Material, gesture and touch: Ingrid Murphy, the playful ceramicist

Abstract

As a ceramicist, Ingrid Murphy’s work explores the material culture of ceramics and human connection through technological intervention. This article discusses the key themes of ‘ceramics as interface’ and ‘augmented ceramics’ seen through much of Murphy’s practice. Murphy centres her work around the audience experience, subverting our relationship with the domestic and familiar. Through employing and exploiting aspects of digital technology, Murphy sees the objects she creates as ‘vehicles for naughtiness’, inserting herself physically and virtually into digital 3D scans of commonplace historical ceramic objects. Having exhibited work internationally, Murphy uses physical computing and technology employed within the Internet of Things (IoT) to connect viewers of her pieces through object-to-object communication. The notion of ‘ceramics as interface’ is explored further by exploiting the conductive qualities of gold lustre and liquid graphite, effectively turning her pots into capacitive touch sensors that generate interactive soundscapes that respond to gesture and physical interaction with resonant sound. The unexpected and delightful experiences that result from interacting with these objects typify Murphy’s work and playful approach to ceramics.