The Corporate Machine
Cindy Deng, Bolaji Bankole, Alan Turner, and Lucy Scherrer
The artistic goal of “The Corporate Machine” is to provoke thoughts from the viewer regarding the institution of capitalism and the effects it has on the average consumer. The image of an arcade-style claw machine has connotations of a rigged system and something that looks easy to win but is secretly very difficult to do successfully. We used this familiar imagery as a way to set the scene for a conversation about capitalism, since it has similar associations of small returns for many. The constant motion of the robot claw evokes the “rat race” mentality that traps many participants in capitalism, and the piling up of coins to no true end despite a false door promising a “prize” shows how there is no real end or escape to the constant cycle of consumerism. As the machine keeps running, there is also a real possibility (as demonstrated during the class showcase) that it will eventually shake itself off the belts or the shafts will come out of alignment, a conclusion that we believe is fitting to depict an economic system that will someday (and has before) cease to function.
We believe that by building a machine that runs on an endless cycle that doesn’t seem to stop until it itself breaks down, but also never gets to reap the benefit of its efforts, we can get the audience to think about the role of capitalism in our society and what effect it has on its participants.
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