ADM-HEA Teaching Fellowship 2010-11The Museum of (x) – Collecting as Creative Practice

Cathy Gale // Senior Lecturer BA Graphic Design/with PhotographyKingston University

What is a collection?1. One is a thing2. Two is a couple3. Three is a set4. Four is a collection

Museum of Online Museums at http://www.coudal.com/moom/

Noticing linguistic local accent in the written word (‘arfters’)

Noticing unusual content in a familiar format

At art school, information gathering, such as the collection and archiving or visual materials in sketch books or collections of ephemera, are part of the acquisition of visual skills often regarded by more academic disciplines as eccentric. These practices constitute a method of learning that carries on through the working life of most designers, juxtaposed, for many designers with more formal learning.

(Edwards, Lockheart, Raien: The Codex Project, 2002)

Aims of the museum of (x)

1. To increase visual awareness of the everyday environment2. To actively explore and re-position materiality in the digital age3. To demonstrate the attributes of primary research beyond the internet4. To explore common ground and specialisms across disciplines through

the same collected object/subject

Example 01. spray paint in diverse contexts

1. As official street scripture 2. As protest graffiti3. As happy but unofficial statement4. As official home-made signage

Process and Purpose of Collecting 1. Collection as a source of information and inspiration2. Collection valuable through transformation of original source3. Collection understood through taxonomy (LATCH)4. Collection drawn from the everyday (familiar) 5. Collecting as a process encouraging increased visual awareness

Example 02. sign to an unknown person

1. On a Post-it note, hand-drawn rapidly2. On an A4 sheet typed in Times New Roman, using A LOT of exclamation marks3. In chalk, directly into the space where the person lives

Example 03. elastic typography

1. Observation of elastic bands as letter forms2. Collection of whole alphabet made from chance shapes of elastic bands

Example 04. numbers

1. From elastic band observation2. As 3D devices and/or toys3. As one of a series of tickets4. Hand-painted where digital form is impossible5. Hand-painted and painterly by accident6. As 3D letterpress forms

Rules:1. The collection must be acquired or observed directly (primary research)2. The subject/object may be scanned, photographed or collected physically3. The subject/object should have little or no monetary value4. Always collect far more material than you think you’ll need, using all 5 senses

Information and inspiration1. Collecting can facilitating collaboration across disciplines2. Collecting can enable identification of common ground and specialisms3. Collecting can be a non-specialist activity 4. Discourse of shared interest but diverse methods builds bridges across

disciplines and practice

Transformation and interpretation1. The collection is a means to an end: it has a purpose2. The subject/object is a starting point for research and analysis3. The more mundane the original subject/object the better4. Encourages personal research methodologies beyond discipline constraints and

notions of the ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer

Primary research in the digital age1. Challenging the dominant role of the internet as the primary or sole source

of information and knowledge (ref. Donald A Norman Emotional Objects)2. Exploring the role of materiality, psychogeography and the haptic indesigning

and perceiving the socio-cultural role of the (collected) object3. Connections built with artists and designers in the commercial sphere, eg.

IDEO’s Tech Box

Taxonomy // classification and order1. Collection understood through a system of taxonomy (LATCH)2. Subject arranged in several ways to interpret object/subject from multiple

perspectives3. Taxonomy system itself as a research methodology4. Systems of classification contribute to individual methods of cognition, editing

and planning through order

Taxonomy // LATCHL LocationA AlphabetT TimeC CategoryH Hierarchy

Animals are divided into: (a) belonging to the Emperor, (b) embalmed, (c) tame, (d) suckling pigs, (e) sirens, (f) fabulous, (g) stray dogs, (h) included in the present classification, (i) frenzied, (j) innumerable, (k) drawn with a very fine camelhair brush, (l) et cetera

Describing a certain Chinese encyclopedia from Borges in The Order of Things by Michel Foucault

Without a system of taxonomy or classification, random objects have little meaning.

The Museum of (x) is a work-in-progress. The (x) stands for anything and everything.The museum is intended as a multi-institution site for debate and exchange of research methods.The designer/curator (Cathy Gale) will retain control of content (using creative commons agreement) until partner-curators can be found.Content and structure ideas are welcome.

www.museumofx.org

Cathy Gale // Kingston University

This project was funded by the ADM-HEA Teaching Fellowship 2010-2011c.gale@kingston.ac.uk