Up until now, I have presented my thesis project “inventori” as an earnest attempt and creating a useful tool. I thought of it as a coping mechanism for those of us that are too sentimental about our things to give them away. I’ve been planning to make a website that can be a database for ...
Thesis argument: Objects are symbols of human history. This history can get lost as they physically erode, rust, break, and disappear. Additionally, the nature of objects is changing: physical objects are being translated into immaterial software that is housed in high-tech hardware. Immaterial software and high-tech objects cannot be vessels of sentiment/nostalgia in the same ...
This past November ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne hosted an exhibition entitled “Low-Tech Factory” which showed a selection of machines designed by Bachelor’s and Master’s students of Industrial Design and Products at a workshop led by designers Chris Kabel and Tomás Král. (via Vimeo) I found these to be fun and interesting project related to ...
American Pickers (History Channel) It’s all about the story behind the item! (watch it better here ›) Pier 1 commerical “Find what speaks to you” Willy Wonka “Wonka-vision” The Little Mermaid (Disney) Gadgets and gizmos aplenty… Antiques Roadshow (PBS/BCC) Hoarders (TLC) “Collecting”
I’m trying to clarify the exact philosophical ideas that I want to form the basis for my thesis. I’ve done some reading over the weekend on the thinkers that deal with the topic of subject/object relationships and have extracted the points that resonate most with me. Here’s how I’ve divided up the ideas into each ...
In thinking about our relationship with and usage of objects, I wondered: what happens when you remove both the person and the object from the equation? What evidence of that interaction are we left with? Is that evidence compelling? Does it capture how the person feels about the object and the experience of interacting with ...
This piece by Geoff Mann studio really exemplifies the idea of objects being physical records of our lives. The dishes on this table are affected by the sound waves of the conversation and their forms change accordingly. Cross-fire from Studio Mrmann on Vimeo.
This was an exercise is representing the nostalgia I feel toward objects. My technique was based on two assumptions: We tend to remember things through rose-colored glasses In the end it’s not really about the object, but rather the object’s ability to be a vehicle for a memory I used red and blue markers to ...
This was an exercise in getting a physical, non-tech object (mug) to communicate with high-tech electronics. I used a scanner, ASCII generator, and online text-to-music generator to interpret the mug in their native languages. I’m thinking of using the ASCII or MIDI data to influence a visual re-interpretation of the mug as the final output. ...
This thesis project by Nicola Waugh is a great precedent for me in the domain of nostalgia + objects: Embodied Artifacts: Memory, Nostalgia and Mid-Century Objects from Nicola Waugh on Vimeo. Notes: post-war technology was about optimism; about bettering the American experience grandma’s kitchen = comfortable space imagined memories vs. lived memories high-quality products vs. ...
This is the last episode in a series of documentaries by Adam Curtis. It focus on the idea of humans being machines. Adam Curtis – All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace 3/3 – The Monkey in the Machine and the Machine in the Monkey – Subs from avefenix1954 on Vimeo. Notes: Humans are ...
This mind map shows the concepts that I’ve been researching and thinking about so far. Many of these facets are related in interesting ways… I’m trying to curate them into a thesis project that best describes my perspective on the human relationship with things/technology.