Discussed our workshop with  Jasper de Beijer and Mella Jaarsma in an earlier post.  One of Mella’s projects came back to me the next day, quote from Mella’s site: “Zipper Zone is an interactive artwork made out of zippers. The audience entering the space can decide which part to open and which part to close. Behind the zippers there are many things to discover: human beings and photographs. We will be ‘master of our domain’ in the sense that we are forced to decide which information we want to take and which to exclude. This zipper zone is like a reflection of urban life, overloaded with images, messages from mass media and advertisements. We have to give attention to many things, yet at the same time we have to skip, select and delete in order to survive, to stay sane. ‘Zipper Zone, master of your domain‘ is likened to Facebook, a site where you can find nonsense and surprises.”

I love  it for it’s graphic pattern and its inviting interactivity. But it came back to me because of the story Mella told us about it. When exhibited at Bandung, Java, people had to be encouraged to start opening the zippers, but once someone had started, others followed. When exhibited in – if I am correct – Seoul, people started zippering like mad, and Mella had to come back every day to up-zipper the thing.  So maybe I should try for an exhibition in Seoul – people would cuddle my artworks like mad, perhaps ???