Fungal attachments: Amadou-making across vernacular crafts and contemporary arts

This paper presents the rich heritage of Indian folk and tribal art forms and culture. Art traditions such as Madhubani, Warli, Gond, Patta Chitra, Bhil and other folk and tribal practices have historically served as powerful visual expressions and are now being reinterpreted to address present day cultural, political and technological contexts.The study examines how traditional folk and tribal art forms of India are adapted and integrated into contemporary art and design practices. It explores the transformation of traditional motifs, symbols, borders, color schemes, and compositional styles within modern creative fields such as digital art, textile and fashion design, product design and mixed-media artworks. Though visual analysis and selected examples, the paper highlights how artists and designers creatively integrate traditional aesthetics with modern materials, techniques, and conceptual frameworks while preserving cultural authenticity.The fusion of art and design further emphasizes the impact of modern technology and digital tools in revitalizing folk and tribal art forms. Digital platforms, design software and online marketplaces enable artists to experiment with innovative materials, and contemporary design processes. These tools have broadened creative possibilities, allowing traditional motifs to be reinterpreted in new mediums such as sustainable textiles, contemporary fashion, home décor, and multimedia installations. At the same time, the paper considers the challenges of maintaining authenticity and the cultural integrity of these art forms while engaging with global audiences and commercial markets.The study concludes that the integration of Indian folk and tribal art forms into contemporary art and design contributes to cultural sustainability and creative innovation. By bridging tradition and modernity, these art forms continue to evolve while maintaining their cultural significance, relevance, and aesthetics richness, ensuring their continuity and resonance in an increasingly globalized and interconnected world.

The “Interior Archetypes Research and Teaching Project”, initiated in 1997 at Cornell University, creates a typology of contemporary interior design practices that is derived from reiterative historical designs that span time and style and cross cultural boundaries. An argument for the significance of a typology of historic and contemporary interior design practices is based on ten years of experiments resulting from the project. Approximately one hundred archetypes have been developed by the principal investigator, graduate students, and associated educators. The article establishes the premises for this research model and defines the methodological, theoretical, and pedagogical implications of the study for both undergraduate and graduate learning experiences. The Interior Archetypes Project names contemporary design practices that have not been named, thereby providing designers with an interior–specific, history–specific, and contemporary design–specific vocabulary. The project also offers an innovative approach to further design criticism and design sustainability. The Interior Archetypes Project will disseminate a new knowledge base for the creative dimension of design—that is, the productions of its practitioners. The key method of delivery for the Interior Archetypes Project is its web site.

Cutting Edge of the Contemporary: KNUST, Accra, and the Ghanaian Contemporary Art Movement

This article is based on a project that explored the practices of art and design beginning teachers (BTs) working with learners in a post‐age‐16 context. The aim of the project was to: explore contemporary art and design practices; explore the concept of artist teacher learner researcher; enable beginning teachers to collaborate with post‐age‐16 pupils and develop new approaches and strategies to art and design pedagogy. Through practices that blurred learner‐teacher identities a dialectical pedagogy emerged and a collaborative community of practice developed, all enabled through a renegotiation and reconceptualising of places of learning. The beginning teachers also started to construct their artist teacher identities, understand what it means to practise as an artist teacher in the classroom, understand the impact of these practices on teaching and learning and develop new learning and teaching methods. This project demonstrates the possibilities of these practices for contemporary art and design pedagogy and also how these practices can endure and be sustainable for this community of beginning teachers in the current cultural, social and political contexts of education.

This research explores the manifestations of traditional crafts and arts in contemporary Saudi interior design as a key approach to highlighting local cultural identity amidst modern design transformations. The study stems from the problem of the discrepancy between the increasing presence of heritage elements in interior spaces and the limited depth of their cultural application, as well as the absence of an analytical vision that balances the aesthetic and symbolic dimensions of these crafts. The research aims to analyze the nature of the presence of traditional crafts and arts in Saudi interior design, revealing their role in strengthening cultural identity, supporting cultural sustainability, and contributing to the revitalization of the local economy. It also explores the complementary relationship between these dimensions in contemporary design practice. My research employs a descriptive-analytical approach supported by a quantitative survey methodology. Quantitative data was collected through a questionnaire administered to a sample of 220 participants, including specialists, practitioners, and craftspeople. Qualitative data was also gathered through semi-structured interviews with 40 participants, allowing for a multi-faceted analysis of the phenomenon. The findings revealed a general positive trend towards the importance of integrating traditional crafts into interior design as an element that enhances identity and visual distinction. However, it was noted that this integration remains largely superficial in some practices, and its success depends heavily on the designer's awareness and the supportive institutional and market environment. The results also highlighted the potential of interior design to transform traditional crafts into a sustainable cultural and economic resource when integrated within a comprehensive vision. In light of this, the research recommended the development of supportive design and legislative frameworks for the deep cultural and economic integration of traditional crafts, enhancing designers' awareness of their symbolic dimensions, and activating partnerships between designers and local artisans to contribute to sustainable cultural and economic development.

This article examines Graham Harman's Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO) and its influence on contemporary art and architecture. The key tenets of OOO are outlined, emphasizing the autonomy of objects and their existence beyond human perception. The aesthetic and literary principles formulated by Harman are analyzed, particularly the concept of weird realism (based on the works of H. P. Lovecraft) and the specific nature of the art object in the context of OOO philosophy. Harman's ideas are compared with a number of examples from contemporary architecture and art: works by architects Peter Zumthor, Mark Foster Gage, Tom Wiscombe, the firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro, as well as artists Mark Leckey, Alfredo Aceto, and participants in the "Adaptation" exhibition are examined. Detailed analysis is provided for these works, discussing their concepts, artistic methods, and connections to the philosophy of objects. The research is based on an interdisciplinary approach that combines philosophical analysis of Harman's texts with art historical methods for examining specific artistic and architectural works. The scientific novelty of this research lies in its interdisciplinary analysis of Object-Oriented Ontology philosophy and concrete artistic practices. For the first time in Russian art criticism, an attempt has been made to compare the postulates of OOO with works of contemporary art and architecture in the format of a comprehensive academic study. The novelty also consists in summarizing Harman's aesthetics (weird realism, metaphor, rejection of representation) and deriving methodological principles from it for the analysis of visual arts. The term "object-oriented art" is proposed to designate an approach where the art object is understood as an ontologically independent actor. In conclusion, the characteristic features of artistic methods corresponding to the principles of object-oriented art are summarized: autonomy of the object, working with mystery and understatement, rejection of anthropocentrism, new forms of narrative through metaphor, and return to materiality as a philosophical value.

This paper argues for a consistent and new design-specific disciplinary framework that will provide a better understanding of emergent design practice. Design today is characterised by a blurring of traditional design domains (Sanders 2006) and design activities that are backed by other subject specialist areas such as computing, electronics or bioengineering. In order to understand and facilitate collaborative working, a consistent disciplinary framework is required. Furthermore, in understanding complex disciplinary influences this framework provides a method of delineating and analysing emergent practice. To derive the framework this paper explores the existing literature on disciplinary terms. Contemporary creative design practice is then analysed via this taxonomy. To this end, the paper argues that through consistent use of the terms, ‘multidisciplinary design’, ‘crossdisciplinary design’, ‘interdisciplinary design’ and ‘transdisciplinary design’, distinctions can be made within the increasingly complex domain of contemporary design practice.

Despite recent intensity in discourse surrounding the definition and territory of interior design as a practice and a field of study in professional and academic forums around the world, little consideration has been given to the process and outcomes of contemporary interior design practice, and how analysis of it may (or may not) contribute to interior design’s persistent discussions of contested definition of identity and territory. This paper seeks to find a position within the current literature that allows justifiable discussion of contemporary interior design practice methodologies and projects. Using examples of awarded projects from Australia’s annual peer judged interior design awards program, analysis of contemporary interior design practice is positioned within the context of the main themes of this continuing debate.

Através dessa contribuição, pretende-se enfrentar um âmbito bastante articulado e vasto como o dos arquivos, objetos de amplo debate, através de dois estudos de caso diferentes por história e natureza, o Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione da Universidade de Parma – CSAC – e o MoRE, Museum of Refused and Unrealised Art Projects – http://www.moremuseum.org/omeka/. Dois arquivos dedicados à pesquisa artística e projetual contemporânea, no primeiro caso italiana, a partir das primeiras décadas de 1900, o segundo internacional e italiana, da segunda metade de 1900 e contemporânea. Os dois arquivos estão relacionados por um objetivo comum: a necessidade de conjugar a pesquisa sobre a contemporaneidade através da coleta e arquivamento de documentos do fazer artístico.Palavras-chave: Arquivos Digitais. Arquivos de Arte Visual. Práticas de Arte Contemporânea. Arte Italiana. Arte não realizada. Projetos.Link: http://www.revistas.usp.br/incid/article/view/121368/118568

The National: New Australian Art

The essay intends to offer a contribution to the archival studies through two study cases that have different stories and diversified nature: the CSAC (Study Center and Research on Communication), and MoRE (Museum of Refused and Unrealised Art Projects – http://www.moremuseum.org/omeka/-.). These are two archives devoted to contemporary art and design practices. CSAC is mainly devoted to italian art and design of the XX century; MoRE is an archive of unrealised works of art from the second half of the XX century till today. CSAC is an archive of paper, while MoRE is a digital repository. Finally both the archives have a common objective: promoting the research on contemporary art practices through the collecting and cataloguing of works of art and items of the design process.

Amateur Craft provides an illuminating and historically-grounded account of amateur craft in the modern era, from 19th-century Sunday painters and amateur carpenters to present day railway modellers and yarnbombers. Stephen Knott's fascinating study explores the curious and unexpected attributes of things made outside standardised models of mass production, arguing that amateur craft practice is ‘differential’ – a temporary moment of control over work that both departs from and informs our productive engagement with the world. Knott's discussion of the theoretical aspects of amateur craft practice is substantiated by historical case studies that cluster around the period 1850–1950. Looking back to the emergence of the modern amateur, he makes reference to contemporary art and design practice that harnesses or exploits amateur conditions of making. From Andy Warhol to Simon Starling, such artistic interest elucidates the mercurial qualities of amateur craft. Invaluable for students and researchers in art and design, contemporary craft, material culture and social history, Amateur Craft counters both the marginalisation and the glorification of amateur craft practice. It is richly illustrated with 55 images, 14 in colour, including 19th century ephemera and works of contemporary art.

This book charts the unsettled media cultures and deep time of shellac, retracing its journey from the visual to the sonic, and back again. Each chapter unveils a situated moment in the long history of shellac – travelling from its early visual culture to Emile Berliner’s discovery of its auditory properties through to its recycling in contemporary art and design practices. Unforeseen correspondences between artefacts as diverse as mirrors, seals, gramophone discs and bombs are revealed. With its combinatory approach and commitment to material thinking, Shellac in Visual and Sonic Culture insists on moments of contact, encounter, and transformation. The book notably addresses the colonial unconscious underpinning the early transnational recording industry, highlighting the multiple gestures and forms of labour entombed within the production of the 78rpm disc. Roy explores shellac as a concrete substance, as well as the malleable stuff of which stories, histories and modern imaginings were made – and unmade.

Ambiguity is usually considered anathema in Human Computer Interaction. We argue, in contrast, that it is a resource for design that can be used to encourage close personal engagement with systems. We illustrate this with examples from contemporary arts and design practice, and distinguish three broad classes of ambiguity according to where uncertainty is located in the interpretative relationship linking person and artefact. Ambiguity of information finds its source in the artefact itself, ambiguity of context in the sociocultural discourses that are used to interpret it, and ambiguity of relationship in the interpretative and evaluative stance of the individual. For each of these categories, we describe tactics for emphasising ambiguity that may help designers and other practitioners understand and craft its use.

This book charts the unsettled media cultures and deep time of shellac, retracing its journey from the visual to the sonic, and back again. Each chapter unveils a situated moment in the long history of shellac - travelling from its early visual culture to Emile Berliner's discovery of its auditory properties through to its recycling in contemporary art and design practices. Unforeseen correspondences between artefacts as diverse as mirrors, seals, gramophone discs and bombs are revealed. With its combinatory approach and commitment to material thinking, <i>Shellac in Visual and Sonic Culture</i> insists on moments of contact, encounter, and transformation. The book notably addresses the colonial unconscious underpinning the early transnational recording industry, highlighting the multiple gestures and forms of labour entombed within the production of the 78rpm disc. Roy explores shellac as a concrete substance, as well as the malleable stuff of which stories, histories and modern imaginings were made - and unmade.