contaminated life

From Lego to M-yo (Make Your Own)

Why does Lego do what it does? How is it contaminated? How does it contaminate? How does it provide solutions to combat issues or stigmas associated with contamination? These are all questions I am still considering and which haven’t a finite answer yet but they have provided me with my starting point for the contaminated life assessment task. 

The object which I am exploring for this project sprouted from an idea that appeared when I read the novel Sophie’s World which contains a passage arguing the merits of Lego. This book hails Lego as the smartest toy ever invented.  

I posted a blog outlining the awesomeness of Lego about six weeks ago and at the time thought it would be a fun but pretty huge task to try and mimic the Lego toy such that it becomes a tool in everyday life. However I kept on thinking about it (perhaps the simplicity of it is what ‘stuck’ with me-I always preferred Blue’s Clues over Sesame Street). Eventually I tried to give it a go.  

Now I am creating Lego….for the body….so we can build our own clothing. 

Why is Lego so great?

-Each block is indivisible.

-Each block is solid, impermeable and un-cut table.

-They have different shapes and sizes.

-They have ‘hooks’ and ‘barbs’ so that they can be connected to form every conceivable figure. These connections can later be broken again so that new figures can be constructed from the same blocks.

-They are ‘eternal’ in that children play with the same blocks that their parents used when they were children. 

I think what excited me the most is the infinite possibilities on offer when given a group of blocks. What’s to say such blocks cannot be interpreted on the body to create a (perhaps functional) garment. Nothing as far as I am concerned.  

For the past few weeks I have been making/ building/ toile-ing variations of the 2×1 Lego block trying as much as possible to adhere to the rather sustainable merits of the Lego block toy outlined above. The versions I have made to act predominantly in the realm of clothing have been labelled M-YO (shortened from Make Your Own so it rhymes with Lego). I have chosen my preferred measurements and now I am making lots of them. 

In regards to how I plan on presenting my objects in a manual-like format I have decided to use the layout of the Lego instructions we all know and love, demonstrating step by step and block by block some of the thousands of ways in which the M-yo blocks can transform on the body to create unconventional garments.

 I have some images which I am having trouble putting onto the blog because RMIT is dang. I will bring them to class instead.