Ingenious and ingenuous: the crutchpade

1. crutch: a long stick with a crosspiece at the top, used as a support under the armpit by a lame person.
   • [in sing. ] figurative a thing used for support or reassurance : they use the Internet as a crutch for their loneliness. 
2. spade: a tool with a sharp-edged, typically rectangular, metal blade and a long handle, used for digging or cutting earth, sand, turf, etc.
3. Call a spade a spade. 

image from the Archipov collection: will be removed on request

Ingenious and ingenuous: Improvised technology

Ingenious and ingenuous are often confused. Ingenious means 'clever, skillful, resourceful' (: an ingenious device), while ingenuous means 'artless, frank' (: charmed by the ingenuous honesty of the child).
The improvised technology is often frank and has a rather brutal visual attraction. At the same time these objects are clever and resourceful.
The Kevin Kelly blog showed me the way to something truly remarkable: a collection of improvised technology from Russia. These objects combine function with poetry. material poverty with invention.

http://folkarsenal.artinfo.ru/map/r56.htm  (for the collection of Vladimir Archipov. in russian only) http://www.kk.org/streetuse/archives/2006/09/soviet_improvised_household_ar.php (Kevin Kelly blog)

Soviet Improvised Household Articles

This stunning gallery of improvised household objects from the Soviet Union. Many are utilitarian, but many others are decorative, toys, or personal artistic expressions.
These were all collected by a young Russian, Vladimir Archipov. His found objects were produced in the last twenty years and were made in Russia at a time when manufactured items were very hard to get, yet the aspirations for them were growing. The collection began when Archipov found a coat-rack made by his grandfather out of heated and bent toothbrushes. He then saw for the first time the true nature of handmade objects and their lovely beauty. He started collecting stuff from his relatives and friends and then friends of friends. He writes: "There are over a thousand items in my collection today, and they all have three characteristics in common; functionality, a visual uniqueness and the testimony of the author, who is both the creator and the user. They represent an astonishing part of modern folk material culture.

These objects were part of an exercise in translating pictures of 'things' into 'signs' bearers of meaning. Will be explained and illustrated in a future article.

Trailer Park by choice: Constructam Comet 5

One of the sillier, but ever so rewarding projects, this year and the next, is the garden/bush/trailer combination I happened to chance upon in january. The idea is to put a small caravan in a bushy plot near the railroad and spend some time there during summer. The whole venture is about 15 minutes from home and 5 minutes from work. I will be blogging about this project in the future as it develops.
The purchase of a vintage caravan - A 1975 Constructam Comet 5 - was the first move. Dutch speaking citizens will enjoy the phrasing: 'zeer practisch ingedeelde gezinswagen................'

Fuck You Skeleton

My son hurt his finger badly during a rugby game. We had to X-Ray his finger to check on fractures: The result is this picture I was glad to label : the 'Fuck You Skeleton'. The negative (25 by 20 cm.) now  rests in a standing lamp combination with a predictable dimming effect. ( only for the already illuminated amongst us :-))
copyright: photography@swad.be

What 's a heliograph?

A heliogram is the message sent by a heliograph. But what is a Heliograph?
The Heliograph was a simple but highly effective instrument for instantaneous optical communication over 50 miles or more in the 19th century. Its major uses were for military and survey work. It was still in serious use at least up to 1935, for example by Glubb Pasha's Arab Legion in Palestine.

The heliograph sent its signals by reflecting sunlight towards the intended recipient with a mirror or mirrors, the beam being keyed on and off with a shutter or a tilting mirror, allowing Morse code to be sent. Heliographs were used by the armies of several countries during the late 1800's; they were highly popular with British forces in India because of the dependable sunlight.

The classic heliograph is the Mance pattern, devised by Sir Henry Mance at Bombay in 1869. See illustration below.

       
illustration 1: A British Mark V Mance pattern 5-inch heliograph. The operating key is behind the mirror.

illustration above: The working parts of a Mance pattern heliograph.

The heliograph had some powerful advantages. It allowed long-distance communication with no fixed infrastructure. It was highly portable, required no power source, and was relatively secure in that it was invisible if you were not close to the axis of operation.

On the minus side, the heliograph was obviously vulnerable to bad weather, and the mirrors were fragile.
(the article above is an edit from http://www.dself.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/COMMS/heliograph/heliograph.htm from 'The museum of retrotechnology'  A wonderful storeroom of technology and ideas. The article was placed without permission and will be removed on simple demand)

A farewell to arms.........

 

    copyright: photography@swad.be

Moving out.........

The photography department of KASK, Gent moved out of their dwellings in january 2010. I took this photograph on my last working day on the work floor. Attempts at 'high art' on the wall seem to be contradicted by the maintenance cart. The cart wages war on filth and dust. The drawings aspire to survive. Anyway it's a goodbye of sorts to the building that nurtured artists from about 1760.
more on history of KASK: http://www.kask.be/index.php?/english/

Food for thought: the Ambush

The most innocent of activities seems tinged with the possibility of ambush