Black Box
A black box is a device, system or object which can be viewed in terms of its inputs and outputs without any knowledge of its internal workings. And almost every act in daily life involves processes in a black box. One of the direct consequences of a process-in-a-black-box is the isolation of affect, which is a defense mechanism.
However, it sometimes derives into many other social problems because it aggravates lack of empathy. The deities act as their will and bring miracles or plagues. Thus, to some extent, they are “black boxes” as well. But one of the significant differences between deities and black boxes is that they are not under control.
On contrary, the black box is under full control of man. With an input of an “X”, it outputs a “Y”. For an ordinary person, no matter as a client using a black box or a follower of a deity, he knows nothing about the inner
mechanism, yet his attitude is totally different.
Therefore, our ways to treat with black boxes are changing, that is we ask for reliable inputs and outputs. People are treated as machines and are ordering others like babies.
People are in black box.
This is a vending machine before a wall with the graffiti of Jesus on it. Of course, the supply is enough for 5000 people. Everyone is tapping the screen to get food and take it as granted.
They are doing the same thing as they did two thousand years ago. The difference is that they do not pray anymore, and they do not feel grateful. THEY GET WHAT THEY WANT, like spoiled children.
This is a blender called Athena 01. With a press, it mixes up mice and fund and pours out data and papers.
It is intended to say that it always happens that we students do not know anything about the mechanism of the algorithms or the software we’re using to analyze data, thus sometimes we do not know the meaning of the outputs. It is often the case in engineering or practical science researches that “I know how to do it but I don’t know why.” There are few differences between some boffins and workers on the assembly line.
Hermes, the god of heralds and trickery. The frame consists of screens and news. News breaks out in like a Jack in the box. And the eyes and ears are all turned into mouths, showing the god is now blind and deaf and full of propaganda.
Beauty is no longer fixed; it has become a Rubik’s Cube—an object of infinite permutations, shaped by context, intention, and perspective.
Introduction & Research
A black box is a device, system or object which can be viewed in terms of its inputs and outputs without any knowledge of its internal workings. And almost every act in daily life involves processes in a black box. One of the direct consequences of a process-in-a-black-box is the isolation of affect, which is a defense mechanism.
However, it sometimes derives into many other social problems because it aggravates lack of empathy. The deities act as their will and bring miracles or plagues. Thus, to some extent, they are “black boxes” as well. But one of the significant differences between deities and black boxes is that they are not under control.
On contrary, the black box is under full control of man. With an input of an “X”, it outputs a “Y”. For an ordinary person, no matter as a client using a black box or a follower of a deity, he knows nothing about the inner
mechanism, yet his attitude is totally different.
Therefore, our ways to treat with black boxes are changing, that is we ask for reliable inputs and outputs. People are treated as machines and are ordering others like babies.
Therefore I would like to combine the images of deities and machines together to describe what I see. The stress falls on the idea that “human are black boxes” in the end.
Inspiration
Initially, I envisioned placing machinery and divinity on opposite sides of the artwork—one side mechanical, the other a bleeding god. Later, I realized I could print both images on the same surface using a lenticular format.
That led me to think of playing cards—one side entirely black, the other featuring ornamental illustrations. The face cards depict divine figures, while the number cards portray mechanical workers. Ultimately, the whole set is designed to take the form of a small black box.
The connection between the card game and the black box still felt too loose. So I imagined the black box coexisting with the artwork in a shared scene—perhaps a crowded street filled with graffiti. A single image felt too flat, so I searched for photos of old pedestrian streets and realized the architecture could be layered like planes. That led me to the idea of creating a tunnel painting.
But it was difficult to manage the perspective and composition that way. Then I realized that architecture itself could be constructed from multiple black boxes. So I decided to create a miniature, three-dimensional light installation—a surreal street scene, with divine graffiti on the walls and clusters of small black boxes lining the road.
Drafts
Therefore I would like to combine the images of deities and machines together to describe what I see.
Science research as an industry.
Inspired by words from one of my classmates saying “I feel labs like machines, you put in mice and money, papers come out.” It sounds like labs are blenders.
Information with no thoughts.
Jack in the box is similar to messages popping out. The eyes and ears of Hermes are all deformed into mouths.
Inspired by a scene in Blade Runner 2049 that a crowd is gathering before a huge vending machine for food. I want to combine it with the feeding of the five thousand.
Final Delivery
