In progress.
-inspired by visit to British Museum in London, November 2016
-there was a particularly beautiful Celtic shield that caught my eye, for some (stupid) reason I didn't photograph it
-it got me thinking about what kinds of shields we might need today, as modern or postmodern humans
-I photographed another shield-like Egyptian palette and an African shield (scroll down)
-my shield for the 21st century would need to protect me from air pollution, for one, so the outside will have sensors and the readings will appear on the inside
-ideally I would like to have a BS sensor as well but I don't think I have the coding skills to do this. Let me explain what I mean. Let's say someone is saying something ridiculous; there would be a sensor that would catch keywords or phrases - then on the inside of the shield there would be a text display on what the 'real' statement represents, as a warning to me: 'NEOLIBERALISM', or 'CLIMATE CHANGE DENIAL', or similar.
-the current plan: I will make the shield itself on the milling machine from reclaimed pallet wood sanded and glued together
-the handle(s) on the inside could be 3D printed, could consider the attachment as well to avoid a traditional screw (a peg perhaps)
-sensors for the elements composing air pollution (carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide), also air temperature, humidity, sound? on the front connected to an LCD display on the back side
-the display could also randomly generate other 'warnings' in text based on the sensor readings, such as 'climate change denial', 'hypercapitalist zone', 'neoliberal atmosphere'
-can the display be powered with a small solar panel?
-drawings, sketches, plans and blueprints to come
British Museum, descriptive text: "Hunters palette. The sacrifice of wild animals played an important early role in early Egyptian temple ritual by demonstrating control over the chaos in the world. Here two rows of well-equipped hunters both corral and capture wild animals for presentation at the shrine above, and bravely confront a lioness with her cub. This is one of the earliest of the elaborately decorated palettes of the Late Predynastic period. It shows the development of artistic conventions for depicting the human body: head and legs in profile, with the torso in three-quarter view."
British Museum, descriptive text: "Shield. Hide, silver, and leather. Beja people, Red Sea Province, Sudan, 19th century. This shield was probably taken from a Beja warrior by an Ethiopian during Ras Mikael's mid-19th century campaigns on the border of the Empire. It has been suitably 'Ethiopianised' by the addition of silver trimming and a circle of amuletic charms sewn around the boss, though the later [sic?] are more familiar in an Islamic rather than Christian context."
In progress...
to be completed