The Cube Gallery-Manchester

Designed Disorder Exhibition

Designed Disorder proposes absurd and practical solutions into future implications and changes that may occure from a future designed by engineering nd science. For example, how we behave, mass consume, self medicate and travel.


The Toaster Project
Thomas Thwaites
2008

"I'm Thomas Thwaites and I'm trying to build a toaster, from scratch-beginning by mining the raw materials and ending with a product that Argos sells for only £3.99."

Have we passed the point at which we have stopped being able to make the objects that surround us? Is it possible to produce a simple everyday mass produced Argos toaster by hand? Or is this proposition absurd-what are the difficulties and costs we face?

For nine months, Thwaites to dusused mines around Britain, digging up raw materials, processing and forming them into a hand crafted pastiche of a toaster. The contrast in scale between products sold to consumers and the industry that produces them, Thwaites believes is ridiculous. Thwaites has taken to example of a toaster. The massive industrial activity devoted to making objects which enable the consumer to toast bread more efficiently. He compares the desire and fulfillment of a toaster in relation to the global industry.

Red Goods
James Chamber
2010

From the 1960s onwards, research has shown that the exposure to media violence leads to increased aggression. Red Goods are a range of products which allow individuals to enjoy media violence in a safe way, by providing an outlet for physical aggression. They provide surrogacy for aggressive tendancies. For example, the 'Strange Poise Lamp' is a floor lamp which mimics the action of someone strangling someone to death. Smoke alarms can be turned off by punching them.

I think that it is a good idea because they are useful outlets for excessive aggresive energy. We can enact our violent fantasies and channel some of our pent up aggression. I would not say I have an aggressive nature, but I believe that if people do, it is a clever way to release their anger.

Affective Sensory Extensions
Bjorn Franke
2006

A short film and collection of three wearable devices that monitor health related information concerning the user's body. The devices create an immediate and unpleasant experience by anticipating the long term affects of the user's behaviour. The devices are:

'Stressed Device'
Measures the user's stress levels and starts to scratch unpleasantly to force the user to wind down.

'Cramped Device'
Measures body postures and induces an artificial cramp if the user's position is too static or unhealthy.

'Sunburned Device'
Measures the sun's radiation and creates artificial sunburn to force the user to leave the sun.

I think this is a practical and preferable solution to these health issues. I think it is a good idea to help in the decrease of stress levels, body pain caused by poor posture and sunburn.

I Live on the Edge, A Cupcake Away From A Coma
James Gilpin
2010

Millions worldwide experience Type 1 diabetes. James Gilpin is a Type 1 diabetic and has used his direct personal experience of living with the condition to inform his work this year. Diabetic patients produce a large scale of sugar in their urine. Can this be recycled to make whisky? I think it can help diabetics turn their condition into an advantage.






James Chambers
Red Goods
2010

Thomas Thwaites

The Toaster Project

2009