surfacesaregood

A busy day in the studio cutting, folding and bonding - really pleased with the surfaces and now looking forward to seeing them manipulated in the hand. The circles are just the beginnings of ideas around location, light and looking. Mainly inspired by the act of looking through various microscopes over the past month

beliefisall

I'm fascinated by the role of belief within the Science experiment (experience) - how much trust in the unknown is needed to enable science to move on or even exist?  When does trust becomes truth? In the lab the balance between acknowledging what is known and recognising the new is underpinned by experience. But there could be the issue of actively looking for something to the exclusion of being open to possibilities. This intention could inform the observation and that which is then labelled is the thing you are looking for. Is it possible to actually alter an object by rethinking it?

When creating objects one recognises that each individual object has many narratives; each one delivers the viewer new contexts and presents new possible functions. The individual brings their history, their own narrative. It could be argued that an object’s functionality is something that is constructed in the mind through collective use and understanding. If the functionality of an object can change in the mind each action or activity, changes our perception of and relationship to the object. Every object has an infinite number of stories attached to it and each personal truth illustrates multiple connections. This accumulation of knowledge maps our relationship to what and how we value the objects around us. The reference point for engaging with an object has the potential to change with the intention behind each individual viewing. Does this experience in some way physically change the object? 

reflectingonstuff

Wow - back and beginning to reflect on the week - there will be more thoughts later - I was party to so many wonderful conversations - one story told to me has stayed - i loved the reason why she became a scientist  -  looking at a book, feeling its surface, looking at it, really looking - getting a microscope - the microscopes became more powerful - this to an exposure to ideas of quantum physics and then an understanding of electro-static repulsion between electrons and the phenomena that we never actually truly touch anything.... truly mind blowing and then one of the many questions after my presentation - if we take the premise that as humans we are all books and if we are alive the book in question is unfinished. What format would you use to represent this phenomena? this why I am here.......already I have so much to think about. The assumption that science is a block of knowledge was quickly broken down after a few conversations - it transpires that I was surrounded by people that also had little or no understanding of what is being spoken in the numerous talks - the specifity of the individual fields has atomised the world we inhabit. When typing up my notes most it is challenged by the underlining red line of disbelief that is spell-check - its as if the archaic framework of words even within the technology of word processing  is yet to approve of the new frontier like Zeno's paradox attempting to catch up with science. Entering into a world of science has enabled a degree of reflection on my own practice. Science rather than being about magic appears to be all about making sense of the natural world around us whilst the arts and the world I have evolved in is involved in the creation of imagined places which we inhabit and then tell stories from within. The making of tools to map, examine and explore is at the core of what nanoDTC appears to be involved in. I'm looking forward to making tools to navigate this new world.