Matter-Catalogue.Pdf
matter worlds of potential, within various mundane substances, sean o’connell as utilised in the creation of a great many things, 2019 and herein explored through high voltage discharge imaging worlds of potential Matter is a tricky thing to define, because it surrounds us. It makes up our bodies and is continually replenished by food and breath. Through matter, we encounter the world. We touch, taste, see - we build, cut, grind, bind and join. When we act in the world, we act upon matter - using tools that are made of matter. We build cities and houses to inhabit, weave and sew clothes to wear, manufacture cars to drive, and launch satellites of metal and glass to direct our vision from empty space - we bind matter into almost every aspect of our lives. In interacting with the world of matter, we are constantly negotiating new possibilities. Our use of matter allows us to realise and extend our needs and desires, through the natural qualities of various materials - qualities which are revealed through experience over time. We become familiar with materials - what they can do, where they are found, how they are processed, their natural tendencies, limits of strength and durability - we get to know them. With this familiarity we work them, with our hopes and desires, adjusting to the way these materials work. The qualities of a material not only determine what we can do with it, but give rise to new ideas and desires, possibilities expanding as the relationship of working deepens. This understanding, of processes and potentialities, is passed to other makers, down generations, through time and across “If you don’t understand what is earthen, how do you understand what is heavenly?” cultures.
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