This is a Working Shop

2012

A week-long public installation at Lighthouse in Brighton, as part of the Happenstance technologist in residence programme. exploring code as craft:

For a while now, I’ve been growing more conscious of the gap between traditional ideas of work and craft, and modern technologies. It’s not a new observation, but with the increasing fetishisation of the one-off, the authentic, the artisanal and the hand-made—not least by technologists—it seems worth worrying at.

If you go into a carpentry workshop, you’ll see sawdust on the floor. Work is being done here. You may not understand the work, that’s OK, you’re not a carpenter and you don’t have to be, but you get the sense that something is being done, a skill is being exercised, a craft is being performed. And at the end of the process which is occurring, in part because of the visibility of the craft, you appreciate the value of a chair or table, not because you can make one yourself, not because you have any specialised knowledge, but you understand that work, time and skill went into this thing...

More information at the Happenstance blog

A short film about the project, by Anne Holiday.

A response to the project at the RIG blog

This is a Working Shop
This is a Working Shop
This is a Working Shop
This is a Working Shop