I'll leave this now, and I'm sure I'll figure it out when time is right – or more likely; the hammers will figure it out for me. For now I can make a simple rack that will serve as a preliminary hammer storage and display element. The perforated metal trays I've had lying around for many years will work very well for this, both as an exhibition item and as a storage.
Which way will the project take based on what I choose?
If I go for boxes that follow the shape, this can be linked to The Useless Machine because of its rebellion against efficiency and functionality. This can be a fun way to go. If I choose to go the other way, the boxes are really just hammer boxes that do as expected; They fulfill their function without demanding too much attention.
I notice as I write that I am more drawn towards the first; to let the hammers be in charge and take over the project, as this is closely linked to fundamental topics in my Ph.D project: Animacy, agency, disobedience, function etc.
This process of reflecting through writing, drawing, discussing with others and getting my hands dirty in the workshop - is for me what artistic research is all about: The project takes new directions and starts living its own life in ways I could never have imagined before being deeply entangled with it. I try to be in control, but I experience instead that I am being controlled. Just like the designer who tries to shape the world, but ends up being shaped by it herself.
As a reaction to having worked a lot with writing and thinking about the big context of my project, I wanted to get into action mode. To do instead of think, and to reflect through the making in an intuitive work flow. I wanted to make an object that make you move, and I made it from waste and found materials. The physical interaction is important in this project – both in the creative process of making the machine, and in the object as it is meant to be used.