COOL STYLE MALL
Interactive Sound Installation
COOL STYLE MALL is an interactive sound installation from the 1990s that invites participants to browse from the season's top fashion picks!
Sure to make anyone feel COOL, IN STYLE, and wanting to GO TO THE MALL!
When I was a kid, I had a plastic, pink compact makeup-set. The actual makeup was replaced by plastic colorful buttons that when pressed shouted YOU'RE COOL! When pressed again, you were told that YOU'RE IN STYLE! And again, LET'S GO TO THE MALL. I spent hours of my early childhood development pressing these buttons, starring at my own reflection that was held in the rippled mirror glued to the top lid, being convinced that I was in fact cool, in style, and wanted to go to the mall. Years passed, the toy lost, found, remembered, pressed, broken, and lost again. And while that toy may be at the bottom of my mother's storage shed, or possibly crushed, melted, and turned into a coat hanger, what I still hold with me is this unwavering sense that I am cool, have style, and that it would be a good idea to go to the mall.
This installation attempts to re-create this toy through use of costumes, a motion detector speaker, and mirrors. A costume rack is loaded with colorful costumes in the style of 1990’s fashion, encouraging dress-up, make-believe, and play-time. Behind the costumes is a motion-detector speaker that is triggered when the costumes are moved. The soundtrack is an 18-second composition featuring a Casio CA-110 Tone and Demo Song layered under an intermittent recording of, “You’re Cool, You’re in Style, Let’s Go to the Mall!" Placed in an arch above the costume rack are 8 humanoid mirrors decorated with mascara and lipstick, made to look like a human face.