- yes
- yes
the idea of plastic being used to mimic materials comes as a continued idea that I feel many people know but only when you try to buy a material that plastic does not influence makes it more difficult for a person to obtain it. near enough everything we own is fake and therefore is not a giant leap for someone to say that it is plastic without actually knowing.
we also remove life such as plant pots or plastic plants which generally contains or benefits life and we do not care and feel much happier removing seeing as it suits our needs which we don’t even know if they are correct. plastic is moldable such as life and we hold the mos influence over it yet we often say we are not in control of our own lives which we know is a lie in-of-itself.
mass production of plastic is a well known fact and by creating those “fake” creations we have removed the senses that come with regular things such as real life plants or real wood and not plastic coated wood.
Pallasmaa (2009) talks about how plastic has made it that we have removed the idea of skills and the ability to work with materials to suit the industrial needs and creations, “cumulative practices of the human hand” helped with the creation of mankind and removing these means that we remove the ability for us to reshape the world but we also destroy what we made beforehand, i.e. destroying the past.
embodied (sensory) skills- are primitive but are required for us to create things especially intricate things, structure, density, weight or grain can all affect how a wooden sculpture is made yet with a machine this can be identified and in term loses the ability to retain emotions or are a reflection of the artist who made it. the sculpture made via a machine will split in half but with hand it survives the process. This is perfect for humanity as it means humans only and keeps us safe and intact.
Technologically mediated embodied skill- involves both machine and human, think electric saw or engraving tool and human guiding it, this is somewhat acceptable towards society. But the use of technology means that we may go too far into creations and thus destroy ourselves and our lives.
semi- automated skill- robots that make creations with only humans once in a while oiling or fixing it, humans are not needed for this process and thus this process has destroyed humanity by making us obsolete.
Sennett (2009) speaks of humans, replicants and robots.
Replicant- means that it is more efficient and still requires a human hand but does not remove it. It removes senses and extends human activity by changing its sensory experience.
Robot- Replaces human activity and removes senses, completely destroys humanity and human interaction between objects and society.
human- pottery/ fine art
replicant- detailed wooden door creation
robot- car creation
sennett (2009) speaks of how sight influence us and stops us from experiencing things, a painful sight is removed with the closing of eyes but you cannot remove the pian from slicing open your hand.
(1) Practitioner (designer):
A learnt skill, or mastery with materials is lost
As a person develops skill, the contents of what he or she repeats
change. This seems obvious: in sports, repeating a tennis serve again
and again, the player learns to aim the ball different ways […]
if you remove skill then you remove the idea of someone being a practitioner, sennett (2009) speaks of how we use machinery incorrectly hen it creates repetition and stops imagination of creativity or the flaws made, which create unique objects.
(2) Consumer/User/Client:
Valuing Quantity over Quality, dulling the senses
The machine introduced a new element concerning the relation
of quantity and quality. For the first time, the sheer quantity of
uniform objects aroused concerns that number would dull the
senses, the uniform perfection of machined goods issuing no
sympathetic invitation, no personal response […]
quantity does not mean that quality should not also be thought or used in this work.
plastic has destroyed the world and we accept and prefer “imitation” materials as they are cheaper and can make that which is expensive like diamonds.
Pallasmaa (2009) speaks of limitations in materials and how you could in theory make a ship from wood and never stone or diamond. each material has restrictions and we cannot alter those without removing the ability to destroy those materials.
all materials have laws and the addition of robots removes the knowledge that humans possess to abide by these laws. In industry nothing can alter the creation process but with humans we can as we do not have a restriction to objects.
Truth to Materials (1930’s):
Letting materials ‘speak’ their unwritten laws.
moore (1934) speaks of how stone can be bent and has its properties to which we must agree with and conform to, but if we try to we can end up with something different which people think is wrong.
contemporary- plastic can be considered a “slave” and by returning it to its original form it then becomes like putty or foam and is not wanted by the world, the fake is preferred to the original.
I did not realise how much plastic is in the world in terms of materials.
I should try to use natural materials in my work, and avoid use things that use plastic like plastic coated wood for structures.
STRENGTH- I can understand the terminology and understand concepts.
WEAKNESS- need to apply the skills more.
Plastic is used throughout computers and even coating for pens on pencils which are used in the work near enough all the time, however wood is used the most come pencil, cardboard or paper and many other forms yet we still do not use it in its natural state. I do not let the material speaks and often go against the grain and defy what it wants yet often conform to what it allows me, I am in power not the wood or wooden forms itself.
Kierron Bennett 