Thingness

What role does ‘the materiality of things’ play in our relationship to the objects we create and consume?

There is a renewed interest in what the act of making does to humans and our understanding of the object. Makers and designers are at a point of reflection: re-evaluating our sensitivities to objects and materials. The exhibition and accompanying symposium reflect on how objects come to be and how the making of an object affords it ‘a voice’. Selected works by five artists and designers explore people’s relationship with objects through materiality and the making process.

Building on Camberwell College’s reputation for ‘making’, the exhibition proposes to create a dialogue around notions of ‘the maker’, ‘the making process’ and ‘the material’. The symposium will facilitate an exchange of ideas between designers, theoreticians, makers of objects, curators, art and design historians, anthropologists, educationalists and material scientists around the theme of ‘Thingness’.

Co-curated by Karen Richmond and Maiko Tsutsumi.

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