MATERIAL REASONING

Center for Craft, Asheville, NC. September 30, 2022 - January 27, 2023

Craft is built into the very infrastructure of modernity. Many high-level manufacturing and production processes that drive our globalized economy are actually scaled craft processes.  Behind the computers in our pockets and the surges of information that travel across the globe at hyperspeed, glass, ceramic, fiber, metal, wood, and craftspeople with specialized material knowledge are at work. Despite its prevalence, the discipline of craft has been historically underrecognized for its contributions to technological innovation. Since 2017, the Center for Craft’s Materials-Based Research Grant has funded collaborations between craft artists and practitioners in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This grant program not only asserts the value of craft as a form of knowledge in and of itself but also tests the hypothesis that by enabling interdisciplinary collaboration, craft, and materials-based processes can drive innovation and global problem-solving. This exhibition featured nine interdisciplinary projects funded by the Materials-Based Research Grant. From woven computer displays and robotic felting processes to photochromic textile structures and bone china formulations, Material Reasoning showcased the immense potential of applying craft knowledge in an expanded context. 

Artists: Anette Millington + Travis Fitch; Yuchen Zhang + Erin Mcquarrie; Gregg Moore, Dr. Tobias Landberg + Rachel Geisinger; Donald Fortescue + Gwenhaël de Wasseige; Jiangmei Wu; Jonas Hauptman + Stephanie Metz; Melissa Conroy; Dr. Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao + Jin Hee Kim; Soft Monitor [Victoria Manganiello + Julian Goldman]; Tierrafiltra [Amara Abdal Figueroa]; Unstable Design Lab [Laura Devendorf], Sandra Wirtanen + Steven Frost 

Role: Organizing curator, exhibition management, curatorial research, interpretive writing, exhibition design, installation

Photography by Jordan Whitten, ℅ Center for Craft