Objects in Flux - RMIT Research Repository - RMIT University

Objects in Flux
1/ De Certeau links these everyday
ways of operating to our evolution-
ary development and ‘the immemorial
intelligence displayed in the tricks and
imitations of plants and fishes’ (p.xix)
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therefore not at all extraordinary. 1 However, when faced with the nor-
malized and highly scripted products of mass-production these actions
take on an unusual and often disruptive quality. When objects of massproduction
are re-made or re-contextualised the result can be arresting.
The field of product design presents many examples of such practices,
from the Castiglioni brothers’ mezzadro stool (1957); Charles Jencks’s
Ad hoc radio; Nathan Silver’s Dining Chair (1968); Ron Arad’s Rover
Chair (1981); Frank Schreiner’s Consumer’s Rest shopping cart chair
(1983); Tom Dixon’s Creative Salvage group from 1984 and his latter
publication Rethink (2000); Jasper Morrison’s Readymade products
from the 1980s, followed by Renny Rainmaker’s re-discovery of the
practice in the 1990s with the numerous recycled and reused products
grouped under the Droog brand; and the current abundance of
recycled design objects from groups such as Castor Canadensis and
Reestore. While this field provides a long and fascinating history
this research project is less concerned with strategies of professional
design than it is with amateur production and the various uses and
misuses individuals find for the objects in their possession.
Such practices can often be found in situations where social, economic,
or material constraints limit the availability of goods and services. Two
recent publications, Home-Made, contemporary Russian folk artifacts
by Vladimir Arkhipov (2006) and Prisoners’ Inventions by artist group
Temporary Services (2003), give particularly interesting accounts of
such practices. Home-Made, contemporary Russian folk artifacts documents
Arkhipov’s collection of unique hand-made objects from the
former Soviet Union. Presented together with stories of their creation,
the book is a record of life under communism, where material shortages
forced the general population to ‘make do’. The objects, improvised
from the disparate materials available, present innovative and fascinating
solutions to the most mundane of problems: bicycle wheels and
forks pressed into service as television antennas, boot heels used as bath
plugs and buckets remade as shovels. These ingenious acts of material
manipulation are born out of scarcity and need.
Likewise, Prisoners’ Inventions documents tools developed within
the restrictive environment of the United States penal system. These
objects are easily understood in terms of function and necessity – here,
that well-worn mantra ‘necessity is the mother of invention’ rings true.