TMA1431 Creative Studio: Form, Matter and Meaning Making
May 5, 2021This weeks lecture with Rowan Bailey was on the subject of rethinking form, matter and meaning of making. Looking at artists or as Rowan refers to them as ‘theoretical friends’ such as Tim Ingold, Tony Cragg, Victoria Pitts Taylor and Pierre Huygine.
The overall Questions that i have been thinking about after watching the lecture are;
Are we making materials with art or are the materials making us?
As explained during the lecture that materials are an artists experience in the world put into a psychical form, if everyone is to interact with that form then new perspectives developed from different interactions. therefor is the form actually shaping us by directing our thoughts?
One of the artist mentioned that really resinated with me and my project is Lambros Malafouris and his project how things shape the mind. He explains our experience of things is an aesthetic level and impacts are thinking as-well as informs our experience with each other. In other words, material culture offers us a way to understand and connect to what it means to be human.
A similar theory i have read about before was in a podcast by Jordan Peterson (linked below) in which he discussed that as humans we are obsessed with observing and mimicking others in order to fit in.
Peterson, J. B. (Host). (2017, May 16). Introduction to the idea of God. (Biblical Series)
[Podcast podcast]. https://www.jordanbpeterson.com/bible-series/
This is helpful and relevant with the progression of my practice as it helps explain why fashion is such an important part of culture as it is used as an exterior communication tool to other humans, wether that communication be of wealth, social status, gender, race ect. It has also steamed the idea to think more about the design of materials i will use for the clothing of my models, by playing with textures and layers, wether that be psychical or Digital. This led me onto researching existing processes of designers, where i came across designer Sasha Frolova who uses latex material to create garments (pictured below). This has helped inspire a possible direction for collaborating with designers for my final work e.g. using tennis ball felt material for clothing.
