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Hand Thought: the role and significance of digital technologies in craft practice

Lecture Theatre 002

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This lecture will take place on campus, in Lecture Theatre 002, Business & Law Building, City Campus East (full address at the bottom of the page). Refreshments will be served from 12.30pm outside of the lecture theatre. The lecture will also be available to stream online - please register for the event and a link will be sent to you to access the live stream. 

Professor Justin Marshall is a digital craftsperson and researcher who for over twenty years has investigated the integration of digital design and production technologies into craft practices. This stimulating inaugural lecture will draw on his practice-based research projects to reflect on the creative opportunities of digital tools for the craft practitioner, the implications this has for revaluating the concept of the ‘handmade’ and reflect on the mediating role of technologies in creative practices.

An underlying premise in his practice is that tools can be considered, not as neutral means to predefined fixed ends, but as active and constructive elements within the creative making process. This broad positioning will be extended in the proposition of a ‘Digital Craft Ethos’ which identifies a series of distinctions between a Pragmatic craft-oriented approach to using digital tools,, and pervasive Instrumental industrial design and engineering approaches.

About the Speaker

Professor Justin Marshall is an experienced digital craftsperson, maker and researcher. For over fifteen years his research has been investigating the integration of digital design and production technologies into art and craft practices. As such he is interested in the role and significance of digital tools within craft practice, both in terms of new aesthetic opportunities, and how the creative use of this toolset challenges the concept of the ‘handmade’. He has exhibited digital craftwork both nationally and internationally.

He is also interested in how access to digital manufacturing tools can empower individuals and communities to 'make', especially in relation to Makerspaces and Maker communities, both within the UK and beyond.

More broadly, he is interested in how craft, as a materially sensitive and human centred practice can have value in multidisciplinary research projects and has been involved in numerous collaborative projects that bring together diverse teams to investigate areas beyond the normal scope of craft practitioners.

He was a member of the AHRC peer Review College from 2012 to 2018, including sitting on the ‘Follow on Funding’ award panel. He is a Fellow of the RSA. He has been an external examiner for range of courses over the last decade, including BA(Hons)/MDes 3D Design and Craft Course at the University of Brighton, MSc Product Design at the University of Dundee and BA(hons) 3D Design at Robert Gordon University.

To register for this free lecture, please fill in the form below.

 

Event Details

Lecture Theatre 002
Business & Law Building, Northumbria University
City Campus East
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE2 1XA


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