Opening text by Muhammad Umar
April 16th,2019
By proclaiming that I am a jewelry/object maker, I am sending a note to my audience to look into the materiality of objects, how they are made, why they are made, and what they can offer to the porter?
From this multifaceted project, one significant aspect of human behavior branches out. That much of our behavior is cued by expectations, which are determined by the frames that constitute the context of action. We look at things by face value. We determine and practice these norms, which give value to the material culture.
As humans have capacity to transform material into production and it reflects on understanding of being and how the world should be. For me this narrative is complex to understand, we as humans need to transcend from this illusion of existence, as our life is temporary.
This project gave an opportunity to all kinds of thinkers-makers to talk about their understanding of things and how these appear in their environment.
Answers in form of pictures of object, can be approached in multiple ways on the website and links through QR codes. I have selected some of the answers that are thought provoking. In one of the answers Barbara Bauer gives the response of curiosity 16 by talking about the existence of self in other state.
Furthermore, creating a fire seems very ordinary act in recent time but it had dissimilar sense in past. In another response to curiosity no 30 Barbara Bauer equates piece of clothing with carcass , which poses questions about the nature of relationship of clothing with human body. Jessica Swanson responds to curiosity no 28 “an object that should never had existed” by saying “a plastic bag”. Now just imagine the world without plastic bags. Naveed Sabir and Stephen Garrett Dewyer responded to two different curiosities with one object, the bank note. If the money is claimed to be an object then what is the value of it? Can you buy it? Some object’s existence is beyond logic like “fidget” as answered by Naveed Sabir. When objects become desirable without logic they quickly become alien in short span of time. Iris Bodemer responding to curiosities no 3 and 20 gives answers with objects that I am not familiar with. Since these objects are strange, they make me curious about their material and function. Aida Ali answering curiosity 12 talks about object with emotions and inherited history. Aida, intending to collect something that exists in certain space with utilitarian purpose, gives hybridity to object in terms of meaning. Nicole Miller responding to curiosity no 7 declares human as object, similarly Stephen Garrett answering curiosity no 34 offers picture of a hand as an uncommon object. These answers have tendency to study(study doesn’t make clear sense,,may be u can replace it with generate) scholarship around the definition of objects.
The Keyboard 1/5 is a way of perceiving, thinking and questioning the norms; a first step toward inquiring about things/objects.
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| Barbara Bauer |
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| Barbara Bauer |
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| Jessica Swanson |
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| Naveed Sabir |
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| Stephen Garrett Dewyer |
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| Naveed Sabir |
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| Iris Bodemer |
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| Iris Bodemer | | | |
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| Aida Ali |
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| Nicole Cavannah Miller |
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| Stephen Garrett Dewyer |
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| Iris Bodemer |
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| Iris Bodemer |
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| Add caption |
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| Unk Kraus |
