Ingrid Murphy, Ceramics as Interface

This practice-based research combines digital technologies with traditional ceramic artefacts in order to show how physical computing can be used to enhance the experience of a crafted object through touch, sound, proximity and connectivity. The output is a body of interactive artworks/installations which have been shown both nationally and internationally at selected group and solo exhibitions, and associated catalogues, book essays and conference papers. In this portfolio, the research narrative is set out in the following eight items:

MU201: the summary of the research narrative, including its 300-word statement;

MU202: the catalogue from the exhibition and symposium the Indian Ceramics triennial, Breaking Ground, 2018;

MU203: the film Seen and Unseen, shown at all 2019 exhibitions;

MU204: the catalogue from the Touchstone exhibition at Farmleigh Gallery, Dublin, and the National National Craft Gallery, Kilkenny, Ireland, 2017;

MU205 and MU206: review articles from Ceramics Review, 2020, and Art India, 2018;

MU207: the symposium paper ‘Of all that is seen and unseen’; and

MU208: the chapter ‘Metamaking and me’, from The Ceramics Reader, eds Petrie, K. and Livingstone, A. Bloomsbury 2017, pp. 486–93.

Much of the current discourse on the integration of digital technologies with traditional making and craft practices places the emphasis on the notion of ‘facture’, on how the thing is made (Sennett 2008, Adamson 2015, Johnston 2015). This research looks at how digital technologies can be used to move the discourse beyond notions of facture by placing the focus on object interaction and perception. The research narrative demonstrates how both material characteristics and the material culture of ceramics can be exploited to look beyond ‘traditional making’ to find new ways of experiencing ceramic objects.

The portfolio also includes a series of links and reviews from the Indian Ceramics triennial, Breaking Ground, 2018 as an appendix (MUA201).