INTANGIBLE IMPACT OF INERT MATERIALS
"Everything is alive... Everything is interconnected."- Marcus Tullius cicero
Everything that exists in the world has non linear impact on one another resulting in the formation of the layers of intractable complex system. The activity conducted in the studio based on the interpretation of small paragraph from Jane Bennett's “ Vibrant Matter- A Political Ecology Of Things ” has definitely had a great impact on my perception and has pushed me to analyze the situations from different perspectives.
(Sketches made in the studio by different students)
A paragraph from the book was read and we had to make a sketch of the image formed in our mind after listening to the author’s perspective. I tried to remember the paragraph in form of a story which revolved around author’s thought process and the feelings that were evoked by the objects which were in front of her.
The author saw a black plastic glove , dense mat of pollen , a dead rat , one white plastic bottle cap and a smooth stick of wood on a grate of storm drain , which is considered as debris in normal sense. Even though the things were irrelevant she could remember everything she saw as she interconnected all the things with one another. She perceived it as a assemblage where objects were unrelated but still interconnected with their ability in commanding attention towards itself. She stated that one can remember inert or non important things because of the effect they have on each object that is around them as well as the effect they create within us.
We were given a set of different materials to sketch or create a visual, to interpret the image created in our mind. After listening to the paragraph the words which were stuck with me were assemblage, dead rat, white bottle cap, and dense mat of pollen. I decided to draw a sketch showing assemblage, having one material acting as a interconnecting point for all the objects . I used a chalk to draw a basic sketch and used thread to interconnect the different objects with one another. I used the thread as a rats tail which eventually gets connected to white bottle cap were the thread acts as grooves of the cap. One side of the cap is connected to the particles of pollens which are then disbursed in a random direction . The sketch was then connected through a line of chalk which connected all other sketches drawn by different students.
We were asked to discuss about the sketches drawn by each student and understand their perspective behind it. When Prof Oren read the paragraph , it seemed like he planted a seed to evoke the creative cells in everyone's mind present in the room where each person would have different interpretations and feelings while analyzing the same paragraph and the sketches made by them will be completely different from one another. It is like an assemblage of different ideas , ideologies and perspectives where the paragraph acted as a interconnecting thread.
(Video of activity held in the class)
As I saw different sketches drawn with vivid perspectives using different material , I could connect it with the author’s line that “Stuff commanded attention on its own and produces effects within us " . Every person was attracted to a different material which he / she thought would help them to create the best visual to describe their point of view . Everyone used different combination of materials , textures , colors to interpret their perspective and to produce the effect .
I did not realize it then however when I reviewed the paragraph from the book , I could connect it with the studio activity as I felt that the non living materials which were given to us as a tool to sketch are not just restricted to passive intractability but also had power to make things happen , to produce effects . We often don’t realize the active participation of non living forces in the events we are part of. As the author quoted Thomas Dum’s words “to be surprised by what we see” , I was actually astonished by the fact that the things that we often considered inert has ability to create the effect on us and all the things around us are deeply interconnected.
References :
Bennett, J. (2010). Vibrant matter : A political ecology of things. Duke University Press.
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