James Milligan
student at ANU School of Art Furniture/Wood Workshop

A Theatre of Dreams

‘This is a response to a brief entitled ‘A Toy box for Adults’. This brief challenged us as makers to design a box that housed a collection, idea, concept, object or other contents, that would engage the viewer in a dialogue or conversation with or about the piece and what was inside. It was intended to broaden the notion of just designing a box, to designing and making a piece that had more significance and read on more levels than just looking pretty.

‘Made of koto (Pterygota bequaertii), A Theatre of Dreams is about ideas, dreams, concepts and possibilities. When designing the box, the thought of what to actually put inside, let the imagination run wild with ideas, and drew the same response from other people. The final outcome was to design and make a box that contains none of the ideas that were thought up to put inside it, because the very nature of questioning what to put in it presented the solution. In order to function, or engage the viewer in dialogue, the box does not need to contain anything physical at all. By the negative spaces it creates it allows freedom of suggestion and creativity.’