All coherence gone? historical currents in contemporary still life group exhibition

This exhibition curated by Frances Woodley, promotes an idea of several interwoven conversations across time and space, present and past. These conversations take place between artists and objects, objects and objects, and between a curator and artists of two nations, the Netherlands and the UK. The conversations are about still life, a modest genre with a magnificent history, and how its historical origins in seventeenth century Dutch painting enfold and flow through contemporary practices of painting and photography today. Artists: Emma Bennett, Clare Chapman, Kenne Grégoire, David Gould, Piet Groenendijk, Clive Hicks-Jenkins, Jacco Hinke, Heather James, Alan Salisbury, Margriet Smulders, Krista van der Niet, Dawn Woolley

Using eTextile objects for touch based interaction for visual impairment

In this paper we explore the relationship between eTextiles and touch-based interaction with regards to visual impairment. We argue that smart fabrics and conductive materials have mostly been researched in terms of their attractive visual properties but that their tactile properties are largely underexplored. We discuss development of a number of eTextile prototype objects which we explored in conversations with blind participants. The focus is on how they use different gestures while interacting with the objects and reflect on these associations when exploring. Through these studies and conversations we propose to take forward a user-centered design approach to creating further objects which can be utilised in aiding or enhancing experiences for people who are visually impaired

Evolutionary Subject Tagging in the Humanities; Supporting Discovery and Examination in Digital Cultural Landscapes

In this paper, the authors attempt to identify problematic issues for subject tagging in the humanities, particularly those associated with information objects in digital formats. In the third major section, the authors identify a number of assumptions that lie behind the current practice of subject classification that we think should be challenged. We move then to propose features of classification systems that could increase their effectiveness. These emerged as recurrent themes in many of the conversations with scholars, consultants, and colleagues. Finally, we suggest next steps that we believe will help scholars and librarians develop better subject classification systems to support research in the humanities.NEH Office of Digital Humanities: Digital Humanities Start-Up Grant (HD-51166-10

Object Handling with Contemporary Craft Objects: An Observational Study of an Embodied, Social and Cognitive Process

This study focuses on the ways that people interact around contemporary craft objects. The ambiguous quality of these objects holds people’s attention and inhibits autobiographical narratives. The study focused on the relationship between the perceptual language used by participants and the ways in which they interacted with the objects. The analytical approach taken here begins with close observation and careful description of single cases and working towards valid generalisations rather than imposing an interpretation from the outset by explicitly positing a hypothesis. Six pairs of women were invited to participate in object handling conversations in an art museum setting. The conversations were recorded using digital video cameras. Analysis treated interaction as an embodied process and drew on work, which interprets interaction the outcome of social and cognitive processes. We found that the interplay of language and action shifted fluidly throughout the conversations. Not all actions were verbally expounded on and these could only be interpreted tentatively. Utterances could change the meaning or purpose of an action without any apparent change in the dynamics of the action. When attending a complex quality, such as the material nature of an object, the relationship between language and action was correspondingly complex. Participants used a variety of frameworks to understand the objects and these shaped the qualities of the objects that they attended to. Participants’ words and actions could usefully be interpreted in terms of meaning rather than just social action and with reference to findings from cognitive research on perception and action

Want to make me happy? Tell me about your experiences but not your objects

Evidence indicates that experiences bring greater benefits to consumers than objects. Extending this research beyond the actual purchaser, this work examines individuals who experience the purchase only indirectly via a conversation—listeners. It explores how conversations about experiential versus material purchases affect listeners socially and emotionally. Results show that hearing about others' experiences (vs. objects) advances listeners' happiness more. This finding shows that the scope of experiential purchases' advantage is wider than previously known. Further, this work identifies a sequential mechanism: Conversations about experiences (vs. objects) are more substantive, allowing listeners to build stronger social connections with tellers and, in turn, gain more happiness from the interaction. Critically, this mechanism explains the effect above and beyond a previously-advanced mechanism via perceived motivation. Additionally, this work identifies a boundary of the model: purchase valence. Theoretical and practical implications for managers, consumers, and policymakers are discussed.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Conversations with rain: Proposing poetic and non-linear interpretation strategies in the art gallery

Conversations with Rain aims to disrupt conventional socio-constructivist and cognitive notions of the child familiar in museum settings by rethinking children’s relations with art objects and weather worlds. Our rationale suggests that poetic and non-linear interpretation strategies, combined with artist studio practices that heighten presence and attention, expand the potential of more porous entanglements for children with the world, and potentially transform our climate futures. Disrupting didactic Gallery programming and environmental ‘learning about’ practices, we propose responsive, participatory, multisensory, open-ended, and poetic opportunities that recognise the unfixed, iterative, and tacit knowledges of the child. Building a body of research through a suite of five creative outputs Conversations with Rain contributes to more-than-human pedagogies that investigate how interdisciplinary, embodied, and practice-led approaches deepen engagement, lead to more responsive nature and culture relations, and enliven connection and empathy with children, art objects, and the world

Curating Art Therapy: A conversation

This article is based on several conversations between the authors – David Edwards and Barrie Damarell – prior to and following the exhibition – ‘A personal history of Art Therapy in less than 100 objects’ – held at Gallery 35, Chapel Walk, Sheffield between Monday September 10th to Saturday September 15th, 2018. The authors discuss the rationale for the exhibition, together with the process of curating it.  Keywords: Art, Art Therapy, Exhibition, History, Objects, Retiremen

\u3ci\u3eDuzen\u3c/i\u3e and \u3ci\u3eIhrzen\u3c/i\u3e in the German Translation of \u3ci\u3eThe Lord of the Rings\u3c/i\u3e

Discusses difficulties in translating Lord of the Rings into German, in particular the complications arising from the second person plural: singular/plural and familiar/ deferential forms. Notes the special challenges in translating dialogue in a fantasy novel, such as conversations with animals and objects