Ciska Swaak/MOFF

MUSEUM OF FANTASTIC FORGERIES

THEME

Fantastic Forgeries presents alternate histories of Dutch material culture through the research and evaluation of existing artefacts – and their appropriation, transformation and remaking. Fantastic Forgeries uses historical crafted objects as a departure point to reflect on the status and practice of craft in our contemporary society. The objects will be used as tools to examine traditional ways of making as well as a formal, tactile, and decorative inspiration to compare when stretching the boundaries of (artisanal/digital) fabrication.

In this quarter you will explore into the rich past of Dutch material culture though the Applied Arts and Design collection of the museum Boijmans van Beuningen, or pre-industrial collections of your choosing. You will choose an artefact that speaks to you through its form, function, and its surrounding folklore. You will experiment with various and scanning, modelling and production technologies in order to support the crafting of your own perfect copy of your chosen piece. The idea is to make your replica or 'fake' as convincing as possible by reproducing with detail, before breaking it open into a series of iterations that alter the form and content of the artefact. Can new rituals come about by removing the form out of its original context? Can more flamboyant objects arise by imagining and inventing the aristocrats that would use them?

Deliverables

A copy of your chosen (pre-industrial) artefact crafted from a different medium; A well-fabricated contemporary transformations based on your chosen artefact; A polished project wiki page; A 1000 word statement defining your position of what where your specific 'craft' lies in relation newer technologies (Uploaded to the wiki); An exhibition presentation, research visualisation, and oral presentation.

Written Assignment

+/- 1000 words answering #5. Please use 1-4 to jump start your writing process. What is your craft? (define your discipline, method or approach) What are the tools and media of your craft? What are the borders of this practice? (what new media technologies have arisen / what is its future of the field)) Connect to a historical discourse and give concrete examples of contemporary practitioners Define your position of your practice in relation to newer technologies.

MUSEUM OBJECT

Going to the Rijksmuseum