Saturday, October 1, 2011

Filling the hole

The significance of the hole in art goes back to antiquity, particularly Aztec and Mayan sculptural work as well as Celtic stone sculpture. ... ``There is an enduring fascination for creating lightness in practical structures and architects and designers are always flirting and experimenting with it.[1]


The mind of the inventor of the record's big hole (RCA Records) was not at all fascinated by such artistic aspect of the round emptiness in the middle of the plastic matter, but rather by the technical or commercial aspects :

The generally-accepted theory is that the large center hole on 45s made it easier for jukeboxes to handle them. The reality was that RCA did everything they could to try to create a radically new format to thwart CBS -- different-sized record, different hole, different rotational speed, etc. -- just for spite. [2]

Few record labels tried to use the hole as part of the design. The various designs that i've found belongs to the following categories :

1 - the hole is to be seen as matter : bagde, bomb or sun

2 - the hole is an entry : cavern, igloo

3 - the hole is a mouth : human, shark, whale (my favorite!)

4 - the hole is a hole : ring








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