The world is a whole. From a materialist perspective, between dense solids and rarefied plasmas, the discontinuities of tangible matter are always a question of scale and never actual interruptions on the fabric of reality. And yet, not only do we perceive, but we also enforce borders.
A border separates. It stipulates a distinction between elements. It creates opposites out of what is. What are the consequences of this segmenting action for the ways in which we conceptualize the world? Is there something advantageous to approach intellectual impasses by establishing simple antinomies among things? Could it be dangerous to polarize? How and why?
In the second season of When Thinking is Doing, we will indulge in bordering thought. In each episode, Antônio Frederico Lasalvia conceptualizes craft and its neighboring areas by creating clear categories around them - often, only to find out that these limits are porous and trespassers negotiate their confines just as we are not looking. Through the perspectives of different guests engaged with hand and head work, we will try to better understand not only the complexities of making, but of the making of the world.
The Other Radio/Radio Drugega program is financed by Javni zavod GO! 2025 - Evropska prestolnica kulture, Nova Gorica.
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Svet je celota. Z materialističnega vidika so med gostimi trdnimi snovmi in redko plazmo diskontinuitete oprijemljive snovi vedno vprašanje obsega in nikoli dejanske prekinitve v strukturi realnosti. Pa vendar mej ne le zaznavamo, ampak jih tudi ustvarjamo.
Meja ločuje. Določa razlikovanje med elementi. Ustvarja nasprotja iz tega, kar je. Kakšne so posledice tega segmentiranja za načine, na katere konceptualiziramo svet? Ali obstaja kaj koristnega za pristop k intelektualnim slepim ulicam z vzpostavljanjem preprostih antinomij med stvarmi? Je lahko polarizacija nevarna? Kako in zakaj?
V drugi sezoni oddaje When Thinking is Doing se bomo prepustili mejni misli. V vsaki epizodi bo Antônio Frederico Lasalvia konceptualiziral obrt in sosednja področja z ustvarjanjem jasnih kategorij okoli njih – pogosto samo zato, da bo ugotovil, da so te meje porozne in da se prestopniki pogajajo o svojih mejah ravno takrat, ko jih ne opazujemo. Skozi perspektive različnih gostov, ki se ukvarjajo z ročnimi in miselnimi deli, bomo skušali bolje razumeti ne le kompleksnost ustvarjanja, ampak tudi ustvarjanja sveta.
Program Radia Drugega/The Other Radio financira javni zavod GO! 2025 - Evropska prestolnica kulture, Nova Gorica.
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Ep. 8 THE BORDER BETWEEN THINKING AND DOING, w/ antonisotzu & jean ni
The eighth episode of WTID comes in hybrid form. The first part (1:38) of the show is a theoretical introduction where we problematize the very notion of craft following art historian Glenn Adamson’s critique of craft’s origin in the wake of the industrial revolution. How can we deterritorialize craft and its congenital opposition to mechanized labour?
In the second part of the show (13:00), some of the questions raised in the introduction are tackled from the perspective of guests Antonio Sotzu and Jean Ni. In our conversation, matters of pleasure, knowledge and meaning in old-fashioned techniques are discussed in relation to their territorial approach to stone artifacts making/maintenance. We also discuss their life-project Foghiles, based in Semèstene, Sardinia, where borders between life and art are dissolved.
Bibliography:
- Stephen Epstein. Transferring Technical Knowledge and Innovating in Europe, c.1200-1800. (2005)
- Glenn Adamson. The invention of craft. (2013)
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Ep. 9 DIGITAL & ANALOG, w/ Kirsten Spruit & Benjamin Earl
The term craft is usually reserved to qualify a way of making material things. How would this notion stand when transposed to the immaterial realm?
In the ninth episode of When Thinking is Doing, Antônio Frederico Lasalvia is joined by Kirsten Spruit and Benjamin Earl in order to think through the border between the digital and the analog. As we look for procedures analogous to craft within the virtual sphere, we consider themes like the poetic web, handmade websites, Ben and Kirsten’s “code of conduct of code”, as well as their growing interest in rituals of maintenance.
Bibliography:
- Glenn Adamson. The invention of craft. (2013)
- Bruno Latour. Pandora’s Hope. (1999)
