A video posted by @signlaboratory on

A lot of wild things go on in the Laboratory as we play with materials and hatch plots, then follow the trails of ideas that are defined by unexpected constraints and glitches. Witness our groovy, strange 15-second instagram time-lapse video that started with high hopes for a Carvel cake that we were going to use for a very special project.

Except the writing on the cake was blocky and ugly, not at all like we imagined (or Carvel’s ads). After the cake languished in the freezer for a few weeks, Mira Keras got the inspired idea to make a time-lapse video of it melting. So we went ahead without planning or thinking through that the cake was frozen solid and would take ages to start melting, or that the light would start to wane. What the hell: we put it on a drop cloth and started shooting until there was hardly any light and the cake had finally collapsed.  It is a TERRIBLE video that became quite literally FABULOUS with a lot of editing and then playing it backwards.

A Monday morning lesson in being undaunted by the inevitable going wrong, and trying out ideas, having fun, switching gears – improvising — as necessary. Voila!

Sally Schneider
Sally Schneider

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