Hey everyone I am going to try hard and pick back up with my life now that school is done!
I wanted to post some links to images from the final exhibit since I just got them.
I did my final thesis work on interaction design, the cyborgian state of our existence and socio-techno interaction in daily life. I looked particularly at the impact on craft, hacktivism, art and diy movements and discussed the implications on our sense of self and identity.
Our Best Machines are Made of Sunshine, Quilt 2009 by Paige Saez
I Made You a Wearable Computer, I Hope You Like It, T-shirts by Paige Saez 2009
The abstract:
My thesis Everyday Practical Magic brings together my research in social media, experience design, and anthropology,
with my experience as a maker of material objects and hence, a facilitator of intimate exchanges
between people, objects and the media. Through the work of Donna Haraway and Clay Shirky I
outline the conditions of our political identity as cyborgs. I highlight the tremendous impact
networked cultures (mobile and internet) have had on our understanding of social ritual. I describe
three projects completed over the last four years that laid the groundwork for this paper and
my thesis exhibit.
Using Wittgenstein’s writings on meaning and use in his Philosophical Investigations, I point to the
political power of language in shaping cultural understanding of different kinds of economies.
I illustrate the work of two other like‐minded collectives; Superflex and The Center for Tactical Magic,
and clarify what happens when art‐making, cultural activism, and communication technologies collide.
Through Henry Jenkins’ work on Participatory Culture, I elucidate the hybridity of social
media and art and describe the difference between interaction and participation.
I rely on Jerry Saltz’ review of The Generational: Younger than Jesus to explain my and other millennial artists work as evidencing a trend towards anthropology,
sociology and ethnography. Then I summarize the simplistic process, yet complicated context of the
work I created for the Practical Everyday Objects exhibit. Finally, I point out that art itself is a social
media that emerged through use, and shapes the world around us.
There are a bunch of images on my flickr account here: paige’s flickr