MAGIC #21st BOX
by Claudia Agustini, Arianna Freni and Francesca Savoldelli
Concept
Magic #21st Box is an artwork tribute to the Magic 8 Ball, a toy that started to be on the market from the 1950s. Firstly trademarked by Albert C. Carter, who was inspired by a “spiritic writing device” owned by his supposed clairvoyant mother, the medium became popularized after its physical transformation into the traditional black and white billiard 8 ball. The object was used as a fortune-telling device and it contained 20 possible previsions, which could be affirmative, negative or vague. The functioning of the toy was the following: a yes-no question about the user’s fate was asked with the display of the ball facing down (e.g., “Will I pass the next exam?”), then, by shaking the ball and moving the liquid inside, the user received a random answer, which could be clearly positive (e.g., “Yes, you will”), uncertain (e.g., “Cannot predict now”) or negative (e.g., “Don’t count on it”).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZRrg6Nl-1E
Our tribute refers to a transformation of an old medium from 1950s into a new medium coherent with the current social media century. We re-contextualised the relation of “shake-give back an answer” and transformed its goal. The idea is to let the user find out his/her 21st century hashtag, among the most significant activism hashtags of our time, spanning from human rights, to politics, to awareness raising. Our Magic #21st Ball, indeed, rather than giving back answers about the future, returns an hashtag used in the context of Internet activism. The answers we chose to be given by our installation are:
#meToo
#NoBanNoWall
#BringBackOurGirls
#BlackLivesMatter
#ClimateStrike
#StopFundingHate
#LoveisLove
#NeverAgain
Description and implementation
For the creation of our project, we used Arduino. The materials needed were the following: LCD screen, potentiometer, tilt switch, 9 volt battery, a 10 kilohm resistor and a 220 ohm resistor. The most important element to procure was the tilt switch, as it is thanks to it that a person moving the Magic #21st box will cause the text on LCD screen change. We were in possession of almost every material, so it was mainly a matter of connecting them correctly in the breadboard and use Arduino to code the responses. Due to the size of the hardware, we decided to use a squared hard-paper box, instead of a plastic ball, for the physical appearance of the object. When firstly switched on, the LCD screen will display the following text: “Find your 21st century #”. Subsequently, when the box is shaken, the LCD screen will display one of the 7 possible hashtags.
Motivation
When it comes to old media, the most immediate reference goes to traditional media such as television, radio, books, etc. Our aim was to go beyond that immediate reaction and value the perspective that anything could potentially be a medium. From that, the idea to pay tribute to the Magic 8 ball emerged, which, unlike other more common media, based its concept on the user asking questions and being given some answers. Such answers, however, were somewhat random and had no relevant value. We therefore decided to transform the magic 8 ball in a way that was faithful to its essence, but that emphasized the mediatic aspect of the toy by giving meaningful messages as responses. In order to achieve this, we decided to create a mash-up between that old medium and a phenomenon that symbolically represents the evolution of social communication through media, namely, hashtag activism.
Hashtag activism is a term coined in 2011, which refers to the use of hashtags for Internet activism, and nowadays plays an increasingly important role in social movements. Activists use hashtags to raise awareness on particular issues, to connect people and to organize movements. Hashtags can be regarded as a quick and direct way to gain supporters and to spread discussions all over the world, allowing changes to occur. As social media users, we strongly support the use of internet activism hashtags and we believe that the power of awareness is often underrated. That is why our installation has a value and aims at a specific purpose: with the evolution of technology and the advent of social media, hashtag activism is part of the future and many examples proved to have an impact in bringing voice to important issues. In conclusion, we believe that, using examples of hashtag activism might represent a new and creative way of giving new birth to an old medium, with the aim of embracing the social media as a positive and influential tool.
Photos and video about our project can be found here:
https://sites.google.com/site/newmedianewtechnology2019/portfolios/arianna/2-tribute.