2015
This forum in three parts was held at RISD during Spring 2015 and was the result of a significant collaborative effort drawing from and crosscutting departments, divisions and institutions. The context for this forum and how it came to be was both a personal and institutional one. Personally, I had been teaching classes in RISD architecture as well as offering workshops in architectural design firms. Many of my students felt that their computational skills was directly proportional to the number of software tools in their wheelhouse, a mindset often resulting in panic when a tool became obsolete or yet another essential tool came on the market. I found myself spending a lot of time thinking about questions like What is a more durable approach? What are fundamental tools? From an institutional standpoint. RISD, like many great institutions, offers wonderful lecture series and symposia but they tend be within departments and attract communities within the disciplines of that department. This was meant to be a different sort of series, reflecting the commonalities across disciplines and how natural it was to have a conversation about this subject matter of "tools" to people in so many different fields, uncovering rich areas that traverses other exciting gradients: digital to analog, traditional to new, creative inquiry to production and research. The forum was organized into three parts, each with a guest lecture and a panel discussion
RISD Media writeup, Talking Tools
tool() Part 1: Artisan-Toolmaker
In most creative pursuits, the nature of one’s tools is intimately related to the object of creation. Rather than accept conventional disciplinary groupings of preexisting tools, this session values the kind of discipline that emerges from intense focus on craft and technique. The question this session poses is not "what is the best tool?" but rather, "what is the most meaningful, novel, strange, or provocative tool?" Faculty will embody the gradient that exists between the toolmaker and the artisan, showcasing both those who make invisible tools as well as those whose tools pervade the very subject matter of their work. This session will emphasize line, abstraction and procedure –common ground between artists and designers– which mediate the cold neutrality of the tool with the intuitive presence of the author.
Moderators: Carl Lostritto and Aaron Forrest (Architecture)
Guest Lecturer: Luke Ogrydziak (from Ogrydziak/Prillinger)
Panelists: Luke Ogrydziak, Kai Franz (Foundations), John Caserta (Graphic Design), Andrew Raftery (Printmaking), Stefanie Pender (Glass)
Poster-making tool: Barron Webster and Lukas Eigler of RISD Guild
tool() Part 2: Interfaces <-> Imagination
For most of the computer era, the dominant model of digital design within creative fields has presented a clear division between those who develop tools and those who use them. However, this division has been dissolving in recent years, due in part to external factors such as greater transparency in digital interfaces, as well as community-grown efforts to develop and extend software for individual use. In effect, the “tool” is the outcome itself, with successive refinements provoked by interesting applications that arise from its use. The corresponding shifts in the landscape of tool use has also led to novel interfaces which materialize the digital, promote education through play, and broker the transition to a new imagination embracing algorithm, commands, and simulation.
Moderator: Brooks Hagan (Textiles)
Guest Lecturer : Robert Hodgin (roberthodgin.com)
Panelists: Robert Hodgin, Paolo Cardini (Industrial Design), Cas Holman (Industrial Design), Evelyn Eastmond (D+M), Duann Scott (Autodesk Spark)
Poster-making tool: Barron Webster and Lukas Eigler of RISD Guild
tool() Part 3 “Place": Applicatons/Implications
Place is perhaps the oldest contextual material available to artists and designers. In addition to drawing from local context for inspiration in the process of creation, the production of work varies widely based on tools and techniques hewn by regional climate, culture and infrastructure. The offshoring of traditional manufacturing has threatened this spiritual connection between place and craft, as many trained designers no longer have direct access to the means of production. The advent of advanced manufacturing, the ubiquity of DIY fabrication tools and the diffusion of digital media further challenge the landscape. Using the common thread of Place, faculty will present work ranging from the preservation of traditional local tools and techniques to new modes of artistic and design production using locational data and techniques such as crowdsourcing and sensing.
Moderator: Shawn Greenlee (Foundations)
Guest Lecturer: Jer Thorp (The Office for Creative Research)
Panelists: Jer Thorp, Paula Gaetano-Adi (Foundatons), Brian House (brianhouse.net), Daniel Peltz (FAV), Kyle Steinfeld (UC Berkeley), Lynnette Widder (Columbia University)