NOTEBOOK IN BLOOMCUADERNO EN FLOR
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To use our handsUsar las manos
Tuesday, 18 Jul 2017
Reconsiderando las manualidades.
Texto e imágenes: Cecilia Borghi
Hace más de un año y medio comencé a leer un libro sobre el movimiento Arts and Crafts (por Rosalind P. Blackesly) que, en algún momento interrumpí y quedó abandonado. Pero anoche lo terminé y me gustó recordar el motivo por el cual había elegido leerlo: mi interés por el trabajo manual.
Y ahi, justo sobre el final estaba aquello que esperaba confirmar en la voz de alguien que lo estudió en profundidad:
Texto e imágenes: Cecilia Borghi
Hace más de un año y medio comencé a leer un libro sobre el movimiento Arts and Crafts (por Rosalind P. Blackesly) que, en algún momento interrumpí y quedó abandonado. Pero anoche lo terminé y me gustó recordar el motivo por el cual había elegido leerlo: mi interés por el trabajo manual.
Y ahi, justo sobre el final estaba aquello que esperaba confirmar en la voz de alguien que lo estudió en profundidad:
Aquí, nos encontramos con formas más sutiles en las que los ideales del Arts and Crafts continúan infiltrándose en nuestras vidas. Los intentos clave para abordar algunos de estos problemas -la práctica del comercio justo, por ejemplo- hacen eco en la artesanía y la identificación de productos de calidad con estilos de vida saludables. En comunidades localizadas (...) En un nivel más interno, ha habido un resurgimiento del ethos de la Vida Simple en las acciones de aquellos que optan por abandonar carreras exitosas y de alto perfil para buscar una mejor calidad de vida en el campo. Tales cambios a menudo implican el abandono de las ocupaciones de escritorio que utilizan la cabeza, en favor de hacer las cosas a mano (..) Así, la teología del Arts and Crafts - que un mejor ambiente puede conducir a mejores productos y una vida mejor - continúa teniendo un impacto en la manera en que manejamos nuestro mundo y dirigimos nuestras vidas.
Reconsidering hand-work.
Words and images: Cecilia Borghi
More than a year and a half ago I began to read a book about the Arts and Crafts movement (by Rosalind P. Blakesley) that, at some point I interrupted. But last night I finished it and I liked to remember the reason why I had chosen to read it: my interest in manual work. And there, just at the end was what I hoped to confirm in the voice of someone who studied it in depth:
Here, we encounter more subtle ways in which Arts and Craft's ideals continue to infiltrate our lives. Key attempts to address some of these problems - the practice of fair trade, for example- echo the Arts and Crafts identification of quality products with healthy lifestyles in localized communities. (..) On a more domestic level, there has been a resurgence of the Simple Life ethos in the actions of those who choose to leave the rat race of high paid and high profile careers to seek a better quality of life in the country. Such changes often involve abandoning desk-bound occupations which used the head, in favour of doing things by hand (..). Thus the theology of the Arts and Crafts - that a better environment can lead to better products and a better way of life - continues to have an impact on the way in which we manage our world and run our lives.
Words and images: Cecilia Borghi
More than a year and a half ago I began to read a book about the Arts and Crafts movement (by Rosalind P. Blakesley) that, at some point I interrupted. But last night I finished it and I liked to remember the reason why I had chosen to read it: my interest in manual work. And there, just at the end was what I hoped to confirm in the voice of someone who studied it in depth:
Here, we encounter more subtle ways in which Arts and Craft's ideals continue to infiltrate our lives. Key attempts to address some of these problems - the practice of fair trade, for example- echo the Arts and Crafts identification of quality products with healthy lifestyles in localized communities. (..) On a more domestic level, there has been a resurgence of the Simple Life ethos in the actions of those who choose to leave the rat race of high paid and high profile careers to seek a better quality of life in the country. Such changes often involve abandoning desk-bound occupations which used the head, in favour of doing things by hand (..). Thus the theology of the Arts and Crafts - that a better environment can lead to better products and a better way of life - continues to have an impact on the way in which we manage our world and run our lives.
Es muy interesante observar la forma en que los movimientos artísticos y sociales se prolongan en el tiempo y engendran otros nuevos nutriéndolos de sus principios.
Aunque no creo que lo que hoy esté sucediendo sea una continuación, estoy de acuerdo con la autora en que todavía hay artistas que, de forma aislada, producen obras que hacen eco en los principales lineamientos del Arts and Crafts (especialmente aquellos que inscriben su obra en la búsqueda de una revalorizacion de lo autóctono como forma de identidad).
Esta corriente tuvo una enorme expansión ya que se manifestó de distintas formas en distintas ciudades del mundo y contó además con un fuerte transforndo político asociado principalemente a las inclinaciones de William Morris.
Teniendo en cuenta que hoy en día la coyuntura es diferente, hay sin embargo algo que se repite en este incio de siglo y es la necesidad de volver a lo manual, de alejarse de la máquina, pero ya no como una reacción a la industrialización sino al impactante avance de la tecnología y creo que, irónicamente, a la comodidad y el confort que ha crecido en los últimos años a niveles nunca antes conocidos.
It is very interesting to observe how artistic and social movements are prolonged in time and engender new ones nourishing them of their principles. Although I do not believe that what is happening today is a continuation, I agree with the author that there are still artists who, in isolation, produce works that echo the main guidelines of Arts and Crafts (especially those who inscribe their work in the search of a revaluation of the autochthonous as a form of identity).
This movement had a great expansion since it manifested in different forms in distant cities of the world and also counted on a strong political transformation associated mainly with the inclinations of William Morris.
Taking into account that today the situation is different there is however something that is repeated at the beginning of this century and is the need to return to the manual, away from the machine, but no longer as a reaction to industrialization but to the advance of technology and I think, ironically, to the comfort that has grown in recent years to levels never known before.
This movement had a great expansion since it manifested in different forms in distant cities of the world and also counted on a strong political transformation associated mainly with the inclinations of William Morris.
Taking into account that today the situation is different there is however something that is repeated at the beginning of this century and is the need to return to the manual, away from the machine, but no longer as a reaction to industrialization but to the advance of technology and I think, ironically, to the comfort that has grown in recent years to levels never known before.
En las últimas décadas nuestra vida diaria se vio transformada por el uso de la electrónica que nos permite estar en contacto con el mundo entero sentados desde nuestra casa. Los servicios evolucionaron al punto de que no es necesario salir para comprar artículos de necesidad básica como comida (o practicamente cualquier otra cosa que precisemos) y a través de nuestras pantallas tenemos acceso a entretenimiento constante. El equipamiento hogareño también llegó a niveles futuristas y con apretar unos pocos botones obtenemos comida lista y platos lavados.
Con respecto al mundo exterior, el transporte público y privado evolucionó y se expandió de tal manera que podemos ir de puntos alejados de una ciudad en minutos y cómodamente sentados.
El resultado de todos estos avances es que nos vemos ante la necesidad de realizar actividades físicas con más frencuencia para mantener sanos nuestros cuerpos que perdieron la costumbre del movimiento debido a la vida sedentaria tras escritorios y pantallas.
Pero hay quienes entienden que las soluciones puntuales no sirven porque lo que nos pasó fue un cambio drástico de forma de vida que nos ofrece todo al alcance de la mano pero que, a pesar de las predicciones, no logra hacernos felices.
Es ahi donde las labores manuales reapracen y toman un rol central, porque es una de las características que nos diferencia de otras especies y que nos hace humanos: la creación de herramientas, la preparación de comidas, la construcción de estructuras complejas. Nuestras manos no solo sirven para apretar botones.
Uno de los objetivos del Arts and Crafts era mejorar la vida cotidiana de las personas haciendola más fácil, cómoda y estéticamente atractiva, convencidos de que así la gente llevaría un mejor nivel de vida y por ende sería más feliz. Partían de los objetos para extender estos principios a la arquietctura. De ahi la famosa frase de Morris "No tengas nada en tu casa que no sea útil o bello" que hoy se vuelve a retomar pero desde otro punto de vista, ya no en el rechazo de productos industriales como opuestos a lo artesanal, sino al exceso producido por la sociedad de consumo que nos llevó a llenar nuestros hogares de cosas inútiles, no porque no estén bien confeccionadas o no funcionen o no sean estéticamente lindas, sino porque las poseeemos en exceso y no las utilizamos. Asi la acumulación pasó a ser un problema en contraste obseno con la enorme cantidad de población en el mundo que todavía hoy no tiene solucionadas sus necesidades básicas.
In the last decades, our daily life was transformed by the use of electronics that allows us to be in contact with the world while sitting at home, services evolved to the point that it is not necessary to go out to buy basic things like food (or just about anything else we need) and through our screens, we have access to constant entertainment.
The home furnishings also reached futuristic levels and with a few clicks, we get food ready and washed dishes.
While concerning the outside world, public and private transport evolved and expanded in such a way that we can go from distant points in minutes and comfortably seated.
The result of all these advances is that we are faced with the need to perform physical activities more frequently to keep our bodies healthy as we have lost the habit of movement due to the sedentary life behind desks and screens.
But some understand that isolated solutions do not work because what happened to us was a drastic change in the way of life that offers us everything at hand but that, despite the predictions, does not make us happy.
It is there where manual labour reappears and takes a central role because it is one of the characteristics that distinguish us from other species and that makes us human: the creation of tools, the preparation of meals, the construction of complex structures. Our hands are not only made to push buttons.
One of the goals of the Arts and Crafts was to improve the daily life of people making it easier and more comfortable, convinced that it would lead to a better standard of living and happiness.
They focused first on the objects to extend these principles to the architecture. Hence Morris's famous phrase "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful" that today is resumed but from another point of view, no longer in the rejection of industrial products as opposed to the artisanal but to the excess produced by the consumer society that led us to fill our homes with useless things not because they are not well made or don't work or are not aesthetically beautiful but because we possess them in excess and never get to use them. So accumulation became a problem in obscene contrast with the huge amount of population in the world that still today has not solved their basic needs.
The home furnishings also reached futuristic levels and with a few clicks, we get food ready and washed dishes.
While concerning the outside world, public and private transport evolved and expanded in such a way that we can go from distant points in minutes and comfortably seated.
The result of all these advances is that we are faced with the need to perform physical activities more frequently to keep our bodies healthy as we have lost the habit of movement due to the sedentary life behind desks and screens.
But some understand that isolated solutions do not work because what happened to us was a drastic change in the way of life that offers us everything at hand but that, despite the predictions, does not make us happy.
It is there where manual labour reappears and takes a central role because it is one of the characteristics that distinguish us from other species and that makes us human: the creation of tools, the preparation of meals, the construction of complex structures. Our hands are not only made to push buttons.
One of the goals of the Arts and Crafts was to improve the daily life of people making it easier and more comfortable, convinced that it would lead to a better standard of living and happiness.
They focused first on the objects to extend these principles to the architecture. Hence Morris's famous phrase "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful" that today is resumed but from another point of view, no longer in the rejection of industrial products as opposed to the artisanal but to the excess produced by the consumer society that led us to fill our homes with useless things not because they are not well made or don't work or are not aesthetically beautiful but because we possess them in excess and never get to use them. So accumulation became a problem in obscene contrast with the huge amount of population in the world that still today has not solved their basic needs.
Los lujos accesibles que hoy podemos darnos se vuelven en nuestra contra, encerrándonos en hábitos de consumo indiscriminado que no nos hacen más felices.
Asi muchos toman conciencia y de a poco van pensando soluciones y revisando el pasado en busca de alternativas que podríamos reconsiderar.
Es ahi donde aparece el Arts and Crafts con su ethos de la vida cotidiana práctica, sencilla y feliz o "la vida simple". El enfoque va de adentro hacia afuera, del hogar a la ciudad, del objeto al edificio. Se reconsideran algunas de las acciones extremas que fundadores del moviento tomaron para poder implementar sus principios, como abandonar la urbanidad para irse a vivir al campo en busca de ese mundo agrario que ellos veían desaparecer y en el cual creían ver la solución a todos los problemas de su época. Yo no creo que abandonar las ciudades o rechazar los avances tecnológicos y científicos sea la solución a nuestros problemas (de hecho creo que solo causaría otros nuevos), pero sí pienso que es preciso volver a conectarnos con aquello que nos hace humanos, nuestras manos, y usarlas para reconocer nuestro entorno y poder entender el mundo, no sólo de forma intelectual sino también sensible.
Fabricar objetos y elementos, cocinar, sembrar, cultivar y percibir el mundo a través de ellas, tocar y sentir la forma en que está hecho.
Otra expresión de estas ideas se puede encontrar en el movimiento Slow y su énfasis en la vida lenta como una forma de deshacelerar el paso. Sus consignas hacen énfasis en el rechazo la la homogeneización provocada por el avance de la globalización, focalizándose en lo local como modo de mejorar la calidad de vida de las personas. Su principal manifestación se ha dado en lo que se conoce como Slow Food o comida lenta (como opuesto a la comida rápida o chatarra que simboliza a la sociedad de consumo) y busca rescatar las tradiciones y actualizarlas para permitir a las personas construir una identidad propia. Sabiendo de donde uno viene puede entonces pensar y elegir a dónde ir.
The accessible luxuries that we enjoy today turn against us by enclosing ourselves in habits of indiscriminate consumption that do not make us happier. Thus many become conscious and little by little they are thinking about solutions and revising the past in search of alternatives that we could reconsider.
This is where the Arts and Crafts reappear with its ethos of practical, simple, and happy everyday life or "The Simple Life". The focus goes from the inside out, from home to city, from object to building. They reconsider some of the extreme actions that founders of the movement took to implement their principles, such as abandoning urbanity to go to live in the countryside in search of that agricultural world that they saw disappear and in which they believed to see the solution to all problems of their time. I do not think that abandoning cities or rejecting technological and scientific advances is the solution to our problems (in fact I think it would only cause new ones), but I do think that we need to reconnect with what makes us human, our hands, and use them to recognize our environment and to understand the world not only with the intellect but also with the senses. To manufacture objects and elements, to plant, to cultivate and to perceive the world through them, to touch and to feel its consistency.
Another expression of these ideas can be found in the Slow movement and its emphasis on the slow life as a way to undo the passage of life and to reject the homogenization provoked by the progress of globalization by focusing on the local as a way to improve the quality of life. Its main manifestation has occurred in what is known as Slow Food or slow cooking as opposed to fast food or junk that symbolizes the consumer society and seeks to rescue traditions and take them to a new level to enable people to build their own identity. Knowing where you come from one can then think and choose where to go.
This is where the Arts and Crafts reappear with its ethos of practical, simple, and happy everyday life or "The Simple Life". The focus goes from the inside out, from home to city, from object to building. They reconsider some of the extreme actions that founders of the movement took to implement their principles, such as abandoning urbanity to go to live in the countryside in search of that agricultural world that they saw disappear and in which they believed to see the solution to all problems of their time. I do not think that abandoning cities or rejecting technological and scientific advances is the solution to our problems (in fact I think it would only cause new ones), but I do think that we need to reconnect with what makes us human, our hands, and use them to recognize our environment and to understand the world not only with the intellect but also with the senses. To manufacture objects and elements, to plant, to cultivate and to perceive the world through them, to touch and to feel its consistency.
Another expression of these ideas can be found in the Slow movement and its emphasis on the slow life as a way to undo the passage of life and to reject the homogenization provoked by the progress of globalization by focusing on the local as a way to improve the quality of life. Its main manifestation has occurred in what is known as Slow Food or slow cooking as opposed to fast food or junk that symbolizes the consumer society and seeks to rescue traditions and take them to a new level to enable people to build their own identity. Knowing where you come from one can then think and choose where to go.
Hubo una cuestión puntual que fue la que llevo a la desvalorización del movimiento Arts and Crafts y fue la idea de que era una corriente retrógrada y medievalista que simplemente miraba al pasado y lo romantizaba, sin apreciar las maravillas de la modernización.
Es cierto que Morris rechazaba en sus prácticas el uso de tecnología de su época abogando por el regreso a las actividades como se habían conocido en la era medieval, como una forma de recuperar un lazo con el pasado (la artesanía) que corría riesgo de perderse para siempre.
Asi fue como una de las iniciativas, en plena revolucion industrial, fue montar un taller de estampado textil manual con bloques de madera tallados a mano. El resultado fue la producción de telas hermosas y costosas debido al trabajo requerido. Pero aunque no logró cumplir todos los puntos del programa que se había impuesto (una de ellos era que los productos realizados fueran accesibles para la clase trabajadora) hoy en día posee un enorme valor como testimonio de una oficio y cómo forma de tratar de entender, de manera física y no solo intelectual, como había sido la vida en el pasado para poder asi solucionar problemas del futuro.
Este punto es de gran relevancia hoy en día ya que su pronóstico se cumplió y se ha perdido muchísimo del conocimiento práctico y los oficios van desapareciendo, lo que representa no sólo una perdida invaluable para la sociedad sino también la anulación de tradiciones e identidad.
Pudimos entonces saber que volver a las tecnologias del pasado no era la verdadera solución pero que poder entender la forma en que hacen y producen nuestro objetos nos ayuda a salir de la alienación que genera la sociedad industrializada.
Un principio similar fue tomado por el movimiento Art Noveau, que tiene muchos puntos en con el Arts and Crafts pero que, a mi modo de ver, su rasgo principal fue de caracter estético, ya que su unidad se basaba en la creación de una nueva estética acorde a su época, mientras que en el Arts and Crafts la coherencia esta dada, sobre todo, por los objetivos de caracter social.
Hoy también sabemos que el consumismo no es el camino y que la industrialización y la tecnología no nos conducen a la felicidad si no van a compañados de un interés genuino en las necesidades humanas y no tiene por objetivo el bienestar de las personas sino que se limita a obtener ganancias sin considerar los costos.
Pienso que la réplica al movimiento Arts and Craft, 150 años después de su surgmiento, está en las acciones que nos llevan a perder un poco de comfort para redescubrir nuestro mundo y la forma en que funciona, todo aquello que nos hace concientes.
Quizás ya no se trate solo de buscar lo bello y lo útil, sino también lo extraño, lo que nos hace pensar y nos abre nuevamente los ojos.
A veces las soluciones son tan simples que por eso no podemos verlas. Reconectarnos con el lugar donde vivimos no requiere más que ganas e imaginación. Pero con esto no me refiero a pensar en las actividades manuales como simples distracciones de la rutina y aliviadoras del etrés, sino como formas de pensar y de centrarse, de tomar conciencia de las acciones y del poder individual. Cada acción, por pequeña que sea, tiene valor, asícomo cada pincelada deja una marca. El hacer es también una forma de reflexionar.
No se trata de hacerlo bien, sino de hacerlo.
Usar las manos debería transformarse en constumbre diaria y necesaria, no como una forma de dejar de pensar sino como una manera sensible de reflexionar.
Los invito a animarse a dejar por un rato todos los prejuicios de lado y a realizar tareas simples cuyo único objetivo sea disfrutar del tiempo sin apuro y del placer de hacerlo sin pensar en el resultado.
There was a specific issue that led to the devaluation of the Arts and Crafts movement and it was the idea that it was a retrograde and medievalist current that simply looked at the past and romanticized it without appreciating the wonders of modernization.
Morris indeed rejected in his practices the use of the technology of his time advocating for a return to activities as they had been known in medieval times as a way to regain a bond with the past (the craft) that risked being lost forever.
Thus one of the initiatives in the midst of the Industrial Revolution was to set up a manual textile stamping workshop with hand-carved wooden blocks. The result was the production of beautiful and costly fabrics due to the work required.
But although an initiative like this failed to meet all the points of the program that had been imposed (one of them was that the products had to be accessible to the working class) today it has enormous value as a testimony of trade and also the effort to try to understand, in a physical way (and not only intellectual) how life had been in the past to find solutions to problems of the future.
This point is of great relevance today as its prognosis has been fulfilled and much of practical knowledge has been lost and traditional crafts are disappearing, which represents not only an invaluable loss for society but also the annulment of traditions and identity.
Thus we could know that to return to the technologies of the past was not the true solution but that being able to understand how the things we use are made helps us to leave the alienation generated by the industrialized society.
A similar principle was taken by the Art Noveau movement, which has many points in common with Arts and Crafts but, in my opinion, its main feature was of aesthetic character since its unit was based on the creation of a new aesthetic according to their time, while in Arts and Craft the coherence was given by the objectives of social character.
But today we also know that consumerism is not the way and that industrialization and technology do not lead us to happiness if they don't have a genuine interest in human needs and are not aimed at the well-being of people but they rather limit to profits regardless of the costs.
That is why I think that the response to the Arts and Craft movement 150 years after its emergence is in actions that lead us to lose some comfort to rediscover our world and the way it works, everything that makes us aware.
Perhaps it is no longer about just looking for the beautiful and useful, but also the strangeness that makes us think and opens our eyes again.
Sometimes the solutions are so simple that we can not see them. Reconnecting with the place where we live requires nothing more than desire and imagination. But by this, I do not mean to think of manual activities as mere distractions from the routine and relievers of the stress but as ways of thinking and of focusing, of gaining awareness of our actions and our power as individuals.
Every action however small has value, as each brushstroke leaves a mark.
Doing is also a way of reflecting. It is not a question of doing it right, but of doing it. Using the hands should become a daily and necessary action, not as a way to stop thinking but as a way of thinking involving the senses.
I encourage you to leave for a while all prejudices aside and perform simple tasks whose sole purpose is to enjoy the time and the pleasure of doing it without thinking about the results.
Morris indeed rejected in his practices the use of the technology of his time advocating for a return to activities as they had been known in medieval times as a way to regain a bond with the past (the craft) that risked being lost forever.
Thus one of the initiatives in the midst of the Industrial Revolution was to set up a manual textile stamping workshop with hand-carved wooden blocks. The result was the production of beautiful and costly fabrics due to the work required.
But although an initiative like this failed to meet all the points of the program that had been imposed (one of them was that the products had to be accessible to the working class) today it has enormous value as a testimony of trade and also the effort to try to understand, in a physical way (and not only intellectual) how life had been in the past to find solutions to problems of the future.
This point is of great relevance today as its prognosis has been fulfilled and much of practical knowledge has been lost and traditional crafts are disappearing, which represents not only an invaluable loss for society but also the annulment of traditions and identity.
Thus we could know that to return to the technologies of the past was not the true solution but that being able to understand how the things we use are made helps us to leave the alienation generated by the industrialized society.
A similar principle was taken by the Art Noveau movement, which has many points in common with Arts and Crafts but, in my opinion, its main feature was of aesthetic character since its unit was based on the creation of a new aesthetic according to their time, while in Arts and Craft the coherence was given by the objectives of social character.
But today we also know that consumerism is not the way and that industrialization and technology do not lead us to happiness if they don't have a genuine interest in human needs and are not aimed at the well-being of people but they rather limit to profits regardless of the costs.
That is why I think that the response to the Arts and Craft movement 150 years after its emergence is in actions that lead us to lose some comfort to rediscover our world and the way it works, everything that makes us aware.
Perhaps it is no longer about just looking for the beautiful and useful, but also the strangeness that makes us think and opens our eyes again.
Sometimes the solutions are so simple that we can not see them. Reconnecting with the place where we live requires nothing more than desire and imagination. But by this, I do not mean to think of manual activities as mere distractions from the routine and relievers of the stress but as ways of thinking and of focusing, of gaining awareness of our actions and our power as individuals.
Every action however small has value, as each brushstroke leaves a mark.
Doing is also a way of reflecting. It is not a question of doing it right, but of doing it. Using the hands should become a daily and necessary action, not as a way to stop thinking but as a way of thinking involving the senses.
I encourage you to leave for a while all prejudices aside and perform simple tasks whose sole purpose is to enjoy the time and the pleasure of doing it without thinking about the results.
