These are the transcription of video interviews between Dr. Guy Keulemans (UNSW Art & Design) and myself about my contribution to the Object Therapy project. 1 and 2 were completed before I did the project, and the rest were when I delivered the object.
The transcription has been minimally edited for clarity.
Click here to view the videos.
1.
G: I’m curious what can be done with it, that maybe even doesn’t consider it being a fan anymore.
S: Yep
G: It rather is something that activates the mind to think about the problems of products in industrial design. To be honest I’m actually curious to see whether you’d be interested in repairing it for the exhibition.
S: I’ve thought about it for sure, I just like, I’m not very good at making things. I’m good with ideas but I don’t have as good of a craft background as a lot of the people who come out of ANU do. But I could give it a shot [laughs]. The other thing I was thinking is that this object has personal connections, but sharing those ideas and communicating with people to understand the object in the process of that is something I would find interesting.
2.
G: So, Mistral Fan
S: Yes, so it was in my backyard and I was taking it apart because I wanted the motor to make something with. I took it apart and I found the problem which is that it had a burnt out resistor. So then I was looking online to try and find like a circuit diagram or something like that and then realized that there was this history behind the object. They had been recalled in ’92, which was a year before I was even born. Because they caused all these house fires and two people died.
And it’s that idea that you fix the problem and delete the history associated with it. You just finish it off.
3.
Responding to a question about how the repair process was.
S: I think in a way, I felt a bit free-er because it was my own object I was repairing. I didn’t have anyone who I would disappoint [laughs]. And from the point of giving my object over, the main thing I wanted was to communicate with someone about that object and have that dialogue. I don’t think I would have got that if someone else had repaired it. [note: there was no communication between repairers and object donors in the project.] I don’t think anyone would do the research I did, so maybe it wouldn’t have worked.
G: Yeah, that’s an interesting point. Let’s say it was given to me, I probably would have done similar research. I don’t think I would have gone to the State Library but I’m very interested in that kind of thing. But I’ll tell you this, I don’t think I would have thought of turning it into a shredder. That’s kinda genius.
S: It took ages to come to that. And it was actually Jed, my friend, who said “how would the company want it to be repaired?”. And it’s that idea that you fix the problem and delete the history associated with it. You just finish it off. It was also a matter of there being so much information there, how do you get a viewer to become invested enough to want to engage with that? If you just have a wall of research, people might just go ‘Uh!” and walk away. Whereas with this, it’s kind of a bit more quick, I don’t know.
4.
S: Yeah and the way that we kind of forget – because this was a hero object of its day. It was the flagship of the brand. And because it had this ‘fall from grace’ where it caused two people to die, we don’t remember it in the same way we remember a Victa Lawnmower or a Hills Hoyst – those ‘Australian Innovation’ objects.
5.
G: And so finally, has participating in this process, either as the owner or the repairer, made you think differently about the products, waste and obsolescence in general?
S: Mhm yeah it definitely has. I don’t want to make objects, coming from a place where you learn to make objects [note: ANU School of Art and Design] because there are so many objects that already exist that I feel like there’s a lot of material there to work with, without ever having to make something new. I’m planning to take a year off before honors [note: never actually went back] and I was feeling so lost as to what I was going to do in that year, apart from get a job. Working with Jed and learning the skills that bike mechanics have, I’m actually going to try and become a bike mechanic. So then I can learn those skills and gain that knowledge base. That will greater enrich my practice I think in future. But yeah, it’s kinda pushed me to more towards looking at history and looking at things that already exist.
6.
G: How would you value this object now?
S: Well I certainly wouldn’t put a monetary value on it. But I found it incredibly valuable as a way to learn a whole bunch of new skills and realize a whole bunch of different things about the design process that I didn’t have before. I collaborated pretty heavily with my friend Jed, whose a bike mechanic, and an artist in their own right. They understand mechanics in a way that I don’t. There is a craft skill that is just being a mechanic. Which is perhaps, coming from somewhere like ANU School of Art which is very much about fine woodworking, fine crafts background, you don’t realize that. You don’t recognize that until you go through that process. And that’s something I found really interesting and is something I’m going to pursue further in future. Also, looking at the history of an object and how it circulates; there’s all these bits and pieces left behind like the advertising which has been digitized on Trove. All that stuff that you don’t see when you just own it.
7.
S: sarcastically; laughing] Wow
G: It’s amazing. And I totally understand the concept, but I’m curious – can you show me how it works?
S: Yeah.
G: Maybe I’ll bring it over.
S: And do you wanna shred a roll of paper?
G: Uhhhh, is the paper easily replaceable?
S: Yep G: Can you do it while your sitting down?
S: Yeah sure.
G: Which way? Did you need the handle to be there?
S: Nah that’s good. Umm so. [laughs] [Loud whirring noises]
S: So that’s how the fan works.
G: Yeah and you can feel it blowing.
S: Yeah! And then with the [shredder]
G: Do we need… are these [rolls of paper] all the same?
: No. There’s three different ones. [Loud whirring noises]
S: Oh I’m going the wrong way. OOh. [Laughs] Never works when you try to do it in front of an audience. There we go. [More loud whirring]
S: So yeah.
G: [Laughing]
S: So you can quite easily shred four meters a minute.
Susannah Bourke 