Jade Parks
The Camper Project
My practice often addresses specific cultures, activities or ways of life by exploring them through firsthand experience. The Camper Project approaches the local culture of recreational camping through the problem of designing and making a functional caravan.
My artwork is not only a stationary object, but is something that is able to respond physically and functionally to aspects of our everyday life.
By removing the caravan from its expected environment and presenting it as an artwork within a gallery space I hope to raise issues about the distinction between art and design.
An instructional talk (played through the speakers inside) reveals the building process through deadpan satire, providing viewers with impossibly specific steps to build the particular camper they see in front of them.
I intend The Camper Project to be an ongoing investigation in which I plan to use the camper around New Zealand exploring it as a ‘vessel for experiences’ in the years to come.
