Using existing objects as alternative materials: Readymades, Dissectibility and Adhocism.

Existing objects OR Manufactured good can be defined as "any object created by humans to satisfy their needs and improve their standard of living". [1] Raw materials from nature (wool, silk, hides, cotton, wood, cork, linen, copper, marble, clay, iron) are processed to make technical materials (glass, steel and metals, plastic, porcelain and ceramics, planks or concrete), and utilised to make or manufacture goods.[2] This process then denotes that manufactured goods are the endpoint of a materials processing. I'm interested in how these goods can be re-ultilised or have their form altered or function heightened to serve an alternative purpose. In the case of my research this is medical tools, aids or equipment for people with disabilities.

The combination of objects can also be attributed to the DaDa and surrealist movements of the early to mid early 20th century (1900's - 1968). The art objects of Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray transposed objects from their customary setting and placing them, verbally or visually or both, in a new and unfamiliar one. [3] When Andre Breton coined the term readymade in 1934 he noted that manufactured "objects promoted to the dignity of objects of art through choice of the artist." [4] Specifically Man Ray, he utilised existing objects as material as seen in Lampshade (1919) in which he cut a spiral from unrolled white lampshade.[5] The lampshade spiral was attached to a dress stand to create an object that referenced the concept of a mobile. [6] In Lampshade, Man Ray didn't create a new or alternative object but rather found an alternative material and structure for a form to be constructed from. The hanging of the spiral not only freed the work from conventional art hangings but also minimised the irreverence of material and highlighted it's new form, "The lampshade in its current state would be useless, which is the absurdity of the object, but here...the object's design is more important than its unaccountability or its dysfunction." [7]

Photograph of Man Ray, Lampshade, 1920, Gelatin silver contact print mounted to board, 4 3/4 × 2 1/4 in, 12.1 × 5.7 cm.

Image source: Art Net, https://www.artsy.net/artwork/man-ray-lampshade-2

Another object created by Man Ray Cadeau (1921), combines a flat iron with tacks glued to its underside. Cadeau transforms an object of (then) everyday life into a surreal and unnerving one, with sadistic, erotic brutalist connotations. [8] The Tate Modern notes the object is "non-functional," I disagree - the object has been given an alternative function that is unknown to the viewer and can only be speculated. [9] The object can be considered dysfunctional in the way, that it can no longer be successfully used for its original or commonly accepted purpose. Even if the object were reduced to dust, it could still be used as a material - as proven by Duchamp in The Large Glass. [10] In reference to Cadeau, Man Ray noted "You can tear a dress to ribbons with it," referencing the idea he created a new/alternative object to destroy an existing one for an alternative (erotic) purpose.[11] Arturo Schwartz (b.1924), an art historian, suggests that Man Ray wasn't interested in eradicating prior function but more so creating new ones, "Man Ray never destroys, he always modifies and enriches. In this case, he provides the flatiron with a new role - a role that we dimly guess." [12] Via addition and multiplication Man Ray sought to make minimal interventions unto his selected object combinations. Though Man Ray wasn't interested in division and subtraction and favoured using whole, unmutiliated objects - Lampshade contradicts this point entirely. [13]

Photograph of Man Ray's "Cadeau" 1921. Edition replica 1972. Iron and nails. 178 × 94 × 126 mm. Collection of Tate Modern

Image credit: Man Ray Trust/ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2020, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/man-ray-cadeau-t07883

On his work Fountain (1917), Marcel Duchamp notes "He [R.Mutt, "the artist" whose signature appears on the urinal] chose it. He took an ordinary article of life, placed it so that its useful significance disappeared under a new title and point of view - he created a new thought for that object." [14] I'm not particularly interested in "useful significance," or function or purpose, disappearing in my objects. Rather, i'm interested in how object form and function can be altered, and how the object becomes "usable" in an alternative context, has an alternative connotation, for an alternative purpose that typically thought or designated. How an object could be disected into parts ready to be reused as material, or dismantled back into material or how seemingly disparte objects could be combined. And, how this could create "new thought" or open speculative possibility for an object.

André Breton exclaimed that both readymades and art objects "derive and manage to differ from the objects around us by simple role mutation." [15] Art historian Stephen Foster (1941-2018) noted that the role mutation occurs when the object is removed from its original context and its connections and aspects of material culture are obliterated.[16] I would argue that context doesn't necessarily mutate the role of the object, take an iron for example. If an iron (not the iron in Gift) were to be heated and used to melt wax, the role of the object or its essential task to heat up and flattening is still maintained. However, changing the role does change the context - by adding tack nails the role of flattening clothes is derailed by the destruction of the clothes caused by the sharp tacks. The iron then doesn't upkeep, freshen or tidy clothes but rips and destroys them. [17] The obliteration of material culture was also achieved via the artist's selection of the object, and its altered categorisation or placement in the realm of art (categorising the object as art, having others categorising the object as art, exhibiting in standard art spaces). [18] Additionally, the utilitarian or manufactured object is further isolated from its original context by the addition of Duchamp's ironic or transforming titles. [19]

The fundamental difference between surrealist objects, readymades and assemblage. in reference to my own practice is that i'm not particularly concerned with the idea of the authorship of the object, sensuality (as seen in Meret Oppenheim's 1994 Object or Le Déjeuner en fourrure), eroticism, or useless/dysfuctional objects (incidental, in Duchamp's objects as art venture, or not). Though I am not interested in authorship of objects within my practice - created object or documented/photographed/sourced objects - I already accept the object is not mine and hasn't been designed for me, and pre-existing medical objects are mass-produced. Though, I am interested in the idea of mass produced items being appropriate for individual specific needs and customisation. I'm more concerned with ideas of ownership - who owns the devices, how are they distributed, how are they seen and accessed, how the "lender" can claim authority over something that they cannot permanently alter.

In Architecture 2000: predictions and methods (1971), Charles Jencks discusses the unselfconscious tradition, to which refers "to those decisions [in design] which while purposeful on a small scale, are made without regard or reference to the whole or centralised control system which exists," and links it to the concept of the readymade. [20]

Dissectibility, in relation to the unselfconscious, refers to the concept that "any system is made up of a series of interrelated parts all of which have a certain autonomy and independence from each other." [21, p.51] But, also work together to create a whole - one that is sometimes function and at other times isn't. In reference to architecture this can be electrical, heating systems, plumbing, circulation and air-conditioning systems. [22,p.52] Sometimes the integration of these systems is so complex the whole cannot be disrupted by it's parts, meaning there is a partial autonomy or partial dependence present. [23,p.52] Arthur Koestler, calls this simultaneous singular part and part of a whole dichotomy; Holon, in his 1967 book The Ghost in the Machine,

'There is no satisfactory word in our vocabulary to refer to these Janus-faced entities: to talk of sub wholes (or sub assemblies, sub-structures, sub-skills, subsystems) is awkward and tedious. It seems preferable to coin a new term to designate these nodes on the hierarchies tree which behave partly as wholes and wholly as parts, according to the way you look at them. The term I would propose is ‘holon,’ from the greek holos = whole, with the suffix on which, as in proton or Neuton, suggests a particle or part. ' [24]

The word holon is comprised of parts of pre existing words and informed by their prior meaning creates an adjacent one. he construction of the word colon then becomes subject to its own meaning, the word holon is in-fact a holon itself.

Jencks uses the human heart to delineated the idea that the autonomy of the single part can be overridden by the the selfconcious of the whole. [25 , p.52]The heartbeat can be lead astray by the nervous system via excitement or fear but it also regulated by it's own rhythm even when it is external to the body. [26, p.52] This example denotes that "freedom consists in autonomous control at each level in the hierarchy, with just enough coordination with the other levels to allow the whole to function." [27, p.52] Dissectibility then allows control or autonomy to the sub-sections of the wider system, giving control back to those whom it is suppose to represent, "The object of dissectibility is to take consequences and ideas which we favour, cut away those we dislike and project forward the new contributions." [28 p.32] Disectibility gives agency (freedom) to the people to be involved, modify and selects parts in the systems that affect them and their society, without the arduous task of rebuilding the system altogether. [29, p.32] This method avoids the fatalism of accepting or rejecting wholistic systems the way they are presented to us. [30, p.32] In a tangential line of thinking, it's interesting to consider that the more accessible AI technologies become the more influence people have on its trajectory - as noted by Elon Musk in my previous blog post, and how this could create open system.

Returning to objects and readymades, Jencks notes there is an "adhocism" to dissectibility and the unconscious tradition, where it allows existing parts to be joined together in an ad hoc manner. [31, p.53] The intervention or modification of the object by a person (designer, artist or otherwise) results in a physical outcome while also inherently modifying or challenging an existing intangible system. Jencks notes the scale of adhocism, in objects, ranges from new whole being made from readymade parts to adding ready made parts to existing objects or typical object constructions. [32, p.53] For the former; new whole being made from readymade parts, Jencks utilises Nathan Silver's Ad Hoc Chair (1968.) Ad Hoc Chair is constructed from steel gas pipes, black plastic foam insulation material, wheelchair wheels, bicycle axles and bearings, auto bumper bolts and a chromed tractor seat. [33] The chair and its structure is completely constructed from parts of existing objects or manufactured goods. [34] What is also interesting to note is that Silver designed the seat but commissioned Crofton Engineering to manufacture it, the object's parts have than gone through two "life cycles" dictated by the industrial manufacturing system. [35] The manufacturing system has been implicated in the up-cycling / re-using of it's own creation - and perhaps waste. However, the use of fluorescent vermilion paint and lacquer and the quality of construction minimises the notion of improvisation and returns the object to an iteration of a manufactured good, ready to be sold and consumed as a "quirky" chair. In Ad Hoc Chair, Silver doesn't change the function of the component parts but rather places then into a new construction, re-contextualising them for a "particular purpose, without interference from above." [36, p.53]

Photograph of Nathan Silver. 'Ad Hoc' chair. 1968. 87cm x 61.2cm x 52.5cm. collection of Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Image source: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1176863/ad-hoc-chair-chair-silver-nathan/.

Jencks references that the return of autonomy of the individual in creating specialised objects of the 1960's could be attributed to the Do-It-Yourself (D.I.Y) stores boom starting from late 1940's - 1950's. [37, p.54] In New Zealand, popular D.I.Y stores such as Mitre 10 weren't establish until 1974 and Bunnings in 2001. [38] [39] Carters had stores in the 1950's but it is difficult to determine if this was trade only or not.[40] Such store encored the amateur labourer to tinker or bricoleur household solutions or renovations, aided by instruction manuals and D.I.Y books or magazines. [41, p.54]

What I'm interested in is how medical tools / equipment for people with disabilities have become mass produced, and though they can be slightly adjusted - mainly in reference to scale / position. For example, adjusting the foot pedal pole upwards to make the foot pedal higher for someone who is shorter . These adjustments are still fairly generic as are the equipment. Silver's Ad Hoc Chair presents the idea that the mass produced can ben personalised via intervention of the individual, and can "throw up rich and diverse juxtapositions denied by integrated design," such as the form as a ram's head. [42, p.53] Intervention with found materials could show a physical control, agency or relationship over things we own or have access to devoid of construction or trade abilities and funds while retaining a sense of immediacy. Especially considering intermediate stages of product design such as product and sales are eradicated in object intervention. Which contrast with the objects loaned from such systems as government agencies - medical equipment - which aren't owned the user and cant be intervened or modified without the connotation of hijacking or vandalism. (Perhaps an idea to pursue - my sister's agency over her objects and their return to "functional equipment on loan from the MOH")

Additional Notes / further references

- Keep form but change material

- Orientation changes reading / percieved functionality - think Duchamp bicycle wheel

Man Ray "plastic poetry" - combining manufactured objects (plastic) into altered form which evoked new meaning and connotations (poetry), "I would pick up something absolutely meaningless, add a little something or detract something from it and transform it a little bit, so as to get almost a poetic image rendered in three dimensions." (Arturo Schwarz, NewYork Dada, p.100.)

Arch 2000 - And, how much, and what kind, of selfconcious control should come from above [from centralised systems eg government / government agencies.] If we take welfare systems for example, Jencks notes " they are much better run from below, where decisions are relevant, than from above where they tend to be costly and unresponsive.[jencks in reference to Arthur Selden, "The Welfare Crisis', Encounter, December 1967.]

"Adhocism on the south bank,' architectural review', July 1968. jencks

Nathan Silver - dining chair & surgeons operating stool - 'bricolage', Improvisation

Silver, Nathan and Charles Jencks. Adhocism : The Case for Improvisation. 1972.

Stuart McDonald, 'Do it Yourself" Architectural association, 1969

Hans Richter, Dada: Art and Anti-Art (New York, 1978), 96. - disparate objects

DickranTashjian,SkyscraperPrimitives(MiddletownCT,1975),52.

ThomasMcEvilley,"IThink,ThereforeIArt,"Artforum23,no.10(Summer1985),80. - unaccountable objects

Reference List

[1] & [2] https://www.edu.xunta.gal/centros/espazoAbalar/aulavirtual/pluginfile.php/1319/mod_imscp/content/1/raw_materials_technical_materials_and_their_manufactured_goods.html

[3] Hawles, Shannon. Man Ray: Objects 1916-1921: The Role Of Aesthetics In The Art Of Idea. 1990.

[4] Calvin Tomkins, The World of Duchamp.1972 Time-Life Books

[5] - [7] Hawles, Shannon. Man Ray: Objects 1916-1921: The Role Of Aesthetics In The Art Of Idea. 1990.

[8] & [9] Mundy, Jennifer. "Cadeau." Tate Modern. March 2003. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/man-ray-cadeau-t07883.

[10] & [11] Hawles, Shannon. Man Ray: Objects 1916-1921: The Role Of Aesthetics In The Art Of Idea. 1990.

[12] Arturo Schwarz, Man Ray: The Rigour of Imagination, London 1977, p.208

[13] & [14] Hawles, Shannon. Man Ray: Objects 1916-1921: The Role Of Aesthetics In The Art Of Idea. 1990.

[15] - [17] https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/man-ray-cadeau-t07883

[18] & [19] Hawles, Shannon. Man Ray: Objects 1916-1921: The Role Of Aesthetics In The Art Of Idea. 1990.

[20] Jencks, Charles. "The Unselfconscious Tradition." In Architecture 2000: predictions and methods. Series edited by Mary Kling, 49-62. London: Studio Vista Limited, 1971.

[21] - [23] Jencks, Charles. "The Unselfconscious Tradition." In Architecture 2000: predictions and methods. Series edited by Mary Kling, 49-62. London: Studio Vista Limited, 1971.

[24] Koestler, Arthur. "The Holon." The Ghost in the Machine. 48. London:Penguin Group, 1967

[25] - [27] Jencks, Charles. "The Unselfconscious Tradition." In Architecture 2000: predictions and methods. Series edited by Mary Kling, 49-62. London: Studio Vista Limited, 1971.

[28] - [30] Jencks, Charles. "Dissectibility" In Architecture 2000: predictions and methods. Series edited by Mary Kling, 29-32. London: Studio Vista Limited, 1971.

[31] & [32] Jencks, Charles. "The Unselfconscious Tradition." In Architecture 2000: predictions and methods. Series edited by Mary Kling, 49-62. London: Studio Vista Limited, 1971.

[33] -[35] https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1176863/ad-hoc-chair-chair-silver-nathan/

[36] Jencks, Charles. "The Unselfconscious Tradition." In Architecture 2000: predictions and methods. Series edited by Mary Kling, 49-62. London: Studio Vista Limited, 1971.

[37] Jencks, Charles. "The Unselfconscious Tradition." In Architecture 2000: predictions and methods. Series edited by Mary Kling, 49-62. London: Studio Vista Limited, 1971.

[38] Mitre 10. "About Mitre 10." Accessed May 7, 2021. https://www.mitre10.co.nz/about-mitre-10

[39] Bunnings. "History of Bunnings." Accessed May 7, 2021. https://www.bunnings.co.nz/about-us/our-history

[40] Carters. "Our History." Accessed May 7, 2021. https://www.carters.co.nz/our-history

[41] Jencks, Charles. "The Unselfconscious Tradition." In Architecture 2000: predictions and methods. Series edited by Mary Kling, 49-62. London: Studio Vista Limited, 1971.

[42] Jencks, Charles. "The Unselfconscious Tradition." In Architecture 2000: predictions and methods. Series edited by Mary Kling, 49-62. London: Studio Vista Limited, 1971.