Projects/Tools of the Trade 2014

Tools of the Trade

Crafting one's tools - crafting one's signature

Theme

The notion of a ‘tool’ in contemporary artistic practice is much wider than a simple hand-held implement. Tools can move material as well as ideas. Tools can fabricate as well as disseminate. Knowing one’s tools (how they are defined, designed, and put in effect) not only gives one agency, but often becomes the crux of one’s artistic practice. This holds particularly true for digital craftsmen. The current range and access to new digital instruments--from dozens of desktop CNC technologies that can make almost anything to hundreds of sensors to measure can pretty much everything--have given rise to a new wave of artist-built machines. Moreover, recent critical practices that break away from the more commercial and industrial (affirmative) applications have brought a new spectrum of objects that instrumentalise design’s potential as a discursive tool. Whether milling-out matter or carving-out meaning, this project ask you to both envision and build new tools for you practice. In this quarter you will define, design, and put into effect a new tool or medium that will strive for two main aims: it will carry your traces and signature as maker, as well as apply/reflect on the technological possibilities of our time.

Deliverables

1. A copy of your chosen artefact from the Boijmans collection using digital fabrication technologies;
2. A well-fabricated contemporary transformations based on your chosen object of the Boijmans collection;
3. Documentation/blueprints for the remaking of your original and transformed artefacts (uploaded to the wiki);
4. A 1000 word statement defining your position of what where your specific 'craft' lies in relation newer technologies (Uploaded to the wiki);
5. A research visualisation and oral presentation.

Evaluation Criteria

1. The student is shown profound knowledge of the historical context of their object, and has positioned/critically reflected upon new contexts in relation to the minor (i.e. craft, fabrication, authorship, appropriation, experimentation and relation to personal practice/signature).
2. The student has demonstrated a rigorous approach to experimentation, which is visually presented as a coherent process.
3. The student has conceptualised and executed well-crafted and innovative (re)interpretations of the object.
4. The student has expressed a motivated choice and proper defense for a specific a technology in their execution of their final assignment.
5. The student has defined a clear and profound statement, which is explicitly connected to his or her field and is visible in his or her design/artistic process (Research).
6. The student has actively pushed their skills and knowledge in working with arduino/electronics instruction, digital fabrication, and other newer technologies offered (Tools & Tech).

Presentation Format

1. Mini exhibition/table presentation (similar to Take & Make from the Museum)
2. + 1 large printed or projected research visualisation.
3. Oral presentation10 min MAX
4. 5 min critical Q&A.

Presentation Schedule

Please fill in your timeslot here. You are required to be present for the entire morning or afternoon session.

Written Assignment

+/- 1000 words answering #5. Please use 1-4 to jump start your writing process.

1. What is your craft? (define your discipline, method or approach)
2. What are the tools and media of your craft?
3. What are the borders of this practice? (what new media technologies have arisen / what is its future of the field))
4. Connect to a historical discourse and give concrete examples of contemporary practitioners
5. Define your position of your practice in relation to newer technologies.