A Narrative of Progress and thoughts

The Camberwell ILEA Collection

Sadly, I did miss this exhibition Cath told me about. However, I thought it was an interesting to draw any connections to my own journey.

‘The display considers the original function of the collection – to teach children the principles of ‘good design’ by handling selected objects and materials – through rarely seen archive material.Visitors to the exhibition are invited to participate in a cataloguing activity in the gallery space. By selecting their favourite object, from a pool that will change throughout the display, visitors will be asked to think like collection curators and record important information. Visitors will also be encouraged to handle objects in a series of drop in ‘Meet the Collection’ events ‘

This made me think of meaningful/ meaningless art, would a ‘good design’ come into this? The quality of the work and time spent into creating this piece, make the art more meaningful?

The same with sentimental objects; my seaglass necklace for example. Can the sentimentality be correlated with the amount of effort put into the piece to make it. I love the necklace from the memory of Cornwall, the person who gave it to me and the fact that it was handmade. Yet as an artist could this be translated in our work; making something beautifully handmade and giving it meaning. Would this be done with creating a  back story to the item? So when someone buys the item, they are also investing in an object with a story, which they can add to?

A Podcast from RadioLab, discuss ‘things’, through the audio they discuss a mans kinderegg kept from his childhood, which is now old and mouldy. Yet he clings onto the chocolate egg, as a kid his family travelled a lot and the one birthday party he got to attend, he was given this egg.

‘From a piece of the Wright brother’s plane to a child’s sugar egg, today: Things! Important things, little things, personal things, things you can hold and things that can take hold of you. This hour, we investigate the objects around us, their power to move us, and whether it’s better to look back or move on, hold on tight or just let go.’

So they attempt to re-create this egg, in hopes to maintain in digitally into a 3D piece forever. But in this process, they break his childhood egg. The only symbol he had as a young boy, now gone. Despite knowing its only a chocolate egg, it is hard not to feel empathetic towards him.

Sentimentality triggers all the senses from smell ,touch, sight and sound. This then triggers a memory, ‘nostalgia ,longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations’.

Although life, might feel as a flow of one time to the next. What if Sentiment connects us, there is never an ending to one experience. As what has happens in the past has led us to the now.

References:

http://chuckslamp.com/index.php/2014/03/01/why-are-we-sentimental-does-it-serve-a-purpose/

http://events.arts.ac.uk/event/2018/9/18/A-Narrative-of-Progress-The-Camberwell-ILEA-Collection/