For my intervention I want to look at previous workshops I have delivered and expand on them with ideas developed from this part of the PG cert. Within my role as a Digital Fabrication Technician my dialogue with students mainly involves discussions of materiality, rather than conversations about the conceptuality or personal ideas behind student work. With this in mind, I want to focus on the ‘epistemic injustices’ (Reki 2023) brought on by the lack of understanding of technical knowledge and the limitations of resources that might hinder a students progress.
Two main processes we provided in the Creative Tech Lab are laser-cutting and 3D printing. I propose a series of workshops that encounter these techniques, with a focus on collaboration and an understanding of sustainability. A consequence of laser-cutting is we inevitably produce a lot of off-cuts. I will provide these off-cuts to students to create designs or engrave images on the materials to repurpose the waste material and create a new work. As these materials are free I aim to help support those students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds in which purchasing materials might be a barrier.
For 3D printing I have found a free phone application, Polycam, that scans objects and creates a 3D mesh which can be printed. I will demonstrate this to students and have them scan their own objects, develop them digitally in the Creative Tech Lab, and then print them. I was thinking of modes of space, and similar to Ade Adeption thoughts on discrimination by design, how can that mode of space be challenged to help students’ intersectional needs, ie – being able to scan the work at home and finish in the workshop.
Key References
Duna, S. (2017) Students’ Experience of Identity and Attainment at UAL, Final year 4 report of a longitudinal study for the University of the Arts London. Project Report. University of the Arts London, London.
ParalympicsGB (2020) Ade Adepitan gives amazing explanation of systemic racism. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAsxndpgagU&ab_channel=ParalympicsGB
Reki, J. (2023) Religious Identity and Epistemic Injustice: An Intersectional Account. Hypatia
Noel, L et al. (2021) Learning to Recognize Exclusion, Journal of Useable Studies