Projects/FantasticForgeries

Museum Of Fantastic Forgeries

Authourship & Authenticity Project: 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 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. 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 every 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 and flamboyant objects arise by imagining and inventing the aristocrats that would use them?

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.