Podcasts
Mike Press Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland.
This podcast is intended for educational use only.
"Do you appreciate handmade arts and crafts? Are you the owner of a computer, a PDA, or, an iPod? If so, SafariPod probably has a product that will make you smile... today, and every day ... At SafariPod we are adding back a touch of humanity to our otherwise sterile environments. We hope you appreciate the effort."
What better companion for your iPod than a hand-carved wooden plinth in the shape of a rhino or elephant? Or if you wish to celebrate the launch of Apple's new operating system -- the OSX 10.5 "Leopard"-- then Kenya's SafariPod craft workshop could also ship you a traditionally crafted black leopard made especially in its honour. iCraft. It had to happen sooner or later. However, such iCraft does highlight the question of craft's relationship to digital culture. Is it solely to provide a little light handmade decorative relief in our technologically saturated lives?
This paper will explore this question in terms of material culture, identifying how crafted objects and digitized objects appear to arise from different worlds and constitute wholly different types of objects.
I suggest that there is evidence of a new model of craft practice emerging -- small certainly, but potentially highly significant -- which is in many cases being pursued by makers who have difficulty embracing "the c-word" as a descriptor for their practice. But craft it most certainly is.
Endnotes
http://www.safaripod.com accessed 06/12/06
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L'auteur présente l'arrivée de "iCraft", où un objet sculpté à tout acheteur d'un "SafariPod". Une rencontre étonnante – et inévitable? – entre la culture matérielle et la culture numérique, et qui pourrait être fructueuse pour l'artisan.