As Big As A...

An article exploring the phenomenon of online sizegivers and the process of collecting and engaging with communities that make these images. Featuring an image essay with images from Corinne Quin's ongoing archive. This started with Sizegiver (book) and continues as Sizegiver Daily Archive (instagram)

The Analogue Photobooth

Writing from the perspective of a century-old machine, this article introduces the analogue photobooth as design object, and 20th century survivor of photographic visual culture. Written for a special edition for Fam Magazine, as part of the International Photobooth convention 2023, organised by Autofoto and Photobooth.net

Standard Practice

Standard Practice is concerned with the values and impacts of standardisation. Through an exploration of the methods and discourse of various standards, the research constructs and disseminates alternative standards and reconfigured standards, in order to generate debate about regulation. The research was initially framed in relation to a ten- week postgraduate brief led by Corinne Quin and Ruby Hoette, and with the participation of members of the British Standards Institute (BSI) in the spring term of 2018. The preparation, delivery and outcomes of the brief generated a range of prototypical alternative standards which were exhibited at a BSI conference, with a display of prototypes and textual material coming out Quin and Hoette’s brief (2018). Subsequently the project was developed by Quin as Sizegiver, an edited collection of photographs capturing ubiquitous demonstrations of scale (2020), and Sizegivers, a visual vernacular of popular artefacts printed true-to-scale by photogram (2020). The publication and photogram are published online, through the researcher’s Instagram and GRO. The enquiry was supported by a review of standards, including the BSI and International Standards Organisation database whose elements are licensed to a range of professional and industrial bodies, along with diverse historical standards including DIN 476 which led to the dimensions of A4 paper. The researchers recognize that while standards are essential for replicability and quality, the application and effects of standards are also political, as evidenced by the Nazi-era architecture of Ernst Neufert, who extended DIN 476 into the dimensions of social housing. Standards are therefore taken as paths for mediation and speculation, to provide contexts for design interventions that support alternative forms of calibration, expose issues, or counter blind spots. The publication and photogram refine a core interest of Quin’s with the use of standard objects to represent and communicate scale in digital space, and these artefacts are published as a catalogue which invites designers and creative practitioners to respond to the collection, through the researcher’s Instagram, shared on GRO, and given to project partners at the BSI. Quin presented Sizegiver at the BSI e-conference in April 2020, to open up discussions about how standards can be visualised and re-appropriated in new and innovative ways

Redacted Ceramics

Redacted Ceramics was a collection of 40 ceramic mugs produced in 2022. This material exploration clashes the political aesthetic of redaction with more familiar domestic contexts. Redacted Ceramics highlights the ongoing dynamics and flows of material products; from production, through different models of promotion and consumption into reuse and afterlife. The work was exhibited as part of Domestic Monsters (2022) show at the Constance Howard Gallery, a group show of Design researchers looking at the political and ethical dynamics of craft, art and design objects within a domestic environment

Standards and design at Goldsmiths University

A project case study disseminating MA Transfocality project 'Standard Practice', published on the BSI Education website in 2020. In the case study Quin discusses the core ideas behind the project, the process, what was learned and the relationship between teaching and industry

International Photobooth Convention 2023, London

The International Photobooth Convention 2023 was organised by Autofoto (Rafael Hortala-Vallve and Corinne Quin) and co-presented by Photobooth.net. It took place in London, UK, July 13–16 2023, involving over 60 participants from the US, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The IPC is a 2 yearly event, bringing together experts, technicians and enthusiasts of photobooths and analogue photography. As part of IPC 2023, we organised workshops and events to connect this international community, to share knowledge and niche expertise, and discuss the future of analogue in a digital world. Events included: a film screening by Brian Meacham, (Managing Archivist at Yale Film Archive) at Selfridges Cinema; a talk by author Meags Fitzgerald at Waterstones, London; a technical repair session by Mark Rybal; presentations of new innovations by Autofoto, Flo Gale, Saybreebooth and Susanna Kraus; creative workshops by Rafael Hortala Vallve, Marco Ferrari, Tim Garrett and Doug Ellington. Alongside the events, we designed and produced the printed matter, merchandise and other visual elements for the attendees to take away. The poster for the event was made in collaboration with Patrick Lacey

Primer for a Design Department Collective Self Portrait

In the wake of the pandemic and a return to in-person teaching in Autumn 2021, this publication invited staff and students in the Goldsmiths design department to participate in a group photograph during academic year 2021-22. Taking its cue from the square-box interfaces and spaces of Teams/Zoom, an analogue photobooth (from Autofoto.org) was brought to campus to capture an in-person photograph of each member of the department separately and to place them together collectively. This primer publication invites participation through showcasing the potential of the project to create community. By showcasing the results of a experimental photographic workshop with the machine (June 2021) it's demonstrates the creative possibilities of the format. It also brings to light rarely seen archival group photos of Goldsmiths staff and students (1910's-1950's) found in Goldsmiths library special collections archive. It contains an explanation of how an analogue photobooth works, how it has been used by designers and artists in 20th Century culture, and it's visual parameters. Finally, a framework on the back page acts as a tool to plan a photo with friends. This publication was presented and given out (along with a token to use the machine), to over 500 students in cohorts on the BA Design, and MA Design Expanded Practice in Autumn 2021, and to over 70 members of staff in the Design Department

Grandmother Clock, Timekeeper

O’clock. Time Design, Design Time, was an exhibition presented at Milan’s Triennale Museum. Curated by Silvana Annicchiarico and Jan van Rossem, and designed by Spanish-designer Patricia Urquiola. The exhibition explored the relationship between time and design showcasing work from over 70 international artists and designers, curated into three key themes: measurement of time, time-traversing objects and the experience of time. Work included installations, products, art pieces, site-specific works and videos. The book was produced to accompany the O’clock. Time Design, Design Time exhibition. Quins work for this show includes two design objects: Grandmother Clock and Timekeepers - objects that measure the passing of time using thread. The O’clock. Time Design, Design Time book contains images of these objects and a description of each written by curator Jan van Rossem

BSI Standards e-Conference: Sizegiver - visual languages of measurement in digital space

Designer Corinne Quin presents Sizegiver, an archive of found images that communicate size using standard everyday objects, usually found in the home. She asks what happens when standards are re-appropriated by people for other means/contexts? How are niche online communities creating their own standards, languages, and expertise? And what could standards makers learn from visual languages of memes and Instagram? This conference presentation for the BSI traces a visual journey through object-object relationships and invites attendees to participate by adding their own Size giver image to the archive