Project ︎︎︎ Political Material: Designing Material Experiences
Alongside my publication Political Material, I set out to explore the realm of sculpture & experience design. My two pieces, ‘The Hot Seat’ and ‘Silver Touch’ are the results of this exploration.
The Hot Seat
The streetscape has been designed with pain built in, with sharp corners and metal forms, mediating our urban spaces and pushing us to behave in certain ways. Barbed wire that traces the empty lots of abandoned houses, the uncomfortable ridges of park benches, and padlocked alleyways that close after dark. Built on the presumption of a home to go back to, our urban spaces are not fit for purpose. But what might happen if we flip convention on its head, and make the home a hostile space.
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In 1969 the radical Superstudio designed and built the Quaderna table. Its form was simple, with straight edges and a geometric cubed design on its surface. However, the studio turned this simple object into a ground breaking experiment by using it in unique ways. Placing the desk in the middle of a field, or under an oak tree, the desk came to represent a movement towards a new work-life balance. If a desk can be brought anywhere, then so too can our work. It begs the question, why do we settle for anaemic office spaces when nature lies just out of reach? The Quaderna table still has relevance today, in the wake of the Covid pandemic and the work-from-home movement, corporations have begun their campaign to get us back into the office, even in the face of waning public support for the practice. The Quaderna table asks us to question the very nature of work itself, and what the future might hold for the antiquated office space. Inspired by the work of Superstudio and their radical desk, I set out to re-contextualise my desk chair to become a hostile object.
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The Hot Seat
The streetscape has been designed with pain built in, with sharp corners and metal forms, mediating our urban spaces and pushing us to behave in certain ways. Barbed wire that traces the empty lots of abandoned houses, the uncomfortable ridges of park benches, and padlocked alleyways that close after dark. Built on the presumption of a home to go back to, our urban spaces are not fit for purpose. But what might happen if we flip convention on its head, and make the home a hostile space.
In 1969 the radical Superstudio designed and built the Quaderna table. Its form was simple, with straight edges and a geometric cubed design on its surface. However, the studio turned this simple object into a ground breaking experiment by using it in unique ways. Placing the desk in the middle of a field, or under an oak tree, the desk came to represent a movement towards a new work-life balance. If a desk can be brought anywhere, then so too can our work. It begs the question, why do we settle for anaemic office spaces when nature lies just out of reach? The Quaderna table still has relevance today, in the wake of the Covid pandemic and the work-from-home movement, corporations have begun their campaign to get us back into the office, even in the face of waning public support for the practice. The Quaderna table asks us to question the very nature of work itself, and what the future might hold for the antiquated office space. Inspired by the work of Superstudio and their radical desk, I set out to re-contextualise my desk chair to become a hostile object.
‘The Hot Seat’ is my exploration upon this theme, lined with solid aluminium, cold to the touch with sharp corners and uncomfortable ridges. This piece is designed to be a painful experience, forcing us to question the nature of our urban spaces. The streetscape should be a comforting environment, it should welcome us in with open arms. The Hot Desk is an attempt to redefine what comfort means, and the ways in which our urban spaces are constructed.
Silver Touch
Silver Touch is a sculpture about interaction, built from alluminium sheets and fastened to a silver frame, the piece asks its audience to stand on either side and touch each other. On one hand, the task is impossible, with milimeters of metal preventing any direct contact, instead the audience is forced to use the sculpture as a tool of interaction, pushing and pulling on the surface as they attempt to push their hands together. In the interaction that takes place, I hope to pose questions about the nature of metal as a mediating force for human contact.
Often cold and harsh, metal is relegated to the cruelty of architecture or the violence of industrial forms. Rarely is metal utilised to foster human conntection and engagement. Perhaps once the piece is littered with fingerprints and moulded to the form of hands, we can begin to understand that metal itself is not inhumane, or cruel, but the ways it is utilised in our built environmeent is. Metal is a tool, inhabiting the will of those who seek to control it, but it can just as easily be a force for good, as much as evil.
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Silver Touch
Silver Touch is a sculpture about interaction, built from alluminium sheets and fastened to a silver frame, the piece asks its audience to stand on either side and touch each other. On one hand, the task is impossible, with milimeters of metal preventing any direct contact, instead the audience is forced to use the sculpture as a tool of interaction, pushing and pulling on the surface as they attempt to push their hands together. In the interaction that takes place, I hope to pose questions about the nature of metal as a mediating force for human contact.
Often cold and harsh, metal is relegated to the cruelty of architecture or the violence of industrial forms. Rarely is metal utilised to foster human conntection and engagement. Perhaps once the piece is littered with fingerprints and moulded to the form of hands, we can begin to understand that metal itself is not inhumane, or cruel, but the ways it is utilised in our built environmeent is. Metal is a tool, inhabiting the will of those who seek to control it, but it can just as easily be a force for good, as much as evil.
