Art is not a blink-of-the-eye switcheroo, but a long, slow revelation. If there is a surprise to the art, the passage of a significant amount of time should make it more satisfying. I want paper to dramatically change, not to just look different, but to be different, to mutate. Luckily I have a friend, Jeffrey Wilbur, who is a physicist and a chemist. He has been working with solventless paint and more importantly nano-cytoplasts. These microscopic tools are so small they make paper fibers look like tree logs. Jeffrey is no amateur. We discussed embedding tiny robotic mechanisms within paper, what actions they could take, and how to trigger them with a timed light source. Different sets of cytoplasts could be programmed to be set into motion at different times. It was all very exciting until we discussed the costs. Oh, my. No, I wasn't planning to apply for a grant from the National Science Foundation. We talked about more cost-effective tricks, such as making litmus paper that would react to common inks or paints. One minute the paper is pink, the next it is blue. We thought about making paper glow in different environments; light-induced paper surprises using photo-responsive, self-assembling nano-structures. That high-cost, sci-fi budget-that-I-can't-afford problem popped up again. A less expensive method would be to use phosphorescent pigments. Been there, done that. How about making paper vanish and reappear, putting it in a box and sawing it in two, tearing it into confetti and reassembling it? Hey, we do this all the time, just not instantaneously. We considered designing aromas in the fibers, changing texture, making it dance. What mechanisms would we use for such effects and how would we go about setting them into motion? All of this would require rather sophisticated materials and equipment, not to mention the considerations of presentation. Then, I remembered Helen Hiebert's DVD, Water Paper Time. I recalled how surprising her images of drying paper were. How she captured the ballet of unrestrained, self-contorting strands of natural fibers on film in time lapse. Who needs to resort to calculated surprises when the fibers hold their own ability to surprise and amaze? The added benefit is that no one gets hurt and the firemen can remain at their station, playing poker. Fireproof handmade playing cards? Flash paper trick performed and photographed by the author.
