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| luminous:craft_after_virtuality [2010-07-21 14:03] – created 83.101.5.51 | luminous:craft_after_virtuality [2014-08-02 19:10] (current) – nik |
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| Oliver Lowenstein, | Oliver Lowenstein, |
| Fourth Door Review, http://www.fourthdoor.co.uk | Fourth Door Review, http://www.fourthdoor.co.uk |
| (draft, all rights reserved) | (draft 2008, all rights reserved) |
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| Amidst this re-evaluation, what was previously ignored – the need to value doing in the world – brings a necessary, reality-bound cachet. Craft and skill dovetail in this world, for within each are embedded aspects of an embodied, tacit and physical path. Much of the craft realm may well be gone, and although the outline of this mixed future may not be persuasive to techno-sceptics, it provides a way of sorts to maintain craft into the medium term future. For many of those who came of age after the digital watershed, the idea of returning to pre-electronic times seems (almost) unthinkable. The fusion of computers with craft, although inferring a radically different future, provides a middle path of sorts, which offers the hope of fulfilling both sides of the story. And in the story of both/and there is also a model for a whole different way of learning; a way of learning which encourages and celebrates multiplicities rather than specialism, which nurtures the many-sided rather than the one-dimensional. If this is paradoxical, it is because this is also a form of learning which is about inhabiting rather than denying paradox. In part it is also fundamentally consonant with a vision of a green future, and living in rather than out of balance. Impossible dreaming? Well maybe. But perhaps this is as much a function of dreams as any – pulling us towards not a shiny but rather luminous green future. | Amidst this re-evaluation, what was previously ignored – the need to value doing in the world – brings a necessary, reality-bound cachet. Craft and skill dovetail in this world, for within each are embedded aspects of an embodied, tacit and physical path. Much of the craft realm may well be gone, and although the outline of this mixed future may not be persuasive to techno-sceptics, it provides a way of sorts to maintain craft into the medium term future. For many of those who came of age after the digital watershed, the idea of returning to pre-electronic times seems (almost) unthinkable. The fusion of computers with craft, although inferring a radically different future, provides a middle path of sorts, which offers the hope of fulfilling both sides of the story. And in the story of both/and there is also a model for a whole different way of learning; a way of learning which encourages and celebrates multiplicities rather than specialism, which nurtures the many-sided rather than the one-dimensional. If this is paradoxical, it is because this is also a form of learning which is about inhabiting rather than denying paradox. In part it is also fundamentally consonant with a vision of a green future, and living in rather than out of balance. Impossible dreaming? Well maybe. But perhaps this is as much a function of dreams as any – pulling us towards not a shiny but rather luminous green future. |
| Oliver Lowenstein runs Fourth Door Review (www.fourthdoor.co.uk), the green cultural review. Much of this essay has been derived from material and experiences stemming from various editions of the Review. The Weald and Downland Museum Gridshell, and Fred Baier’s conversation with Chris Rose on Impossible Furniture, are featured in issue 5, while an interview with Helena Hietanen on her Technolace can be found in issue 4; and an interview with Geoge Dyson about his Baidarka boats in issue 7. Issue 4 also features a review of two relevant books on this subject: Malcolm McCullough’s Abstracting Craft, and Frank Wilson’s The Hand. The review essay explores the neurophysiological and evolutionary functions of the upper limbs. | |
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| | Oliver Lowenstein runs Fourth Door Review (http://www.fourthdoor.co.uk), the green cultural review. Much of this essay has been derived from material and experiences stemming from various editions of the Review. The Weald and Downland Museum Gridshell, and Fred Baier’s conversation with Chris Rose on Impossible Furniture, are featured in issue 5, while an interview with Helena Hietanen on her Technolace can be found in issue 4; and an interview with Geoge Dyson about his Baidarka boats in issue 7. Issue 4 also features a review of two relevant books on this subject: Malcolm McCullough’s Abstracting Craft, and Frank Wilson’s The Hand. The review essay explores the neurophysiological and evolutionary functions of the upper limbs. |
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83.101.5.51