What is Packaging Tape?

Images courtesy the artists

Some students showcase their theses inside of simple manila envelopes. Others meticulously bind them in tomes arranged in Adobe InDesign. Students of CalPoly San Luis Obispo's Studio 400, however, put their work into a 2, 500 sq. ft. spider web made from packaging tape. The life-sized installation, STUCK, is a tangle of translucent tunnels and tendrils, some of which can comfortably fit five people as they page through papers written by the program's 18 student designers.

Led by Studio 400 director Professor Karen Lange, the students wove 35 miles' worth of tape (over 600 rolls) into its final form over the course of four days—but that short setup time was only possible through several months of designing and planning. The final product required between four and six layers of tape to hold people up.

In keeping with STUCK's aesthetic, the students' papers hang from egg sac-like pods. By day, the spheres prompt visitors to curl up inside the structure's tendrils and peruse the students' research. By night, attendees can sink into the shadows while the students blast dance music and project videos onto its translucent walls. At this point in its display, a press release describes that people were "running and leaping into the tape tunnels and tendrils, " proving that the intrepid students had both changed their audience views normally flimsy packaging tape, and designed a solid, beautiful architectural experience.

STUCK was designed and built by Studio 400 leader Karen Lange and students Hilary Arndt, Alex Buckthal, Patrick Cordelle, Caleb Couch, Alexa Dack, Cameron Darr, Meganne DesRosier, Parham Hakimi, Makai Johnson, Adam Kogan, Kyle Landau, Kyle Murray, Derek Ramsey, Natalie Riccomini, Emily Saunders, Billy Schreiber, Lauren Schultz, and Stephanie Thompson.

• PVC packing Tape
• Staples packing Tape
• Plastic packing Tape
• Scotch Packaging Tape
• Paper Packaging Box