In our lives today, we think of repetition as a bad thing. Repetition is monotonous and boring. Who can live their lives with repetition? Designers thinking outside of the box use ordinary items repetitively to make something new: a rebirth, a second life. This is when repetition becomes interesting. New objects can be made using everyday items such as buttons, bowls, spoons, quarters, etc. Repetition of parts are what makes a whole.

Rebirths of ordinary items are showcased at the Museum of Art and Design. Some pieces stood out from the rest. Johnny Swing’s piece made of quarters was astonishing. Quarters are usually used as money in exchange for a commodity. In this case, it is used to make a lounge chair instead of purchasing one. Swing wanted to show the “relationship between art and commerce”. If the lounge chair is looked at from a distance, it looks like a modern piece of furniture. When closely examined, it really is a bunch of quarters glued together. Without these individual parts (quarters), the lounge chair cannot be established. You can really say this piece of art is worth something.

Tara Donovan’s piece (Bluffs) is an excellent example of making something ordinary into an extraordinary art form. The piece looks like corals glistening underwater or crystals sparkling in the light. It is actually made up of regular shirt buttons. Each button (part) is stacked in an orderly, but messy pile making the corals (whole). Each individual button is needed to add to the glowing effect and construction of the corals. This sort of repetition works, is interesting, and unexpected.

Teresa Agnew’s Portrait of a Textile Worker is a strong piece depicting parts in a whole. It is made from thread, fabric backing, and clothing labels. The clothing labels link to the textile worker. They resemble the garments she has made at the factory. People purchase clothes recognizing the designer, but the workers are forgotten. The workers are also a big part of the final garment. Without them, there is no final garment. Agnew feels that these workers are too unknown and needs to be recognized. This particular worker is a women in Bangladesh. Agnew used thirty thousand clothing labels such as GAP, Hugo Boss, Kenneth Cole, Nike, and took two years of time stitching it together. Famous name brands are used because these brands are associated mainly with the fashion designer and no one else. It’s great to see recognition for the women’s hard work.

This exhibition features real life objects. It got me thinking about flash objects. Everything is made up of parts. Every part is linked together to make a whole such as an interactive movie or slideshow. The entire slideshow would not work as planned if an element is missing. Symbols can be used repetitively on the stage to make something new. Shapes like squares can be used repetitively to compile a new image/animation.

Making something new out of ordinary objects is like recycling and giving it a second life as a work of art. These objects are parts making up a whole. Just like atoms (part) making up matter (whole). Just like symbols making up a movie clip. Everything is connected, but when a link is broken, everything fails and the connection is lost.