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- Title of Abstract:
The Domestication of Ceramics: Using as Consuming (Ref #177)
- Date:
- 16-10-2006 12:20:51
- Status:
-
Accepted
- Rating:
- 8
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Details:
- ?The meaning of something is in its use , not in itself? John Cage
This paper aims to analyse how craft objects are valued, possessed and ?consumed?, by focusing on the end-user?s practices of use. By observing categories of practice and products, the text will explore categories of value embodied in ceramic objects for domestic use, considering aesthetic and functional necessities.
The text intends to analyse the transition of ceramics from functional objects for domestic use (products of necessity, evolved to serve needs of subsistence) to objects of ?aesthetic enjoyment? (contemplation and intrinsic beauty), acting both as social instruments of domestication and as cultural signs and symbols. This transition comes into play with the distinction between needs -?what is truly necessary for a person?s activities?- and wants -?which are determined by culture? (i). As Rawson (ii) expressed, a production evolving from ?strands of meaning related to life, use, and symbolic thought?, to the exploration of ?functions which have no basis in immediate life needs, with its own symbolic justification? (iii). As such, the cultural values invested in ceramic objects of use have altered with the patterns of consumption, commodification and taste, and the making of high value exhibited artefacts further promoting aesthetic development.
Increasing attention to the use of objects as processes of consumption are reflected in craft discourse debates. As design historians Sandino and Lees-Maffei (iv) observe, the production of ?home crafts? is relevant in ?engaging issues of public and private domesticities?. The nature, function and significance of ceramics situates its objects in a large social network, expanding their interpretive capacity; but do ceramic craft objects embody notions of functionality and aesthetics as singular objects, or are they best understood through the interactive uses and embedded practices (v) developed and evolved by consumers/users? How do such objects derive meaning when bound to the symbolic activities, occupations and systems of value created by their ?consumers?? Significantly, craft thinks of the relationships between its objects and their users (vi) : as such, value is attached to the ultimate end - the activity that derives from the objects themselves. These activities illustrate how craft objects fit and circulate within everyday practices of living (in de Certeau?s terms) and become permeable points of access for cultural practice (in Bourdieu?s (vii) view).
Thus the text aims to suggest the changing functions, qualities, values and associations for functional ceramic objects, seeking to observe the consumer. These issues underline a methodology which, beyond concept, material and skill, involves the end-consumer as the central interpreter of the craft object, revealing the active role of the audience in the perception and consumption of the objects circulated by craft. In this sense, Adorno ?s (viii) concept of a ?surplus of experience? shows that the object-user interaction is central to the objects? symbolism and significance.
(i) Octavio Paz says that ceramics belong to a world where the delimitation between beauty and use is erased.
(ii) In de Waal, E. 2003. 20th Century Ceramics. London: Thames and Hudson. p.175
(iii)This position makes possible the notion of singularity, collectable and ownership, offering a symbolic context that reaffirms the identity of the owner.
(iv) Sandino, L., Lees-Maffei, G. 2004. Dangerous Liaisons. Journal of Design History, vol.17. p.207
(v) In de Certeau?s theory, an interpretive process. De Certeau, M. 1984. The Practice of Everyday Life. London and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
(vi) As Baudrillard says: the ?systems of human behaviour and [the] relationships that result therefrom?. Baudrillard, J. 1996. The System of Objects, tr. J. Benedict, London: Verso (p 92)
(vii) Bourdieu, P. 1984. Distinction. A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. London: Routledge and Keegan Paul.
(viii) Adorno, T., in Kurtgozu, A. 2004. Design and Manners (of Experience). A Design and Emotion Society Publication.
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