Portraits, Cartwheels, Drumsticks, and Spikes

24.08.2016

Portraits, Cartwheels, Drumsticks, and Spikes

Teresa Dillon and Lydia Goolia

Teresa Dillon, who curated the stream focused on making and maker cultures at transmediale/conversationpiece, collaborated with photographer Lydia Goolia to document the events of her stream. With the title “Hands of the Makers,” the format of the visual essay reflects the tactile and hands-on aspects of participation.

 

As the curator of the Anxious to Make stream for transmediale 2016, part of my brief was to write a report on its outcomes or key highlights. Somehow a written report did not feel appropriate to a stream that dealt with making and aimed from the beginning to keep hold of the practitioners’ and artists’ viewpoints. Additionally reports tend to quantify outcomes and bring with them a set of assumptions and markers, which I was keen to avoid.

It was for this reason that I chose to write a short reflection and also invite photographer Lydia Goolia to collaborate on a photo essay—a standalone visual documentation of the people who participated in the stream.

Shot on location during the festival period (2-7 February 2016), the images use the architectural specificities of the HKW and raumlaborberlin’s exhibition design as a background to a collection of portraits and images, capturing the characters, objects, and humor of the stream participants.

As a visual essay reflecting on the stream it places emphasis on the participants’ tools, materials, and hands—the objects, sounds, code, paper, hardware, wood, wires, music, and physical bodies that bend, shape, and create.

 

A selection of five images can be seen here, but the full set is best viewed at: lydiagoolia.de/stories/photoessay-anxious-to-make

Alison Powellin front of the HKW, academic and activist, photographed by Lydia Goolia

 

Jussi Ängeslevä at HKW, designer, artist, and educator, photographes by Lydia Goolia

 

Liat Berdugo at transmediale/covnersationpiece, artist, writer, and curator, photographed by Lydia Goolia

 

Tomi Leppanen at the HKW foyer, musician and designer, photographed by Lydia Goolia

 

Matthias Tarasiewicz, curator, researcher, and developer, photographed by Lydia Goolia

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