I thought doing the microteach would be easy. I am very familiar with object base learning – I already use it a lot in my personal practice and also within my teaching practice. But I have been slightly blind sided by how difficult I have been finding it.
I think the crux of the issue is that I can’t work out what the point is.
Not the over arching point of object base research, as I have mentioned I use this all the time, but the point in the context of this session. It is a standalone session, with no stakes. It doesn’t feed into anything else and is not supported by any broader context. It is also so short, 20 minutes. 20 MINITES! This is barely enough time to do an activity, let alone include any introduction, discussion or plenary.
I am used to object based research having a clear intent – to extract information to aid design. Whether this is construction, shape or even cultural associations, all these things feed into the end goal of designing a garment. In my teaching, this takes the form of multiple activities within a 3 hour session – and in my own work there is no time limit at all.
The other issue that I am coming back to is online vs in person. Creating a session that has less of a concrete ‘point’ feels easier if it was face to face. I could bring my own objects, and we could simply discuss those. Online it is trickier, you have to rely on the other participants to bring things. I could, I admit, have photographed my objects, and used a similar method to what we did in the lecture. But in my heart I know I want this session to include objects that are real and physical.
Material objects matter because they are complex, symbolic bundles of social, cultural, and individual meanings, fused into something we can TOUCH, see and own.
Anne Smart Martin
(The Dress Detective. Mida and Kim, 2015.)
I keep coming back to this quote and am realising that touch is such a key thing for me when using objects. Therefore, I think I am tied into using things people bring. However this still doesn’t get me any closer to the ‘point’.
I have spoken to friends and colleagues and still can’t get a handle on what it is. I was hoping this post would act as some cathartic release and I would suddenly have some clarity, but I am not sure that is coming.
I think the main takeaway is that I need to focus on this idea of touch, and therefore maybe a more emotional read. Get away from the forensic, quantifiable and familiar way I approach this topic.
Resources:
MIDA, I and KIM, A (2015). The Dress Detective: A Practical Guide to Object Based Research in Fashion. Publisher: London, England : Bloomsbury.
(my usual go to and a more forensic approach to reading an object).
FLETCHER, K (2016). Craft of Use: Post-growth Fashion. Publisher: London : Routledge.
(a new book suggested by a colleague that is more about our emotional connection/interpretations of clothes).