The Twenty-First Century Curiosity Shop: 2011

Film to watch - '9' by Shane Acker

Set in a post apocalyptic world where machines have taken over from humans all that remains are a group of mechanical puppets bought to life by their former maker. In this ominous landscape, under the evil scrutiny of a machinic dog their survival is rooted in their resourcefulness. Making use of old and disused objects of the human world they adapt these curious forms to create traps, weapons, tools and trinkets to protect them from the world outside.

Whilst watching the clip think about....

- ...the setting – where is it? When is it?

- What objects do you notice?

- What do the objects tell you?

What is a collection?

–noun

1. the act of collecting.

2. something that is collected; a group of objects or an amount of material accumulated
in one location, esp. for some purpose or as a result of some process:
a stamp collection; a collection of unclaimed hats in the checkroom.

3. the works of art constituting the holdings of an art museum: a history of the museum and of the collection.

4. the gathered or exhibited works of a single painter, sculptor, etc.: an excellent Picasso collection.

5. collections, the various holdings of an art museum organized by category,
as painting, sculpture, works on paper, photography, or film: the director of the collections.

6. the clothes or other items produced by a designer, esp. for a seasonal line: the spring collection.

7. a sum of money collected, esp. for charity or church use.

8. Manège. act of bringing
or coming into a collected attitude.

Why do we collect things?
Is it because these things have value?
If so who to?

Collections can be personal and universal, private and public but what warrants
an object's place within a collection?

EXAMPLES OF COLLECTIONS:

Friday, 18 March 2011

Artist - Shellie Holden - Maps

Ordnance survey England, Kingsbridge and District (third edition) sheet 150, 1908-9 - updated in London 2006

I was researching paper as a material/object that is still widely used today centuries after its invention and came across the artist Shellie Holden who works primarily with paper in a variety of ways.

One of her most interesting projects is where she works with maps. Using thread she recreates the intricately woven tributaries of roads that snake across the surface. As the loosely woven thread becomes tangled it hepls to depict the confusing network of pathways that lace our towns and cities. She highlights too the importance of maps as a tool for navigation. The moment that the thread of roads becomes unpicked and unfastened we are lost, accuracy is key to finding our way. The patience and skill needed in cartography is therefore illuminated.

www.studiospool.com/index.html