Creating Meaning Through Chance Operations

Assignment: Make a piece using a chance operation:

1)choose a medium
2)choose a method of chance
3)make your piece

James N. Sears and I wanted to see if we could create meaningful interpretations (in the form of discourse) with our installation. We wanted to see how close we could create or control the viewers' interpretations, so they become the art piece. We chose our medium, etching a piece of Plexiglas, and used a famous children's story to make a commentary about art. Each method of chance was planted in our installation. Our complex chance operations were random meanings, and we tried to evoke that by using cliche materials like a picture frame, hangers, twine and newspapers.

In the end of this investigation, we found that our piece was "fully loaded" with meaning, and our chance operation helped us to make a statement about the elite art museums and galleries and public art. .