“Power of Making”
Exhibition at V&A museum, 2011.
Recently, I visited the “power of making” exhibition at Victoria and Albert museum. This experience, made me consider what ‘making’ really is, why people do it, how powerful ‘making’ is, and why ‘making’ has power. Finally will people stop ‘making’ creations? In the following essay, I have tried to answer these questions, after I explored the exhibition.
Exhibition at V&A museum, 2011.
Recently, I visited the “power of making” exhibition at Victoria and Albert museum. This experience, made me consider what ‘making’ really is, why people do it, how powerful ‘making’ is, and why ‘making’ has power. Finally will people stop ‘making’ creations? In the following essay, I have tried to answer these questions, after I explored the exhibition.
What is “Making”?
What is making? The food that we cook, the doodles we make whilst talking on the phone and even the outfits we think of from our clothes, are examples of this action; making. When was the last time you did an action? I can guess, a few minutes ago. We are constantly making things, even though sometimes we may not even realize it.
The question is: why do we make things?
“For many people making is critical for survival. For others, it is a chosen vocation: a way of thinking, inventing and innovating. And for some it is simply a delight to be able to shape a material and say ‘I made that’.”
(POWER OF MAKING, V&A Crafts Council exhibition 6 September 2011- 2 January 1012, Admission Free, Daniel Charny - Guest Curator)
People are used to making things, simply because they can. In the past, the primitive people made things in order to survive. The next step they made was making things to improve their lives, making their everyday life easier. But how did this ‘need of making’ transform an art activity?
The feeling of excitement that people felt, and still do feel, when they make something is what changes it all. People do not just make something. They create it. The power of creativity is the reason why people still want to make things. People used to make things with their hands. They developed their technical skills up to perfection. Due to the highly developed technical skills of these creators, the significance of the objects in terms of art is greater than the actual functional purpose. Nowadays the ancient objects have become pieces of art. The passion of handmade art originates from our ancestors.
Nevertheless, nowadays, there is no need of hand-making. Industries produce every single object that we will ever need, want, or imagine. People do not need to make things for their survival anymore. So, gradually they stop creating handmade things, and they become ignorant of the tradition. This nostalgia for the lost skills of hand-making is one of the fields that this exhibition explores. People should be more aware and connected to the tradition of making. This exhibition encourages its visitors to learn about these skills. Visitors could see many examples of this kind of art. One of them is Major Alexis Casdagli’s subversive cross-stitch. Messages that have been passed through handmade pieces of art, even when terrible events took place, should reminds us of the important role that ‘making’ used to have in our past.
However, handmade art is not only a part of our past. There are several examples of excellent pieces of work on this field, belonging to this century. The ‘gloves’ by Dominic Wilcox, is one of them. Wilcox himself, handmade, a pair of gloves, which take the exact same form of his real hands and include every single detail of them.
On the one hand, the industry and the consuming society that we live in, confine the creative activity. Due to technology, people, as I pointed out before, are not interested in individual production anymore, because they can purchase everything they want.
On the other hand, technology could be a new way of making. Skills can be improved or new ones can be discovered. Hand-making has been developed into technology. Technology can now take over all the boring part of the making and the repetitive tasks of the process. Technology gives the opportunity to people to be completely free in making whatever they want. They just need to learn how to use it.
Marloes ten Bhomer created a pair of 3D printed shoes. With the use of new materials and methods, the disigner broke away from conventional approaches.
This exhibition aims to show to its visitors not only examples of what someone can do with the perfection of technical skills, but also to teach how these exhibits can be created. As a result, people will start creating things by themselves. This is an interactive aspect of the exhibition that people who visit it, can have the opportunity to practice on it as well.
What is the “Power” of making?
“Making is the most powerful way that we solve problems, express ideas and shape our world. What and how we make defines who we are, and communicates who we want to be.”
(POWER OF MAKING, V&A Crafts Council exhibition 6 September 2011- 2 January 1012, Admission Free, Daniel Charny - Guest Curator)
In the 15th century, Johannes Gutenberg invented the first printing press.
Thanks to his invention thousands of people around the world have now the privilege of knowledge.
In 1889, an iron construction, designed by Gustave Eiffel, was ready to be seen by the audience. Today, the Eiffel Tower is a global icon of Paris.
The power of making transferred an iron construction to a symbol of a City.
From these examples it can be easily concluded how powerful making is. There is an impact when someone creates something. This action affects the operating environment. The art of making is unbounded.
But what is it that makes these objects powerful? What is more important? - The idea or the object? The answer to these questions can be given to us by the exhibits themselves.
The “pin-dress”, created by Susie MacMurray, looks like a normal looking dress, but it is actually made entirely out of pins! On this piece of conceptual, the technical skills and the idea are equally important. It makes obvious the point that women ‘hurt them selves’ whilst trying to be as the society wants them to be. It is also an excellent piece of art, with every single detail carefully carved.
Dalton Ghetti’s ‘alphabet”, is another exhibit that draws the attention. But the reason is different. It is almost unbelievable that someone could do this work with his own hands. In this exhibit there is no deeper meaning. The technical skills made the object a piece of art.
Both these two exhibits are great, although they differ greatly. How is that possible? What is more important, the idea or the object? Maybe sometimes they are both as important as each other, or other times one of them dominates the other. Every time the artist makes something, he will be the one who decides where he wants to focus on. The purpose of the object is something that only the artist can decide on.
There is also another fact that affects how ‘powerful’ a piece of art is. What material is has been made from. For example, the “Tyre Shark” create by Ji Yong-Ho, would be just another shark sculpture, if it was not made from vehicle tires. In this case, the material is what makes the piece of art stand out.
Also, the material affects us how we “feel” about an object, and the way we “see” it. If “baby cake” by Michelle Wibowo was made from plastic, it would be a really loving piece of art. But it is a real cake. A cake that looks exactly like a baby. The idea of someone eating a baby is creepy. So, when we look at this piece of work we cannot see a cute baby sculpture. We might feel sorry, or disguised about this.
‘Making’ still exists.
There are different reasons why people create objects. The methods and the tools that people use in the process of creative activity are different and are constantly changing. But people have always been making things – and always will do. “Making” still exists. It was, still is and always will be a part of our life because it has the power to be.
“Making” is a lifestyle.
