This a paper I read at the beginning of the Ma and where this quote that has helped clarify my work has come from...
"conceptual craft is positioned between the functional sphere of design and the critical potential of art. This position is highly interesting."
I decided it would be beneficial to reread this paper as I have become interested in different areas of craft practice.
Here is the abstract of the paper...
"Contemporary craft may be facing a new golden age in the art world’s cautious recognition of the aesthetic specifities of the practice. What Peter Dormer labelled tacit knowledge and Jorunn Veiteberg upgraded to a third space as an art form based on traditional craft characteristics, however, contains a weakness keeping craft within a frame of (modernistic) art where the object is detached from its interaction with society.
As the paper will show, a conceptual practice has emerged at the contemporary scene. This practice is not concerned with a specific material but with adding an aesthetic surplus value to functional forms.
Instead of blurring the identity of craft, this practice strengthens the fact that craft has an immense potential as working within the spheres of both ‘art’ and ‘life’. Here it is possible to maintain a practice of resistance from within material culture, both as aesthetic, tactile objects but also as critical objects for use."
Like Risatti, Manzanti also discusses the craft vs art debate. She believes that while the physical practice of craft remains strong, the concept of craft is in an 'identity crisis'. However, she goes onto write that the answer could be in 'conceptual craft objects' which can question the traditional definitions. She writes that,
"we face the emergence of a more conceptual approach to craft. Craft, in this sense, is best understood as a practice based on statements and as the expression of ideas but – as a crucial fact - without losing the functional references."
Manzanti elaborates on this point in a way that is very relevant to my work,
"this position of craft is a co-existence of critical, narrative aspects of art and functional forms. Rather than inscribing this to an art practice, it therefore suggests a relation to design and thereby to everyday life."
"Conceptual craft is related to art in the predominance of narrative and in the way the functionality is only potential. But at the same time the fact that the functional form is the formal point of departure, it points directly out of the art sphere and into life. The practice then can be said in fact to re-integrate the lost relation between art and life."
Manzanti concludes that conceptual craft can be seen "as a practice operating in a human scale."
Manzanti, Louise. 2004. ‘Re-reading the Functional - A New Position for Contemporary Craft’ Challenging Craft. Available at: http://www.challengingcraft.org/ (accessed 09/08/09)
"conceptual craft is positioned between the functional sphere of design and the critical potential of art. This position is highly interesting."
I decided it would be beneficial to reread this paper as I have become interested in different areas of craft practice.
Here is the abstract of the paper...
"Contemporary craft may be facing a new golden age in the art world’s cautious recognition of the aesthetic specifities of the practice. What Peter Dormer labelled tacit knowledge and Jorunn Veiteberg upgraded to a third space as an art form based on traditional craft characteristics, however, contains a weakness keeping craft within a frame of (modernistic) art where the object is detached from its interaction with society.
As the paper will show, a conceptual practice has emerged at the contemporary scene. This practice is not concerned with a specific material but with adding an aesthetic surplus value to functional forms.
Instead of blurring the identity of craft, this practice strengthens the fact that craft has an immense potential as working within the spheres of both ‘art’ and ‘life’. Here it is possible to maintain a practice of resistance from within material culture, both as aesthetic, tactile objects but also as critical objects for use."
Like Risatti, Manzanti also discusses the craft vs art debate. She believes that while the physical practice of craft remains strong, the concept of craft is in an 'identity crisis'. However, she goes onto write that the answer could be in 'conceptual craft objects' which can question the traditional definitions. She writes that,
"we face the emergence of a more conceptual approach to craft. Craft, in this sense, is best understood as a practice based on statements and as the expression of ideas but – as a crucial fact - without losing the functional references."
Manzanti elaborates on this point in a way that is very relevant to my work,
"this position of craft is a co-existence of critical, narrative aspects of art and functional forms. Rather than inscribing this to an art practice, it therefore suggests a relation to design and thereby to everyday life."
"Conceptual craft is related to art in the predominance of narrative and in the way the functionality is only potential. But at the same time the fact that the functional form is the formal point of departure, it points directly out of the art sphere and into life. The practice then can be said in fact to re-integrate the lost relation between art and life."
Manzanti concludes that conceptual craft can be seen "as a practice operating in a human scale."
Manzanti, Louise. 2004. ‘Re-reading the Functional - A New Position for Contemporary Craft’ Challenging Craft. Available at: http://www.challengingcraft.org/ (accessed 09/08/09)
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