Thanks for Tuning In

Material potential is seldom fully realized; all too often, we make waste of objects that could be destined for more. We take advantage, but we fail to take care to listen to their needs. We work with, but we fail to feel connected with the objects that inhabit our everyday lives. We recognize them as objects, but we fail to look at them as lively agents. Our culture of wasting, of estrangement from matter, relies on these failures. To improve this culture, we must learn to listen to the objects. We must relate to them, beyond just using them. We must recognize their agency. But how can we achieve this?

Can sensory attunement to matter unfold its complex, networked history? How do relationships with and between materials change when we take responsibility for moments of material transition?

Thanks for Tuning In asserts that by paying close, visceral attention to the material transitions in an objects’ lifecycles, we can foster greater material longevity and cherishment. The objects, themselves, can find subjectivity. They can build relationships with us, as we do with them. They can tell us how they feel. 

How can you participate? Join us in person or online by registering for the Zoom Meeting or watching live on YouTube.

Have questions? Send them to info.4@concordia.ca

Lay me in the sawdust (Anna Noel)

Lay me in the sawdust explores the process of care when working with wood - looking at sourcing of materials, the process of woodworking and carving, and finding alternative uses for sawdust waste.

Labour of Sentient Love (Astrid Yates)

By redefining waste as an urban ornament, Labour of Sentient Love aims to shift our perception of the objects that surround us into an understanding of cherishment. 

Whispers of Decay (Elan Ergas Lenett)

Whispers of Decay is an immersive exploration, blending digital tech with physical decay. Crafting digital monuments, it speculates on embodied history in site-specific material conditions.

You can rest, now (Noah Depelteau)

You can rest, now explores textile composting as giving a ‘good’ death to cherished clothes. By working to give objects good deaths, can designers and users learn to give them better lives, too? 

again, again (Sydney McManus) 

In collaboration with discarded objects, again, again invites us to discover the hidden narratives and potentials that lie within the ordinary through sensory experiences.

celles que l'on refuse de tenir dans la coupole de nos mains (Florence Boucher)    

celles que l’on refuse de tenir dans la coupole de nos mains is a sensitive material exploration of foraged weeds seeking to create conversations around ethical design, unwanted plants, vulnerable landscapes, and femininity.

Dump your emotions (Kathy Nguyen)

Dump your emotions is exploring the influence of different paper materials on writing experience and emotional well being; by prompting the community to answer different types of questions based on different paper materials.

Scraps_processing (Arnaud Jalbert)

Scraps_processing is finding new ways to catalogue fabric scraps and creating a social platform to collectively use and share them.

The canvas of culture (Deepak Bhatt)

The canvas of culture reimagines the past and cultural connotations of digital materials to foster richer user experiences that consider cultural relevance.

It’s not you, it’s me (Caleigh Smith)

It's not you, it's me explores narratives of attachment and non-attachment to clothing. How can the act of swapping transform relationships to garments and increase longevity?

Metamorphosis in Textiles Narratives (Elham Sadat Abtahi)

Metamorphosis in Textiles Narratives proposes sustainable textile narratives to facilitate meaningful dialogues about 'livingness' in bio-designed textiles with consumers and society, and co-creates or metamorphoses living materials, seaweeds, in a digital world.