What is a Historical Box?
The Historical Box is a set of audio and visual materials that represent a portrait of a character from the past or future. The key elements of the Box are Polaroid images of the character, and a CD of raw songs that act as a concept album linked into the images.
 
The Historical Box is a essentially a "deluxe collectible set" of materials that comprise a portrait. It is a parody of the commodity obsessed method that Actors and Musicians are commemorated by "deluxe collectible sets" of CD's, liner notes, and memorabilia.

Presentation
The Historical Box will be presented in glass cases or on tables in a gallery with the audio soundtrack played through speakers mounted on the wall (see above for a representation of a completed box). In addition, all the component parts of the Box will be displayed on the web in detail, including all the images, text, and free downloadable MP3's.

There are a few things any potential model should know before participating in
this project:
• The Historical Boxes will be displayed in Galleries and public places, both alone and as sets.
• The Historical Box will be displayed on the internet in detail
• The model will need to adopt a fictional identity which will be used by me as a launching pad to create lyrics and narrative stories for this project, and possibly for future projects.
•  Anonymity of the model's name will be upheld (unless they wish otherwise)
•  Model should be comfortable singing lyrics that will be provided a cappella into a tape recorder.
• The model will need to sign a standard model release form.
• Rights to the recordings and images provided by the model for this project will be owned by me and are subject to being used in this project or other projects that may be offered for sale.

Elements
CD Soundtrack
CD in a DVD Case including conceptual music relating to the character portrayed in the box. The CD will include no less than 10 lo-fi songs, mostly played on a cheap keyboard with a corny programmed drum beat. In some cases, I will collaborate with the model on vocals, and may have extra instruments played in a raw "art brut" style to augment the songs. The songs will be poorly recorded on cheap lo-fi tape recorders and then transferred to CD. The goal here is to have a "Do-It-Yourself" field recording of obscure and intentionally ridiculous music relating to the character in the box. Hand made liner notes in a little booklet will be included, with lyrics.

For most of the boxes, I will be writing lyrics and mailing them to select models to have them sing a cappella into a tape recorder. The model would then send me the tape. I would then take the recordings, put primitive music to them, and transfer them to CD. 

Images
The model in the images should be in some kind of period costume, whether it be Victorian, futuristic, or otherwise. The model would be required to take on the personage of some specific figure from the past or future. The images should be saucy, but nudity is not required. In fact, it's better if the model is clothed, but posed in some shots provocatively. For instance, in the Inverted Betsy Ross box, the Betsy Ross character is draped in nothing but an American Flag. The model should have about 50 polaroid images taken of themselves in character by an amateur photographer.

Objects
One or more objects used in the shoot should be included, I.E. part of the model's costume, a cheap piece of jewelry, underwear, cheap sunglasses, or a small prop. Whatever the object is, it should be small enough to fit into a shoe box.

The Box
The Box itself should be pertinent to the subject matter at hand. For instance the Box above used for "Inverted Betsy Ross" has American Flag imagery all over it. If the depicted character were a vampire, for instance, gothic imagery would be appropriate.

Logistics
This project will require the collaboration of several models. Most of the models I am interested in working with are remote, so this creative collaboration would be exchanged via the mail.

The Type of Model Needed
The Historical Box is more of an artistic collaboration than a typical modeling assignment where you would show up, get photographed, then leave. I am seeking models for a two-way collaboration that have shown that they have an active imagination dedicated to making interesting art, whether it be in photography or other mediums. In addition, I am contacting models that have an interest in “role-playing”, whether it be retro characters from earlier periods (Victorian, 20’s Flapper, 40’s pin-up, etc.) or futuristic (cyber-goth, tank girl, sci-fi fetish, etc.).  This project will require the model to adopt the guise of a fictional character, and then will require her to create scenarios and back-story for a set of Polaroid photographs. I will not take the photos myself; the model will have them taken remotely by a third party under the model's supervision, according to instructions I will provide; as such, the photos are deliberately not intended to be artfully polished. The photos are not an end to themselves; they are just one element within the report which will primarily be a fictional text based on the images that are sent to me.

The Models for this project will be given a wide berth with regard to creating their own character, both in wardrobe and in context. They will first need to pick a time period from which they will originate. It can be the past, the present or the future. They will need to select a distinct wardrobe that fits the time period of the character they portray. 

Instructions to the Model:
The images will be taken with a Polaroid camera. I have deliberately chosen Polaroid photos (as opposed to Digital Photos) for their unique and immediate character. Polaroids have a rough, amateurish quality to them that intensifies a specific moment in space and time. While copies of them can be made, the original has a rich, unique quality that doesn’t lend itself easily to reproduction. In addition, Polaroid photos have harsh lighting, grainy quality, and unique color aspects that are similar from one camera to the next. This lends a consistency from one project to the next, so that when I have assembled 12 or more sets of this project, there will be somewhat of an illusion that the same photographer was involved in many of the shoots.

1 – Approximately 50 polaroid photos – photograph yourself in character and in costume, in a neutral location that has little, if any reference to time and space. In other words, your photos should not have any objects, posters, or the like that can be traced by the viewer to a specific time period (ie a Movie Poster, a modern appliance, an automobile). That is, unless, all the objects for instance pertain to your chosen time period; for instance if you were portraying a 1920's flapper, all the elements in the background should either be neutral (ie a blank wall or trees) unless you have objects that specifically originate from that time period. Nudity is not required, but any provocative photos that you wish to take are certainly fine. Anything you can do to present a visual narrative of some kind, or a hint of a backstory will help when I write the lyrics for the project.

2 – An Object(s) used in the photo shoot - for inclusion in the box, a small prop, piece of jewelry, article of clothing should be sent to me for inclusion in the box, a physical representation that can be linked to the images in the box.

3 – Voice – after the images are sent to me, I will take some time to write some lyrics. I will send lyrics to you that detail abstract details and scenarios related to the character you portray in the polaroids.  There will be 10 to 12 songs. You will need to record your vocals via whatever means you have at your disposal onto either audio tape or CD. You can improvise the melodies as you see fit, just do not sing the melodies of any existing songs. I may give you some simple instructions, such as "yell these lyrics" or "whisper this part". I'll then take your raw vocals and work with a set of musicians to produce raw, intentionally lo-fi music to backup the vocals. The result, when mixed, will be a concept album to accompany the images in the box.

Status
One box is complete.