In a world increasingly obsessed with virtual connections, this study
considers how we have alway... more In a world increasingly obsessed with virtual connections, this study considers how we have always related to things in an analogue way. Recognising the success of postdisciplinary approaches to research, it mobilises theory from a mixture of disciplines. Four separate — but connected — frameworks are introduced with which to view humanthing relations (technological, metaphorical, biographical, and processual) and it is shown that a mindset founded on a meshwork analogy can be mobilised by artists and designers to address issues of sustainability in conjunction with the Anthropocene thesis.!
Yet the nature of all these things must of course be physical
since otherwise they could not impr... more Yet the nature of all these things must of course be physical since otherwise they could not impress our senses —for impression means touch, and touch means the touch of bodies. Lucrezio, "De Rerum Natura"
The materiality of things represents the connection between our bodies and the physical world. However, in recent years, with the overlay of a new digital reality onto the existing physical one, materiality has extended its domain of existence into the virtual world through haptic technologies. The sense of touch is no longer restricted to a physical contact with any kind of "thing" existing in our world, but accessed through perception of it. By means of neurocognitive processes, which reproduce the sense of touch by stimulating particular areas of our brain, touch lost its direct and instinctive connection with the physical world to rely more on mnemonic processes of virtual perception that construct hybrid knowledge based on digital rather than physical stimula. This paper investigates what the human relationship with things is in the age of human sense simulation. Also, what kind of sensuous relationship is established with our surroundings when the main territory of material investigation has shifted to the virtual, understood as "real"? This paper will attend to human-object/thing relationships via the concept of the "material oxymoron". An oxymoron is a figure of speech that juxtaposes elements that appear to be contradictory. The "material oxymoron" finds its hybrid materiality by means of the human’s perception of, and engagement, with things. By embracing the hybrid context (between the digital and the physical) in which we dwell, we would like to define a new kind of relationship between humans and objects/things using Malafouris' theory of “material engagement”. We will articulate the process through which material oxymorons are constructed, and consider the role of material engagement theory in explaining it. In the material oxymoron, the surface quality is no longer defined a priori in reference to information stored in the human brain, i.e. what we expect, but emerges from the process through which material oxymorons are created. We will therefore treat materials as mutable things, continually transformed by humans and material actants, rather than treating them as objects existing ad infinitum. By means of material oxymoron we aim to challenge a sensuous discovery of the physical whose outcome creates composite matter, i.e. a materiality that fosters human perception and engagement with the physical world.
In a world increasingly obsessed with virtual connections, this study
considers how we have alway... more In a world increasingly obsessed with virtual connections, this study considers how we have always related to things in an analogue way. Recognising the success of postdisciplinary approaches to research, it mobilises theory from a mixture of disciplines. Four separate — but connected — frameworks are introduced with which to view humanthing relations (technological, metaphorical, biographical, and processual) and it is shown that a mindset founded on a meshwork analogy can be mobilised by artists and designers to address issues of sustainability in conjunction with the Anthropocene thesis.!
Yet the nature of all these things must of course be physical
since otherwise they could not impr... more Yet the nature of all these things must of course be physical since otherwise they could not impress our senses —for impression means touch, and touch means the touch of bodies. Lucrezio, "De Rerum Natura"
The materiality of things represents the connection between our bodies and the physical world. However, in recent years, with the overlay of a new digital reality onto the existing physical one, materiality has extended its domain of existence into the virtual world through haptic technologies. The sense of touch is no longer restricted to a physical contact with any kind of "thing" existing in our world, but accessed through perception of it. By means of neurocognitive processes, which reproduce the sense of touch by stimulating particular areas of our brain, touch lost its direct and instinctive connection with the physical world to rely more on mnemonic processes of virtual perception that construct hybrid knowledge based on digital rather than physical stimula. This paper investigates what the human relationship with things is in the age of human sense simulation. Also, what kind of sensuous relationship is established with our surroundings when the main territory of material investigation has shifted to the virtual, understood as "real"? This paper will attend to human-object/thing relationships via the concept of the "material oxymoron". An oxymoron is a figure of speech that juxtaposes elements that appear to be contradictory. The "material oxymoron" finds its hybrid materiality by means of the human’s perception of, and engagement, with things. By embracing the hybrid context (between the digital and the physical) in which we dwell, we would like to define a new kind of relationship between humans and objects/things using Malafouris' theory of “material engagement”. We will articulate the process through which material oxymorons are constructed, and consider the role of material engagement theory in explaining it. In the material oxymoron, the surface quality is no longer defined a priori in reference to information stored in the human brain, i.e. what we expect, but emerges from the process through which material oxymorons are created. We will therefore treat materials as mutable things, continually transformed by humans and material actants, rather than treating them as objects existing ad infinitum. By means of material oxymoron we aim to challenge a sensuous discovery of the physical whose outcome creates composite matter, i.e. a materiality that fosters human perception and engagement with the physical world.
Uploads
Papers by William Fairbrother
considers how we have always related to things in an analogue way.
Recognising the success of postdisciplinary approaches to research, it
mobilises theory from a mixture of disciplines. Four separate — but
connected — frameworks are introduced with which to view humanthing
relations (technological, metaphorical, biographical, and
processual) and it is shown that a mindset founded on a meshwork
analogy can be mobilised by artists and designers to address issues
of sustainability in conjunction with the Anthropocene thesis.!
since otherwise they could not impress our senses
—for impression means touch, and touch means the touch of bodies.
Lucrezio, "De Rerum Natura"
The materiality of things represents the connection between our bodies and the physical world.
However, in recent years, with the overlay of a new digital reality onto the existing physical one,
materiality has extended its domain of existence into the virtual world through haptic technologies.
The sense of touch is no longer restricted to a physical contact with any kind of "thing" existing in
our world, but accessed through perception of it. By means of neurocognitive processes, which
reproduce the sense of touch by stimulating particular areas of our brain, touch lost its direct and
instinctive connection with the physical world to rely more on mnemonic processes of virtual
perception that construct hybrid knowledge based on digital rather than physical stimula. This
paper investigates what the human relationship with things is in the age of human sense
simulation. Also, what kind of sensuous relationship is established with our surroundings when the
main territory of material investigation has shifted to the virtual, understood as "real"?
This paper will attend to human-object/thing relationships via the concept of the "material
oxymoron". An oxymoron is a figure of speech that juxtaposes elements that appear to be
contradictory. The "material oxymoron" finds its hybrid materiality by means of the human’s
perception of, and engagement, with things. By embracing the hybrid context (between the digital
and the physical) in which we dwell, we would like to define a new kind of relationship between
humans and objects/things using Malafouris' theory of “material engagement”. We will articulate
the process through which material oxymorons are constructed, and consider the role of material
engagement theory in explaining it.
In the material oxymoron, the surface quality is no longer defined a priori in reference to
information stored in the human brain, i.e. what we expect, but emerges from the process through
which material oxymorons are created. We will therefore treat materials as mutable things,
continually transformed by humans and material actants, rather than treating them as objects
existing ad infinitum. By means of material oxymoron we aim to challenge a sensuous discovery of
the physical whose outcome creates composite matter, i.e. a materiality that fosters human
perception and engagement with the physical world.
considers how we have always related to things in an analogue way.
Recognising the success of postdisciplinary approaches to research, it
mobilises theory from a mixture of disciplines. Four separate — but
connected — frameworks are introduced with which to view humanthing
relations (technological, metaphorical, biographical, and
processual) and it is shown that a mindset founded on a meshwork
analogy can be mobilised by artists and designers to address issues
of sustainability in conjunction with the Anthropocene thesis.!
since otherwise they could not impress our senses
—for impression means touch, and touch means the touch of bodies.
Lucrezio, "De Rerum Natura"
The materiality of things represents the connection between our bodies and the physical world.
However, in recent years, with the overlay of a new digital reality onto the existing physical one,
materiality has extended its domain of existence into the virtual world through haptic technologies.
The sense of touch is no longer restricted to a physical contact with any kind of "thing" existing in
our world, but accessed through perception of it. By means of neurocognitive processes, which
reproduce the sense of touch by stimulating particular areas of our brain, touch lost its direct and
instinctive connection with the physical world to rely more on mnemonic processes of virtual
perception that construct hybrid knowledge based on digital rather than physical stimula. This
paper investigates what the human relationship with things is in the age of human sense
simulation. Also, what kind of sensuous relationship is established with our surroundings when the
main territory of material investigation has shifted to the virtual, understood as "real"?
This paper will attend to human-object/thing relationships via the concept of the "material
oxymoron". An oxymoron is a figure of speech that juxtaposes elements that appear to be
contradictory. The "material oxymoron" finds its hybrid materiality by means of the human’s
perception of, and engagement, with things. By embracing the hybrid context (between the digital
and the physical) in which we dwell, we would like to define a new kind of relationship between
humans and objects/things using Malafouris' theory of “material engagement”. We will articulate
the process through which material oxymorons are constructed, and consider the role of material
engagement theory in explaining it.
In the material oxymoron, the surface quality is no longer defined a priori in reference to
information stored in the human brain, i.e. what we expect, but emerges from the process through
which material oxymorons are created. We will therefore treat materials as mutable things,
continually transformed by humans and material actants, rather than treating them as objects
existing ad infinitum. By means of material oxymoron we aim to challenge a sensuous discovery of
the physical whose outcome creates composite matter, i.e. a materiality that fosters human
perception and engagement with the physical world.