Build Something – The Rediscovery of Wonder

For my Senior Capstone project in Visual Arts, I decided to create an interactive installation of KEVA planks in the campus library. My goal was to create a space for students to play and create. I wanted the installation to encourage wonder, from which comes curiosity, creativity, discovery, and to reinstill an appreciation for the process of learning instead of the results of learning.

This project was inspired by my summer in Hyerabad, India with the DukeEngage program. While in India, I was surrounded by this sense of wonder, not only in the kids we were teaching, but also in the Duke students I was with. Somehow, I felt this spirit missing when I came back to campus, and wanted to do something to reconnect with it.

My idea for this project has changed drastically since August, but the goals for doing it have been the same. My first idea was to create large scale, vibrant paintings of the kids from photographs I had taken, but that was a little too cliche. The next idea was to build a treehouse on campus, to recreate a sense of wonder instead of merely representing it. I liked this better, but building a treehouse on campus was not feasible. Finally, I settled on the idea of this interactive building block installation, which accomplishes the goal of recreating wonder, and also involves my community. I will do a lot of documentation work, mostly still photos, while the installation is up.

This project could not have been possible without the help of KEVA Planks, The Kenan Institute for Ethics, and the North Carolina Consortium for South Asian Studies.

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I put the installation up around midnight on March 28, and have been BLOWN AWAY by the enthusiasm and creativity the Duke community has shown. The installation even got an article in the local newspapers. Take a look!