Wall Works: Zippy’s Nicknacks, Tonics, & Magical Gadgets
Santa Monica Museum of Art
Temporary Site-Specific Art Installation
This project for the Santa Monica Museum of Art’s biannual Wall Works program transformed an ordinary hallway into a site-specific installation of an imaginary store called Zippy's Nicknacks, Tonics, and Magical Gadgets. Local students from Kindergarten through 12th grade used such materials as boxes, string, markers, and collaged paper to create a fantastical inventory of magical gadgets to solve social issues, tonics to cure rainy day blues, and nicknacks to embody whimsical stories.
The project’s inspiration comes from Claes Oldenburg’s iconic 1961 installation The Store, where the artist made sculptures of everyday commodities and sold them to the public in a specially conceived shop. The students’ products were showcased along five 50-foot-long tapered shelves that created a forced perspective.
- Publications:
- Los Angeles Times
- Santa Monica Daily Press
- American Towns
Designed in collaboration with Bari Ziperstein
