Harrison Bergeron
Harrison Bergeron is a satirical dystopian science-fiction short story written by Kurt Vonnegut, originally published in 1961 in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. The story was written as a satire to offer a critique on people’s claims that we should all be equal. It has been embraced by those critical of egalitarianism as an allegory of caution against socially enforced equality, more specifically the dangers of enforcing equality by virtue of levelling. In groups we were asked to design and craft a limited edition publication, poster & some form of packaging/mailing.
Creative Solution
"Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment. There is no why. Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt." - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
We based our concept around the irony of Vonnegut's quote in relation to the repetiveness throughout the story. There is a sense of enclosure and resitriction across the content, almost as if the series of events are constantly replaying and we are the audience engaging in an over exaggerated performance. It is from this ideology we developed our concept around theatre with the theme "YOU ARE INVITED".
The final publication adapts to a theatrical script and we broke down the text into a series of acts so the reader as an audience can engage with the narrative. Imagery has been digitally manipulated and distorted to reflect a degraded and broken society and the theatrical nature of the language.
Poster and display box have been screen-printed using an aqua sheen spot gloss varnish ink.
Collaborative Project - Daniel Pearson, Clare Robson, Sarah Bainbridge & Whitney Raeper
Thanks for looking! Check out my other projects.
