Sunday, January 11, 2009

"Made where?"

A Modular Series in Five (Or Maybe More) Parts

Toddlers are small-scale people who are in the throes of learning to walk. This developmental stage is sometimes referred to as the "terrible twos" after the tantrums for which they are famous.

The next five days of this blog will focus on a toddler and a narrow aspect of his socialization: His interaction with, and deconstruction of modular entities otherwise considered to be "well designed" household items.

The little hands and fingers and fingernails of a toddler are akin to the unconsciously inquiring tongue of an eight-year-old during the week preceding the loss of his first tooth: The merciless lingual probing responsible for both soothing and irritating the inflamed gum area around the proverbial "loose tooth" is strikingly similar to the often unconscious, yet dogged workings of the hand and digits--turning, twisting, picking, rubbing, knocking, and banging at any object close enough, smooth enough, warm enough, cold enough, interesting enough, uninteresting enough to turn, twist, pick, rub, knock, and bang.

Here we challenge you to first consider the "context" image, and to imagine where a toddler might find weakness, movement, the potential of movement, indeed "the very modularity" within the context of the serenity of the otherwise well-designed situation. Then click to find the magic that only little hands can find!

Study 1: The Woodpile

"Context" image
"Its very modularity" image

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