Modernism and After (Vis Com) Semester 2

Week 6: Materiality and the Image

DIY Homework.

This week you are first required to choose a physical object that you feel embodies an interesting relationship between image and material. This could be anything, from printed toilet paper, a beaten old mug with images on it to a trainer with a patterned design. Think carefully about how you could articulate what makes it interesting to the group. Does it reveal something about our usual habits when using this kind of thing, which we might usually forget? Does it reveal something about a very unusual object / subject relationship? How does the material itself (the feel or it, its warmth, the smell of it, the sound it makes when you flick it etc.) contribute to the meaning of the image?

Secondly, you should locate an object or collection of objects that you feel has specific relevance to somebody. This might be a wedding album your grandparents own, or a novelty gift someone keeps to be reminded of a certain occasion etc. (don’t be afraid to think quite laterally about this). Speak to these people and try to find out the stories behind the particular object (s). Why is it significant to them? How do they tend to view it, handle it, smell it etc.? Is it a private object, or, on display? How is the object preserved and cared for?

Where possible, please bring the relevant objects to next week’s seminar so that we can look at them as a group, listening carefully to the stories and ideas you have gathered and created.