Postdigital Artisans: Craftsmanship with a New Aesthetic in Fashion, Art, Design and Architecture

Digital technology has irreversibly changed how we see, think and act. A staggering number of us spend half our waking hours online. Right now, more people are gazing at a screen than looking out a window. But a deeper symbiotic relationship with the digital does not quash the desire for a tactile, physically immersive experience. Touch screens don’t eliminate the need to touch something more palpable than an electronic visual display.

It’s in this context that today's 'postdigital artisans' operate. Inescapably influenced by the digital world, they nonetheless reject strictly screen-based design and total reliance on automated production, such as 3D printing. They advocate a return to craft, with objects made from clay, metal, glass and wood. They neither turn their backs on technology nor glorify nostalgia, but their high-tech honeymoon is over. They see materials as the heart of art, design, fashion and architecture.

Postdigital Artisans profiles 60 contemporary artists and designers, accompanied by rich illustrations of their work. Essays and interviews by and with leading figures such as Hans Ulrich Obrist, Nathan Jurgenson and Glenn Adamson deftly analyse all forms of postdigital creativity, from visual art and design to architecture and urban planning.

About the Author

Jonathan Openshaw is editor of LS:N Global developed by The Future Laboratory, and previously was editor-in-chief of POSTmatter magazine. He writes extensively on the impact of new technology on the creative industries. Openshaw studied social anthropology at Cambridge, and specialised in the anthropology of art and visual communication.

Features

• Six chapters, each profiling ten creatives, illustrating the work visually whilst detailing how it is influenced by the digital world yet crafted by hand.
• Presents work of well-established artists using stunning photography.
• The book is opened with a detailed introduction by the author, plus an interview with Hans Ulrich Obrist and an essay by Liam Young.
• Each chapter is concluded with an essay authored by different industry experts shedding light on different aspects of the postdigital mindset and aesthetic.
• Outstanding graphic design, with handwritten texts by calligrapher Sarah Blais.

 Publication Details

• Released April 2015
• Frame Publishers
• Written by Jonathan Openshaw
• Graphic design by Cathelijn Kruunenberg
• Calligraphy by Sarah Elisabeth Blais
• English
• 296 pages / full colour / hardcover
• 230 x 290 mm
• ISBN 978-94-91727-61-0
• €30.00 (excluding shipping costs)

Related Articles

• You can also preview work in the book in the following articles:

http://www.frameweb.com/news/q-a-maiko-takeda 
http://www.frameweb.com/news/electronic-textiles-by-phillip-stearns
http://www.frameweb.com/news/formless-figures-by-daniel-arsham

Quote

‘This celebration of the physical is not a rejection of the digital; it’s an integral part of the new digital moment.’ – Hans Ulrich Obrist