Writer for November: Louise Mazanti
Ede Horton, ”Cupie”, 2006.
While scrolling through the pictures of Craftbase, I was immediately struck by the work of Australian Glass artist Ede Horton, Cupie . The work is a button; an over-sized button, containing the cast of a cupie doll. These two kinds of everyday-life objects; ‘button' and ‘doll' drag the attention because they are so easy recognizable and easy readable; they are reminiscences of the most familiar form typologies of material culture. With reminiscences I mean that in the work, they function as traces or remindings of a time passed. Both ‘buttons' and ‘dolls' belong to childhood experiences, as the artist reminds us when she recalls the memory of her mother sewing and herself stacking the buttons, in a flashback of her personal history. To collect buttons for the sake that a garment should need to be repaired, nowadays seems to be a strange, old-fashioned activity. Ede Horton, however, is sensible to the many other layers of meaning that they possess: their diversity and beauty, and the personal memories, feelings and associations that are linked to their humble presence close to the body. An over-size button that contains the cast of a doll – the doll also containing an extreme amount of emotional carriage - in this way turns into a kind of cultural icon. The position as a clearly autonomous artwork is thereby suspended. This is expressed very clearly in the unstable physical position that the object actually takes up because of its backside handle. There is no really privileged viewpoint or stable position for display. Cupie in many ways is a dis-placed, cultural artifact. In my reading then, Ede Horton uses the form typologies of inexpensive commodities to reveal the human emotional dependence and interlinkage with these same commodities – with things - in order to become what we are, what we were, and what we want to be.
Louise Mazanti
Louise Mazanti, lives in Copenhagen, Denmark. She holds an MA degree in Art History. In the late 2006 she will defend her Ph.D. thesis at Denmark's Design School, Copenhagen, entitled SUPEROBJECTS - a theory for contemporary, conceptual craft. Among others, from 1999 - 2004 she has co-organized the Danish Biennial of Craft and Design. She works as a lecturer and writer on craft and design related issues. Member of THINK TANK - a European Iniciative for the Applied Arts, the Advisory Board at Glasmuseet Ebeltoft - The museum for international contemporary glass in Denmark, the Advisory Board at the Faculty of Visual Art, The Oslo National Academy of the Arts, Norway, the Advisory Board The Society for New Craft / Galleria Norsu, Helsinki, Finland and Exhibition Review Editior, Journal of Modern Craft.
Read her outline of Super Objects in Craft Culture.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS IN ENGLISH
”Danish Glass Cuts Through”, in: Glasss 2007, Holstebro Museum of Modern Art, Denmark, 2007. In print.
”Place(s) as Material Culture”, in: Place(s) - papers and exhibition 2006 , Think Tank - A European Iniciative for the Applied Arts, edition 03, 2006. In print.
”Illusion and Reality”, in: In Reality ..., exhibition catalogue for Mette Saabye and Louise Hindsgavl, The Danish Museum of Art and Design, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2006.
”Between Modernism and Avantgarde. Studioglass and the Glass Museum”, in: 20 Years On , Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, Denmark, 2006.
“Craft and the Avant-Garde - Transformative power and contemporary cultural practices” in: Scandinavial Journal of Design History , 2006. In print
”Sumptious Asceticism - Steen Ipsen 2000 - 2005”, in: Steen Ipsen. Ceramic Works 2000- 2005 , Copenhagen, 2005
”The Danes – A presentation by Louise Mazanti”, in: Contemporary Glass at Heller Gallery , exhibition catalogue, Copenhagen/New York, 2006
”All that 's missing is a word with faith, with power - the craft discourse in Denmark today”, in: Languages - papers and exhibition 2005 , Think Tank - A European Iniciative for the Applied Arts, edition 02, 2005.
”Statement”, in: The Foundation, 2004 , Think Tank - A European Iniciative for the Applied Arts, edition 01, 2005.
”Reflections over the Status of Crafts – a rewiew of Six Views on a Practice in Change ”, in: Kunstuff, Danish crafts and design, vol. 3, 2005.
”Privileged Objects in Contemporary Culture.”, in: Hanna Ljungström og Ulf Beckman, (ed.), RE:FORM Contemporary Swedish Crafts , Arvinius Förlag AB, Stockholm, Sweden, 2005.
”Linen Cupboard – a Sense of Order. Lisbet Friis, 2005”, exhibition catalogue, the Danish Museum of Arts and Design, Copenhagen, 2005.
Four Papers on Contemporary Craft, Working Papers, Denmark's Design School, Copenhagen, 2004
“A Critical Sliding into Society - Contemporary craft between art and design”, in: Fokus , Danish Crafts Theme Magazine , no 2 / Crafts and Identity / Feb 2005: Danish Crafts, 2005.
”FOSSILER, 2003, A.D.”, exhibition catalogue for Claus Domine Hansen, the Danish Museum of Arts and Design, Copenhagen, 2004.
”The State of Things. Anders Ruhwald. 2004.”, exhibition catalogue, the Danish Museum of Arts and Design, Copenhagen, 2004.
”Re-reading the Functional - A new position for contemporary craft (or, Is there a craft after tacit?)”, proceedings form the conference Challenging Craft, Gray's School of Art, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Skotland, 2004. www.challengingcraft.org
“Craft, conceptuality and Avant-Garde. - Towards a theoretical framework for craft”, in: Cumulus Working Papers , Publication Series G, Saint Petersburg, 11/03, 2003, University of Art and design Helsinki, 2004.
“Craft as Avantgarde. – between Function. Visual Art and Statement”, Craft in Dialogue, a IASPIS ( International Artists' Studio Program in Sweden) project, 2003.
”Facing Reality: An outline of Contemporary Danish Crafts”, in: SOFA CHICAGO 2003, Expressions of Culture Inc., Chicago, USA, 2003. http://www.sofaexpo.com/chicago/2003/essays/DANISH.PDF
”Aesthetics and Involvement. – Young ceramics as s cultural mediator”, in: Young Nordic Ceramics , Anders Ruhwald (edt.), Nordic Cultural Fund, 2002.
”Haute Couture of Things. – Craft as Avantgarde”, in: Biennial for Craft and Design 2002, exhibition catalogue, the Danish Museum of Arts and Design, Copenhagen / Danske Kunsthåndværkere, 2002.