Page 124 - The Black Box Book

functions such as opening/closing, and zooming in/out. To avoid being
overshadowed by the spectacular graphic design, this modest design
concept highlights the content. However, the minimalist visual layout
is offset by the original design of the site’s functional features. Loading
pages, drawing in and out tabs, expanding artist information, etc., are
programmed to draw attention to themselves as a performance of a pro-
grammed medium encoded in the code of a programming language.

TH E BO X

Another challenge for the designers was the concept of an archive doc-
umenting each artist’s artworks, activities and lives. With the Black Box
archive filled with items ranging from photographs taken by professional
photographers to print screenshots? of Messenger conversations, it was
not easy to find the key to arranging them in a unified way. The folders
on the team’s Google Drive were more like an assemblage of various
records and images, connecting the art world with the everyday life of
artists. The principle of blending everyday life with artistic creation evoked
the so-called Fluxus Boxes, which members of the Fluxus movement
created.

“Fluxus boxes were a peculiar form of expression in which
the artist gathered a series of objects, cards, materials and compo-
nents and assembled them in boxes, suitcases or other containers.
The assemblage was created with multiple purposes in mind:
creating suggestions and tangible poetics by juxtaposing things was
something that the cinematographic montage had learned since
the beginning of the century, and it was also explored by musicians
such as Cage, where the sounds of known objects acted on levels Figure 4: Maciunas, G. (1967).
that are simultaneously physical, symbolic and referring to memory Flux kit. Retrieved from https://en.wiki-
and cultures.” (Iaconesi & Persico, 2010) pedia.org/wiki/Fluxus#/media/File:Flu-
xYearBox2.jpg
Influenced by this association, we conceived each artist’s page as a unique
Online Fluxus Box. The materials of different nature are placed randomly
on these sites as if stacked in a box, and each time the page is loaded,
they are spread out in a different constellation. A common element has
been labelling the items on the pages with numbers; their descriptions The design of the site interprets the name Černá skříňka / Black
can be traced to the List of Images page (see Figure 6). This section Box in both graphic and technical terms: its functional features fulfil
also includes a short, loosely conceived text in which each of the artists the purpose of being a box for preserving records of artistic creation and
described their personal experiences during the pandemic period and artists’ lives during the pandemic. However, in its formal characteristics,
provided brief biographical details. The user can, therefore, freely manipu- it also fulfils the concept of the black box as we know it from the field of
late the materials stored in the digital box, rearrange them, scroll through computing. For it offers an imaginary journey inside technology, a glimpse
them to put them in a new context, or simply search the alphabetical List into the black box of the internal processes and workings of computing.
of Images, but also enlarge and reduce individual images as needed. (see These processes are usually hidden in the background of the graphical
Figure 5) This way, it was possible to simulate the web user’s interaction interface, but in the case of the Black Box website, they are brought to
with a box full of images in which users can rummage and find their paths the surface. In this way, the Black Box claims its essence as a programmed
and meaning associations. medium (Figure 7).
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