Materials have always been a key condition of human creativity, but in recent decades, they have taken on renewed prominence in artistic practices. This article examines how today’s focus on materials relates to ideas from 16th-century understandings of nature and materials and how these connections can shed new light on the ongoing departure […]
How do we change our relationship with the materials around us to become more aware of their life and development? The EU's new legislation on sustainable production is a step in the right direction, but it's far from enough.
[…] a strong legacy from Danish design and craft traditions. When I was a teenager, my maternal grandmother, who was a ceramist, taught me how to use natural materials, such as sand and seashells. In my youth I worked for Bodil Manz (b. 1943), and she taught me to seek the boundaries of materials. Manz […]
We are not utilizing the full potential of the world’s materials In recent years, the media have highlighted the phenomenon of ‘Earth Overshoot Day’ : the date in given year when the global population has consumed the amount of resources that the planet can regenerate in a year. The date is also calculated for […]
In Charlotte Østergaard's artistic research practice, co-creation is not merely a matter of establishing horizontal forms of collaboration between people. It is an investigation of how people, textile materials and local atmospheres mutually influence and respond to each other. Here, Charlotte Østergaard provides an insight into her current research and practice.
[…] machine and an alchemist’s approach and breaking with the zero-error culture, two tutors and researchers from the Royal Danish Academy aim to show the world that there is an endless number of possibilities in recycling everything from roof tiles to toilets and turning them into new building materials – without compromising on form or aesthetic.
We are surrounded by materials. Organic, synthetic, processed, raw, edible, composite, durable, degraded, living, dead. They are the building blocks of our homes, the clothes on our bodies, the cream on our skin and the food we eat. They are not only around us, but also within us. They become part of us and […]
We live in a society built on consumption—but where do the raw materials come from? And what happens to our understanding of products and materials when production is removed from local communities? Material flows, design history, and craftsmanship intersect in an interdisciplinary conversation between Associate Professor Ingrid Halland and Professor Kjetil Fallan.
[…] needs sensuous qualities and sensibilities. Our body is not just a vehicle for our head. We grasp our world through the way we thrive in and feel welcomed by our environment and by sensing the materials around us. Thus, design can be seen as solutions in material form attempting to meet contemporary needs and yearnings.
Material-based art is gaining ground. At the Skovgaard Museum in Viborg, eight young Danish artists frolic in the idiom and materials of crafts in the exhibition Hot Hands - crafts in contemporary art. The art form is actualized both by the current 'maker' trend and the necessary focus on resource awareness - but is […]