European Craft Summit 2015

Seminar:

Crafts and Technology: experience and evaluation
Makers, critics, philosophers will share their views about how to consider the "new technologies" in the field of crafts.

24 Oct 2015 - 10h - 18h 
25 Oct 2015 - 09.30h - 13.30h


Program:

Vlad Ionescu– lecturer and moderator.
Artisans, Artists and the problem of style.  Applied Arts between practise and Art History.
The current presentation addresses two problems: firstly, the place of craftsmanship in the modern history of art. Even though most of the artists present here are interested in the practical questions concerning the new technologies of making artefacts, a short overview of the modern art history reveals that applied arts played a central role in modern art history. Besides the fact that historians like Aloïs Riegl and Wilhelm Worringer placed the non-figurative and ornamental arts at the core of the notion of artistic styles, they also distinguishing between technology and (applied) arts. Secondly, this presentation is concerned with the current anthropological and cultural status of craftsmanship in an age where technological reproduction has penetrated almost all cultural domains, from visual arts to artistry. The hypothesis that we defend is that liberal arts and applied art are not two separate categories with different types of objects but two different sides  of a broader understanding of artistic creation as an organic process including different values: values of from, material values, iconography and ornament. 

Annie Warburton
Digital Handmade: Coming of Age?
A critical overview of the relationships between craft and technology.   Using examples from the Crafts Council’s innovation programme and beyond, the talk will consider: Is the digital handmade coming of age, or are we waking up after the hype?  How are new technologies transforming craft?  How are craft techniques transforming how we use new technologies?  What aesthetic, social, cultural and economic questions are provoked by the technological shifts in craft?

David Huycke
The Moment of Truth: Structural Granulation.
The lecture of the Belgian object artist will present his finished PhD project ‘The Metamorphic Ornament: Re Thinking Granulation’ (2010) where the contemporary relevance of the ancient goldsmiths technique of granulation is explored. More specific the possibilities on structural granulation and methods on how a technique can reach beyond the technical applications towards a more abstract and poetic dimension will be discussed. 

Jonathan Keep
New tools in the toolbox
Having made use of so called ‘New Technology’ for over 15 years my lecture proposes to look at when ‘New’ just becomes part of tradition.
In the belief that any honest creative endeavour should reflect the time in which it is produced it is inevitable that the technologies brought on by the digital age are going to become the everyday.  These technologies are now ubiquitous in our everyday lives and so why not in our art. I will seek to avoid the over complicated language and hype that often make the use of new technologies seem mysterious and to illustrate how what is on offer are just ‘new tools’ in the studio toolbox that offer ‘new ways of working’ – what is important is what you do with them.

Bradley Quinn
Technonaturals , Science, Technology, Sustainability and Craft - A New Future for Fashion andTextiles 
Organically-grown fibres may seem to be the ultimate in sustainability right now, but a new vision for future fashion and textiles is challenging how we think about consumption and waste. Bradley Quinn will introduce a new generation of sustainable textiles developed by researchers and scientists active in the fields of biotech, synthetic biology, nanotech and wearable technology. In future, designers may be required to create fabrics that can be programmed like computers, or even made with integrated power sources.  Some types of fibres will be manipulated at the molecular level to create new types of performances, while entire textiles will be grown organically and harvested like crops. As insights into the technologies changing the industry emerge, a future that may seem out of reach right now will be made relevant to textile design today.

Emmi Maijanen
Goal-oriented non-linearity: Experiences from laser-art-residence
This presentation shares experiences of two-year research project called LARES that aims for finding out new ideas for value creation processes in organization. Project tries to tackle the challenge by bringing international and well-known artists and Finnish laser technology experts together in a laser-art-residence in Lappeenranta. In this talk I will focus on how laser technology (eg. cutting, marking, scribing, 3D scanning and printing…) can be used for producing art and furthermore co-operation of technical experts and artists. One important aspect is working processes related to usage of technology that requires also assistance from technical expert. 

Simultaneous translation: French-English-Dutch


For registered participants only:

25 Oct 2015 
15h - 20h At the Plaza Art
Viewing of films about crafts A best-off from the International Film Festival about Crafts, by Ateliers d’Art de France.

26 Oct 2015  9.30h - 12.30h
Guided visit of the City Mons sites and museums Start from the Tourism Office at the Market Place, visit of the BAM, the belfry, the Mundaneum, and some old areas of the city 
Guided tour in French and in English

26 Oct 2015  16h - 19h
Visit of the new Ceramic Centre KERAMIS
At La Louvière 

27 Oct 2015  9.30h - 21h
Visits of neighbouring Museums by Bus
The Mac’s, Contemporary art museum, and the C.I.D., Centre for Innovation and Design, at Grand−Hornu, Belgium
La Piscine, Museum of Art and Industry, at Roubaix, France 
The LaM and some other places from the Lille 3000 event, France
Lunch and dinner included
French/English

Registration costs:
Seminar only, 2 Days, lunch included - 250€ 
Viewing Films only - 15€
Guided city tour of Mons - 15€
Visit ok Keramis in La Louvière - 15€
Bus trip to neighbouring museums, Lunch, dinner and museum tickets included - 140€

For detailed information visit the site of the WCC-BF