Dump truck that lost its head.
It is always hard to make art for kids. The kind of interventions I make often rely on a kind of humour, or at least on visual and associative games, that are very grown up. When people come in with their small kids, and hand in broken toys, I stand in the conundrum of either fixing the toy so that the kid likes it, or turning it into a kind of artistic intervention that the parents can appreciate, and other grown ups. What I have been trying to do here, is to fix the toys to the children’s liking, but adding a difference in style or function that wouldn’t be found in other toys. I have been trying to create a subtle and gentle intervention in how toys are usually presented to kids, but with the main goal of keeping it interesting for the kids themselves.
Fit and ready for dumping!
In this case I had to replace the lost cabin, which I did with a bit of nicely varnished hardwood from an electric guitar I had cannibalized. But I also had to add a new dimension or characteristic to the way this toy could be used for play. I made very simple alteration. Taking my que from the function of the dump truck, – to dump, I just boosted its capacity for dumping things. I imagine that what a small boy does with a dump truck is mostly filling it up with stuff, then rolling it a bit before dumping out the contents (a Freudian toy if ever there was one!)
Dumping forcefully!
I spring loaded the bed so that it catapults its load when the head is tilted slightly forward. This adds just a little bit of action and is just a tad too much for a normal toy, still without becoming useless or potentially offensive for the kids or the parents. This is a tricky balance to thread, but I hope I have managed here, maybe erring on the side of boredom rather than subversion.
Spring action visible.
And the obligatory disclaimer. I admit I wouldn’t have added this in another country than the UK (or if I had been in the States of course) but keeping your back clear is such an integrated part of UK culture by now that I can’t sidestep it just because I come from somewhere else. The text is a reminder to the parents that something has been done to the toy, and that they should themselves have a look and a think and decide if it is still a suitable toy, or if it should rather go in a drawer for future collecting.
Object no. 11