm getting to work on the first thing I'm going to send to her.
It's a small papier mache box with six slightly-smaller-than-a-film-canister cylindrical boxes inside of it. I like to be rather silly and esoteric so each interior box will have a symbol painted on the lid and the contents will be related.
"Death" is a tiny little Dia de los Muertos skeleton I'll attach a ribbon to for a necklace. "Life" will be a tiny wire and leaf-sequin tree. "Time" is full of watch findings and 100 watch hands in a little stoppered capsule (I may make these into hair thingies of some sort). I'm not sure about "Space" yet, but possibly a cool looking key and lock with chalk? (Like, you know, L-space, fairytale conventions, draw a door on the wall, insert key, make your own space, kinda.) Maybe something about stars?
I've been kicking around something shmoopy like "love" and "magic" for the last two boxes, but they don't please me that much. I feel like there's probably a pre-existing fantastical system or silly philosophical concept that involves six elements like this that I can crib from, but as soon as my brain starts thinking about elements I trail off into D&D and get stuck on fire/water/earth things and that's an angle I'm specifically avoiding.
One cylinder should have a message scrolled up inside it, so if one of the blanks could be something about communication or words or something, that would work swimmingly, but I'm not sure what its counterpart would be. And if nothing fits I can always put the message flat on the bottom of the bigger box.
Clearly, I am overthinking this and am probably missing something obvious. Any ideas?
Good/Evil?
posted by Perplexity at 3:04 PM on July 11, 2011
posted by Perplexity at 3:04 PM on July 11, 2011
form/content
part/whole
sense/nonsense
matter/energy
posted by demonic winged headgear at 3:11 PM on July 11, 2011
part/whole
sense/nonsense
matter/energy
posted by demonic winged headgear at 3:11 PM on July 11, 2011
Order would be the note you have planned; chaos would be random scraps of crap not held in a container.
posted by macadamiaranch at 3:23 PM on July 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by macadamiaranch at 3:23 PM on July 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
When I hear "Death" in terms of the big constants, I instantly think Taxes. And opposite of taxes... welll.. Charity? Love? I realize you've dismissed that last one as too schmoopy, but maybe the right context would help?
posted by straw at 3:44 PM on July 11, 2011
posted by straw at 3:44 PM on July 11, 2011
God, Science
posted by BlueScreen at 3:44 PM on July 11, 2011
posted by BlueScreen at 3:44 PM on July 11, 2011
Heaven/Earth
(Or to save on postage you could poison her. Too bad I don't know how to make extract of llama... Love the title.)
posted by artychoke at 3:55 PM on July 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
(Or to save on postage you could poison her. Too bad I don't know how to make extract of llama... Love the title.)
posted by artychoke at 3:55 PM on July 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
Beer, pretzels. Duh.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 4:04 PM on July 11, 2011
posted by ZenMasterThis at 4:04 PM on July 11, 2011
Gravity, matter.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 4:25 PM on July 11, 2011
posted by obiwanwasabi at 4:25 PM on July 11, 2011
Order/Entropy is good. What about Words/Numbers?
posted by en forme de poire at 4:37 PM on July 11, 2011
posted by en forme de poire at 4:37 PM on July 11, 2011
Alternatives: Signal/Noise. Input/Output (put your note in "Output" and some cool stamps in "Input"?). Structure/Post-Structure (your note and a deconstruction of your note?). Semantic/Asemic (your note plus some asemic writing).
posted by en forme de poire at 4:42 PM on July 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by en forme de poire at 4:42 PM on July 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
Order/Chaos was the first thing to pop into my head.
This is cool, would love to see pictures
posted by MuChao at 6:10 PM on July 11, 2011
This is cool, would love to see pictures
posted by MuChao at 6:10 PM on July 11, 2011
Ninja/Pirate
posted by Aversion Therapy at 6:55 PM on July 11, 2011
posted by Aversion Therapy at 6:55 PM on July 11, 2011
Creation/Destruction (or pizza/beer I dont judge..)
posted by Pink Fuzzy Bunny at 8:52 PM on July 11, 2011
posted by Pink Fuzzy Bunny at 8:52 PM on July 11, 2011
words/silence (i also like words/numbers from above)
sacred/mundane
mind/body (i like this because it's kind of science-y like space/time)
hands/heart
some unmatched concepts which come to mind are:
beauty, truth, soul
sounds like a great project!
posted by dahliachewswell at 8:59 PM on July 11, 2011
sacred/mundane
mind/body (i like this because it's kind of science-y like space/time)
hands/heart
some unmatched concepts which come to mind are:
beauty, truth, soul
sounds like a great project!
posted by dahliachewswell at 8:59 PM on July 11, 2011
Rock and Roll!
posted by XhaustedProphet at 10:54 PM on July 11, 2011
posted by XhaustedProphet at 10:54 PM on July 11, 2011
Comedy/Tragedy
posted by a humble nudibranch at 11:02 PM on July 11, 2011
posted by a humble nudibranch at 11:02 PM on July 11, 2011
Gravity/Levity
posted by a humble nudibranch at 11:04 PM on July 11, 2011
posted by a humble nudibranch at 11:04 PM on July 11, 2011
Empty/Full
White/Black
Dark/Light
Reason/Emotion
Words/Images
Loud/Silence
Created/Found
Create/Destroy
Peace/Strife
Beginning/End
posted by everyday_naturalist at 5:13 PM on July 12, 2011
White/Black
Dark/Light
Reason/Emotion
Words/Images
Loud/Silence
Created/Found
Create/Destroy
Peace/Strife
Beginning/End
posted by everyday_naturalist at 5:13 PM on July 12, 2011
Memory/Meaning
posted by catatethebird at 5:26 PM on July 12, 2011
posted by catatethebird at 5:26 PM on July 12, 2011
They've already been mentioned, but I second:
Energy/Matter
Body/Mind
Noise/Silence
And how about
Sense/Nonsense
posted by Paris Elk at 3:42 AM on July 14, 2011
Energy/Matter
Body/Mind
Noise/Silence
And how about
Sense/Nonsense
posted by Paris Elk at 3:42 AM on July 14, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Jairus at 3:04 PM on July 11, 2011 [2 favorites]