What do you call the plastic bar used in grocery checkout lines? A divider? A cuboid? A thingy in the checkout line? This ubiquitous object doesn’t have a fixed name but creates firm divisions and respected boundaries–it functions as an indicator of personal space within a public context.
Inspired by deep sea animals’ aposematic features which work to simultaneously warn and repel predators, Checkout Line Ecology is a collection of objects that reimagine the grocery checkout line as a uniquely dynamic habitat. Incorporating cast glass and silicone, Checkout Line Ecology combines bright colors and irregular movement to reimagine the checkout environment.
Materials: Cast glass, Silicone, Arduino, Servo Motor
Dimensions: Divider: 18 x 2 x 1.5” Squishy Non-Edibles: 4 x 4 x 2”
Eunice Choi is an interdisciplinary artist working at the intersection of sculpture and technology to explore human sensory experiences and the narrative qualities of objects. Her interest in senses developed when she had a synesthetic experience in childhood.
By mixing and altering sensory experiences, Choi reappraises the senses we take for granted. Conditioning the unique sensory information of each object, she creates fictional narratives around the objects using performative sculptures as an agent. Her performative sculptures and interactive objects are both playful and whimsical. In the quest to suggest various sensations that might be experienced when interacting with her pieces, she explores different types of physical (e.g. wood, silicone, resin, food ingredients) and virtual (e.g. light, sound, movement, touch) materials.
