Task 1:

Sevres visit

Anti-contamination shoes at Sevres

 

For me it is almost impossible to narrow down a highlight of the trip or to try to articulate what I have learnt during the short visit. However, if pushed, two things stood out. Firstly the little details used, such as the shoes, which although are only made for a tiny part of the process but are still made with care and precision. Secondly, it  was the lack of computers involved in the process. Sometimes, because of the expense of using hand labour and the cheapness of computer programs in comparison, the other costs of our society’s reliance on technology, machinery and the internet are overlooked, for example, the environmental costs.

On a much larger scale it was poignant to see Sevres supported and financed by the French government at a time when Wedgwood (and it’s subsidiaries Royal Doulton, Waterford etc) have been allowed to go into administration by the British government. 

Karen Price

‘Manufacture nationale de Sèvres’

Platform visits Ceramic Manufacturer Sevres 3-5 Feb.

My life in post-it notes

Hyde Park Tree

As well as being a good general introductory project ‘What will the neighbours think’ was also a brief that gave us the opportunity to introduce ourselves to the rest of the platform. Hardly knowing anyone else this posed one major question – how much should I tell them? I didn’t know if I would become best friends or arch enemies with any of the group and so didn’t want to either be too closed or indeed too open too soon. On top of this I was worried that any intervention I did could be (mis)interpreted by other members of the platform who might read their own opinions and experiences into what they saw in my room rather than reading the work as I had intended.
In the end I decided to be completely open about myself and wrote out my entire life story on post-it notes which I stuck on two large walls in my bedroom. Each post-it note only contained part of a sentence, and they were arranged randomly on the wall. Thus, anyone of the platform could read all of my secrets and just still not know anything about me as they would never know which post-it note went with another.
In order to publicise my work (the second part of the brief) I took my work into the public arena – twice replicating the post-it notes externally and also experimenting with leaving specific facts about myself in places important to me (whether good or bad). You can see photos of this work here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/32355052@N06/sets/72157611264285391/

Karen Price

Project 2: At arm’s length

At arm’s length
The space you occupy, your radius, the area of your direct control. What
lives in this area? Do you want to extend it, shrink it? Inside and outside
of your body, how do you infl uence the space around you? Design an
object or objects that inhabit the space inside the radius of your outstretched
arms. Alternatively, create objects that help you reinterpret,
change or extend what we call ‘at arms length’ beyond physical limits.

Think around these words:
Hold, give, attract, obsess, act, control, extend, move, contract, control,
take, grasp, sense, probe, detect, snatch, protect, exclude, include, gesticulate,
push, pull, tense up, shove, reserve, defend, deform, optimize,
strengthen, displace, struggle, hold, dress, fashion, encapsulate, crowd,
hide, customize, perfect, personal space, presence, charisma, haptic,
artifi cial, agile, transpire, bionic, machine, support, worship, abhor, force,
clumsy, assist, amputate, modify, exchange, replace, recycle, morph,
comfort zone, mobile architecture, unreal, unravel, straighten, dishevel,
distance, unit, claustrophobia, agoraphobia; Looking out of your body
from two holes in your head, permeable membrane, “the arm’s length
principle”, keeping someone at arm’s length; short arms, deep pockets;
living in a bubble,…
Gabi & Julia

Project 1: What will the neighbours think?

What will the neighbours think?

Your flat- your habitat- the first landscape you see in the morning
and the last one at night. Your shelter when things do not go to plan.
Your communication-center where your family and friends find your
current base. What is it that you want to show us when we visit?
Will your flat tell us the truth or a fabricated story about you? Do the
objects we surround ourselves with influence us or do they merely
show who we are?
Intervene!
put up, respond, create, reveal, conceal, expose, hide, make, install, fix,
display, organize, improvise, comment, research, express, engage,
effect, install, surprise, perform, construct, decompose, deconstruct
Will you manipulate you space for better or for worse? Will you live
in its transformed stage and record how the changes shape your life
or return it to its old self once we leave? Will you solve a problem or
create one?