Theorising a transformative agenda for craft
By Matthew Kiem
Abstract: This paper examines the potential of
craft to facilitate cultures of quality and social transformation in the
interests of sustainability. This approach is theoretically grounded in
the work of Tony Fry. It draws particularly on his concepts of
sustain-ability and Sustainment to construct an argument for what is
both valuable about craft as a practice of material fabrication, and
what broader social goals craft practitioners might set themselves in
recognition of this value. The transformative potential of craft is
explored through David Harvey’s dialectical theory of social
transformation.
This exploration of the potential of craft
is also coupled with a recognition of current constraints within
contemporary craft practices. In particular, the role of craft within
practices of symbolic production and exchange is critiqued through the
work of Jean Baudrillard and Pierre Bourdieu. Through these thinkers we
observe how crafted artifacts are denied their sustaining potential and
how craft practitioners themselves may become absorbed in facilitating
the negation of craft as Sustainment. By way of conclusion it is
proposed that in order to realise both the sustaining and transformative
potential of craft, practitioners must develop a capacity for ongoing
critical reflection that informs vocational commitment to change through
craft practice. In this capacity, it is a call for practitioners to
both recognise and engage with the political agency of craft as a way of
fabricating new, and more sustainable modes of (human)being. Read Complete Paper
Abstract from Theorising a transformative agenda for craft by Matthew Kiem
Full paper published in craft + design enquiry; Issue 3, 2011, Sustainability in craft and design Edited by Kevin Murray
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