The mnemonic qualities of textiles: Sustaining lifelong attachment

The mnemonic qualities of textiles: Sustaining lifelong attachment
Emma Peters

Unknown artist, Patchwork quilt, n.d., cotton fabric, cotton thread, cardboard backing pieces, 1800 x 2100 mm

Photo: Danielle Chau

Abstract This paper uses Jonathon Chapman’s theory of emotionally durable design to explore how memory is invested in and lends value to textile artefacts, thus ensuring their enduring preservation. Through an examination of the works of Elisa Markes-Young, John Parkes, Sara Lindsay and Ilka White, the paper argues that a greater understanding of objects with mnemonic qualities provides new ways of challenging object obsolescence for art and design practice, thus offering a model for sustainable design.


Abstract from The mnemonic qualities of textiles: Sustaining lifelong attachment
Full paper published in craft+design enquiry: issue 6 Issue 6 2014, Craft.Material.Memory

textiles, memory, sustainability, material culture, biography, design

Reworking the archive: Experimental arts, memory and imagination

Reworking the archive: Experimental arts, memory and imagination.
By Katherine Moline and Jacqueline Clayton
 
 

Onkar Kular, Noam Toran and Keith Jones, Lego farm, 2010

Photo: Diego Trujillo

 

 Abstract Over the past 50 years institutional critique has become a part of the contemporary programming of museum exhibitions produced by practitioners in design, craft and visual art. Challenges and critiques of orthodoxies in museology have developed in response to changing social practices. This paper considers two site-specific installations, I cling to virtue (2010) by Onkar Kular, Noam Toran and Keith R. Jones at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and Pleased to meet you: introductions by Gwynn Hanssen Pigott (2012–2013) at the Museum of Anthropology, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Both works invited visitors to engage with the artists’ invented arrangements and to attend to subjective responses as authoritative readings of museum display. In other words, they questioned institutionally directed interpretation and brought key aspects of globalisation into view. This paper first describes the installations, then places them within the framework of globalisation and the social imaginary proposed by Arjun Appadurai and Cornelius Castoriades. It discusses concepts of the heterogeneity of globalisation within the framework of the social imaginary evoked in the installations and analyses the works in these terms. The replaying of historical material in these works, we contend, questions the negative implications of globalisation. Further, the definition of interdisciplinarity framed by the social imaginary provides fertile ground for reconceptualising specialisation. When seen within the social imaginary, the experimental approach to curatorial and exhibition norms exemplified by the two installations provides intriguing models for intervening in the archives and histories of design, craft and visual art. Read full paper
 

 

Abstract from Reworking the archive: Experimental arts, memory and imagination.

Full paper published in craft+design enquiry:  Issue 6 2014, Craft.Material.Memory

experimental design, craft, archive, memory,  museology, globalisation

The strange quiet of things misplaced: Craft, material and memory in the work of Elisa Markes-Young

The strange quiet of things misplaced: Craft, material and memory in the work of Elisa Markes-Young

By Belinda von Mengersen

Elisa Markes-Young, The strange quiet of things misplaced #33, 2010, acrylic, pencil, pastel, wool, cotton and silk on Belgian linen, 550 x 1100 mm

Photo: Christopher Young. Licensed by VISCOPY Australia

 

 Abstract This paper will consider the relationship between the performative nature of craft and the transformation of memory, as exemplified in the work of Elisa Markes-Young. Particular reference will be made to her series The strange quiet of things misplaced (2007–2011), which is based on memories of domestic linen from her Eastern European childhood. This discussion offers a provisional reading of the series, relating to the concepts of craft, material and memory, and considers how devices like encounter and mimicry can elicit both memory and improvisational craft practices. Markes-Young, who has no formal training in traditional textile techniques, describes her process as a literal activation of memory through making, giving rise to the question: ‘Can the techniques of material practice provide the means for not only creation and reflection, but also an altogether new “encounter” between the artist and her work: occasioning both new works and enriched memories?’ Such a proposal contrasts with the popular conception of artists drawing on memory to inspire their artworks: here, it is suggested, memory is encountered, activated, and enhanced by physical and conceptual craft practice. Read full paper

Abstract from The strange quiet of things misplaced: Craft, material and memory in the work of Elisa Markes-Young
Full paper published in craft+design enquiry:  Issue 6 2014, Craft.Material.Memory

Memory, Conversation, Encounter, Material-Practice, Performance, Creative-Research