User:LV/NOTES
David Gauntlett: ‘Making is Connecting’
Chapter 2: The meaning of making 1: Philosophies of craft
In this chapter we will talk about online craftsmanship (traditional and innovative). Creativity and craftsmanship have been separated in time, which is not needed according to Peter Dormer. Art has gotten a higher position than craftsmanship, but this is something you can change for yourself. Richard Sennet argues that thinking is also a great part of crafting; crafting is not only making, and you also put your identity in your work. Ellen Dissanayake accentuates the ‘Joie de vivre’, the fun of creating something out of nothing. According to Dormer the act of crafting has remained standing because of the joy you get from the understanding you get in the process. Crafting is a natural expression, vanuit je roots, without any annoying artcritic that have to ‘approve’ your work. William Morris and John Ruskin brought op the community in crafts, which is actually quite a recent development. Ruskin was born in 1819 while Morris was born in 1838, Ruskin was an artist, critic, thinker and writer. Ruskin was against industrialism and the exploiting capitalism (a conservative person). Though he was political nor left nor right, he just wanted to go back in time. He was a patron for an individual economy, (1 voor alle, alle voor 1). Also did he believe in happiness without money, the current society sucked at this and needed to change. His rigorous statements in his essays ‘Unto this Last’ shocked people. ‘The nature of Gothic’ written by Ruskin (also a revelation for Ruskin), got the attention from Morris. Morris was fascinated by the gothic style, because the creations embraced imperfection but were made with great though. According to Morris you should do what you can do in your own powers and do not fear failure, don’t try to create perfect things, this makes you inhumane. In his time he witnessed people getting turned in to slaves of the machine. Working at an assembly line in a factory was dreadful and not stimulating at all. Nowadays this critique is known by the name Marx, but Ruskin got there before him. Marx and Ruskin both feel the same way about the assembly line, it is inhuman, but Ruskin focuses on the fact that the creativity in making that is being taken from them. Often Ruskin was misinterpreted by his readers, because of their presuppositions. The worker and the thinker should not be separated; they should come together in the process of making. Marx came with a more realistic plan for a better eco-system and Ruskin’s solutions were found unrealistic. Individualistic expression is so vital, that when it gets buldozerd by a rational system the whole system sucks. In that though, Morris started a creative community where people could finally be individuals again. He had this fascination for the Mid-centuries, where everybody could be a creative individual. The though that one day it was different than now, better than now, gave him hope. Morris though that by practicing al kind of crafts he could understand this better. He started a company where people could put effort and time in their creations (like home decor and print). Eventually the elite could only afford his products, while this was not his original plan. Allen Lane did succeed in this concept (affordable luxury products), with the Penguin Books. By putting this crafted luxury product on the market Morris wanted to make a change in the industrialistic society. It was a way of showing that there was another way. Morris expressed his utopian vision through multiple channels and kept hoping. Theodor Adorno couldn’t believe that people could be so ridiculous to enjoy this industrialized culture. He plainly spoke that people were stupid, while Morris at least gave them hope and solutions. Morris witnessed the pollution by industrialisation and saw science not help where it could have. This makes him 140 years ahead of the current debates. Nowadays the WEB 2.0 is the place where Morris dreamed of. Morris gave us a push in the right direction and left it in our hands. Creating something gives hope of –rest, -achievement and –effort. Creating connects the body with the spirit. Some people can’t understand this because they are trapped in toiling (slaven) work. Rich people thin material shows wealth, but wealth is using/enjoying nature in the most respectful way. Wealth is also sharing knowledge; just like nowadays exists in the WEB 2.0. Arts can be good when combining craft&ideas, according to Morris, you can’t possibly do the one without the other. Nowadays ‘art’ seems to be only about status, in the past it was hard to climb to the top but now you can use the WEB for that. Morris would have been happy about the sharing options we have nowadays, like YouTube, not like the elite ArtReview magazine. A community is a combination of individuals, (just like in the WEB 2.0)
