MAKING FUTURES

BACKGROUND

RELATED PROJECTS

ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION

The papers in this volume represent the results of the first Making Futures international research conference held in September 2009 at Mount Edgcumbe House, in the Mount Edgcumbe country estate that lies across the River Tamar opposite the City of Plymouth, UK.

The purpose of the Making Futures conference series is to improve understanding of the ways in which the contemporary crafts are practised in relation to significant and new emerging agendas relating to global environmental and sustainability issues. The objectives included trying to understand whether these ‘agendas’ offer opportunities for the crafts to redefine and reconstitute themselves as less marginalised, more centrally productive forces in society, through new formulations and/or re-articulations of practices, identities, positions and markets, in ways that might engage more closely with contemporary social and cultural needs.

Thirty-nine presentations were selected for the final conference programme following a process of double-blind abstract reviewing by a distinguished peer review panel. By far the overwhelming majority of presenters (thirty-five) responded positively to the post- conference call to publish and all are included in this volume, and accompanied by an introductory essay by Malcolm Ferris, the conference curator.

To ensure the widest possible dissemination Making Futures is published as an open-access academic resource for all those interested in its theme.

PAPERS

Local-global translations and dialogues...

This session will examine the tensions and flows expressed in craft making and craft artifacts in the supposedly ‘post-colonial’ contexts of contemporary global capitalism and its possible futures. Ethical and sustainable craft issues will be explored in relation to the new sensibilities emerging as a result of the movements and stresses between traditional cultures and modernity; between rural and urban cultures; between local, regional, national and global levels of interaction and translation; between notions of authenticity, cultural heritage and identity derived under the influence of Western and non-Western markets, aesthetics and agencies.

Socio-technological and material discourses. . .

This session will examine the relationship of craft practices to ‘post-industrial’ modes of design, making, marketing and consumption along with emerging reactions to mass production, de-skilling and consumption, (i.e., in ‘slow design’, the cult of the ‘imperfect' and 'amateurism'). As such it will explore the discourse between traditional craft making and advanced scientific and technological models which, emerging in the context of global capital, are characterised by their mobility, adaptability, customability, and speed of operation. The opportunities presented by these new modus operandi will be explored in relation to the notion that traditional approaches can provide the frameworks for more ecologically sustainable practices.

Critical perspectives on post-industrial futures . . .

This session will examine the relationship of craft practices to ‘post-industrial’ modes of design, making, marketing and consumption along with emerging reactions to mass production, de-skilling and consumption, (i.e., in ‘slow design’, the cult of the ‘imperfect' and 'amateurism'). As such it will explore the discourse between traditional craft making and advanced scientific and technological models which, emerging in the context of global capital, are characterised by their mobility, adaptability, customability, and speed of operation. The opportunities presented by these new modus operandi will be explored in relation to the notion that traditional approaches can provide the frameworks for more ecologically sustainable practices.

Responses, redefinitions & repositionings…

This session will explore some of the ways in which craft practitioners are imaginatively responding to public dialogues around sustainability issues, especially through the “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle” rubric. It will examine the way makers, as individual craftspeople, members of collectives, and as designer-makers, are redefining the contemporary crafts as a means to empower self and others to gain critical awareness of the habitat, and to engage in grassroots activism and community participation. As such the session will hear from a number of concrete projects that seek to extend product life, to employ found objects, to reclaim and recycle refuse, to adopt second-hand ‘upcycling’ strategies, and to incorporate concepts of collaborative authorship.

Endangered subjects - ethical minds...

This session will explore social equity and environmental sustainability in the context of crafts education and curriculum design. Despite the frequently asserted transformative value of purposive, embodied engagement with material processes as a basis for ethical and sustainable living, crafts education is undergoing something of a crisis, and craft-based disciplines in the UK art school system are, for example, now considered ‘endangered subjects’. Why might this be so? Can a crafts-based education designed with ethical and environmental stewardship at its core help address this condition? If possible, what practical measures and means might help identify and transfer the essential kinds of sustainability information and goals to be imparted?