“Wildfires ran rampant throughout the American West during the summer of 2000. This picture of a pair of cow elk framed in a wildfire near Sula, Mont., was taken Aug. 6 — but it took until mid-September for journalists to track down who actually snapped the picture, fire behavior analyst John McColgan.”
 | The contrast in scale between between consumer products we use in the home and the industry that produces them is I think absurd – massive industrial activity devoted to making objects which enable us, the consumer, to toast bread more efficiently. These items betray no trace of their providence. So are toasters ridiculous? It depends on the scale at which you look. Looking close up, a desire (for toast) and the fulfilment of that desire is totally reasonable. Perhaps the majority of human activity can be reduced to a desire to make life more comfortable for ourselves, and has thus far led to being able to buy a toaster for £3.99 [among other achievements]. But looking at toasters in relation to global industry, at a moment in time when the effects of our industry are no longer trivial compared to the insignificant when our, they seem unreasonable. I think our position is ambiguous - the scale of industry involved in making a toaster [etc.] is ridiculous but at the same time the chain of discoveries and small technological developments that occurred along the way make it entirely reasonable. |
About the artist: “I’m in the final year of the MA Design Interactions at the Royal College of Art.” Check his other projects at his officiel website.
“Apollo 11 plasma glow during reentry.”
