Inside...

This is my representation of life: The glass balls are each the representation of a life, and its fragility. 

The cabinet is filled with these so their surfaces are all in contact with at least one other ball signifying how each life touches the lives of others.

It also represents how cause and effect can affect more than one life at a time simultaneously yet all are confined within the constraints of the concept of determinism.

Before During and After

My cabinet Before, During and After. I wanted the exterior of the cabinet to represent a vessel such as a bottle thrown into the sea to communicate the idea of it containing a message, hence its washed up, driftwood look. I also incorporated a cork into the door (you can just about see it under the hole) to reinforce the aesthetics of a bottle.

The exterior is a representation of determinism and its constraints on life, with the notion of the cause and effects happening within the concept.

The ribbon is a representation of life: you don't know how long it will go on for, and once you have travelled along it you cant put it back in or change your decision to continue along its path. Life, or time, is the byproduct of the cause and effect of determinism.

I like how the instructions are attached to the ribbon to signify the contents of the vessel being extracted as you read the message, the start point or a new chain reaction, (the ribbon is on a reel so as you pull it it seems to go on forever).

Instructions

Finally I decided not everyone will be as well informed about the concept of determinism as me due to the amount of in-depth research I have under taken, so a more self explanatory approach should be adopted. I finally came up with this; although the first sentence is the quote by VOLTAIRE.

Chance is a word void of sense; nothing can exist without a cause.

The concept being life is confined within the constraints of determinism.

The decisions you make here after are a result of preceding events.

Chance Related Quotes

Chance is a word void of sense; nothing can exist without a cause.
~ VOLTAIRE

Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.
~ WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN

Almost everything you do will seem insignificant, but it is most important that you do it.
~ MAHATMA GANDHI

Chance; A continuum of the movement of a butterfly's wings in Brazil.
~ LIBERTY (ME!)


For the project outcome one of the criteria is to produce a set of instructions for your designed conceptual method of production but since I haven't created a method as I spent the whole project proving there was no such thing as chance I was going to simply present quotes arguing my point.

Silkscreen

This is a silkscreen print of my tessellated zodiac design which I used on the inside of the cabinet door, then spray painted over with white paint to give it a softer more whimsical effect. I also purchased a pyrography pen which I experimented with but haven't actually used on my final piece although will use in the future.

The Adjustment Bureau

The film The Adjustment Bureau envisions a world in which human actions are directed, though not quite determined, by a combination of chance, free will and an unknown entity called 'The Chairman'. It is a quasi-religious power that influences human actions through the intervention of a minion of 'clerks' who alter circumstances in order to keep the human events in line with 'the plan'. One of the clerks, 'The Hammer' says in the film;

"You do not have free will. You have the appearance of free will."

The film may appear to represent fatalism (working towards a finishing point) but I believe it is more to do with Determinism as the 'ripple effect' mentioned in the film is describing the events as cause and effect or a chain reaction. 

Other Artists

Seb Cox 

Rupert Blanchard

Both these artists are great, although not really relevant to this project but will definitely remember for future reference!!