A self-commissioned project where we looked at how we humans intrinsically "trust" packaging and build an "expectation" based solely on the cover of the packaging itself. This means packaging is a very powerful device. For instance, when we open a can of Coke or take a Tylenol tablet we expect to be refreshed or cured respectively. Thus, our expectations are built on past experiences as well as the information on the packaging that convinces us, that indeed, this is Coke I am about to drink or a Tylenol I am about to swallow.
The “container” of packaging which gives us a clue of its “contents” is subverted to reveal something entirely different, though in some cases, poignantly related to what the “usual” contents would have been. For this project, we wanted to look at the container and the contained and how changing the contained but keeping the container the same impacted one's experience and understanding of how we perceive things.
It is ultimately about subverting our pre-existing notions and assumptions about the contents based on the container — judging a book by its cover or a person by their face. In the following examples, we have replaced the tape of a VHS cassette with the transcript of the entire film, thus almost making it into a book or a storytelling narrative device, much like the original function; a cigarette pack doesn't have cigarettes but "caution tape" (like seen on construction sites) reminding us that smoking is something to not take lightly; the Band-Aid is healing your spirit not your body; the packet with the 4x6 prints don't have pictures but text in Braille that describes those images and so on.
