m9.figshare.1327941. 2Making Polychronic Objects

Abstract: In the light of current debates on the future of making, the Polychronic Object research uses material experimentation to identify possible paradigm shifts. Through making, it maps new media aesthetics, contemporary theories of time and the practical implications of object orientated ontology. The research seeks to understand the implications of a potentially different making space opened up by a triangulation of concepts. Firstly, an aerial cultural viewpoint proposed by new visual theory; secondly, the conceptualisation of time through the act of mapping, crumpling and pleating of material history as an emergence practice; and thirdly, a practical translation of speculative realist approaches to materiality. The knowledge gained from these three positions aids navigation through the practical experience of making as mapping. The polychronic bowls, as the material driver of the research, are an ongoing series of small bowls that combine materials from different historical eras. They are hand produced as one off experiments, intended to physically develop the ideas in the research facilitating tactile interaction with real objects. This enquiry uses research-through-making. It emphasises learning through mapping potential material territories, as a dynamic description rather than a static definition. It offers designer-makers and consumers other possibilities, post mass manufacturing