Object Resurrection

Project Leads: Rafael El Baz and Ewan Alston

Number of participants: 20

Duration: 4 days

Project Outline:This 4-day workshop provides the opportunity for cross-disciplinary creative students to engage with the circular economy, finding beauty and value in discarded objects.According to the UNU, around 40 million tonnes of consumer electronic products end up in landfill each year. We will explore the infinite possible futures and functions of so-called waste by resurrecting everyday objects that have been thrown away. The objective is not just to repair, but to take the pieces and create something new.Small groups of designers, artists and makers will be encouraged to expand their creative thinking and re-imagine objects with new functions, emotions, or contexts. Participants will choose one ‘dead’ electronic object (from a selection of shunned products), which will then be dissected, analysed and re-imagined, before being brought back to life in a completely new form. This could be as a functional tool, a piece of sculpture, or anything in between. We’ll have a selection of abstract yet stimulating ‘oblique strategies’-style instructions to help focus the workshop.

To conclude the week, the outcomes will be presented as they are, reintegrating them into society as something more than waste.

Home-Made: Contemporary Russian Folk Artifacts by Vladimir Arkhipov

Timetable:

Day 1 (Monday)
AM:
Presentation of project briefing, context, and who we are
Introduction of students
Object SelectionPM:Discussion about selected objectsDeconstruct Object workshop – understand components and potential new functionsDesign phase – decide on new object directions

Day 2: (Tuesday)
Workshop day
Tutorials

Day 3: (Wednesday)
Workshop day
Tutorials
Finishing the reincarnations.

Day 4: (Thursday)
Final Presentations, debrief, photoshoot and exhibition.