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The workshop series at MAVI finished with a day-long session looking at the various elements in putting together a craft exhibition. I was quite surprised by the experimental approach that was taken by participants. We had three quite basic tables to work with. One group started piling other furniture on top.	DSCF4335

Another used one of the group herself as the plinth on which to display objects. And the last group infiltrated the stairs with stolen objects accessible via the adjacent lift.

Craft in Chile has the potential not only to present objects of great interest but also to animate them with stories and a little local attitude.

I learned a great deal from the participants. I’m quite amazed at the breadth of projects they are involved in. It was quite a privilege to work with them and I hope there can something that comes of this. Certainly for the World of Small Things exhibition and discussions around the Code of Practice for Craft-Design Collaborations.

Conversation on the sidelines continued about the strangeness of bringing something artisanal into the gallery. It was obvious that the works were strangers to this environment. The challenge ahead is to see what happens when someone starts knocking on the door of the exhibition committee. Perhaps someone might start a gallery themselves..

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It was a relief to see with the second day of the workshop another good crowd. There does seem to be an interest here in doing something more with craft. I wonder sometimes whether coming from a foreign culture like Australia I am in danger of contaminating a more traditional craft scene such as in Chile. I come with a more academic approach to the idea of craft which can potentially alienate the artisans themselves.

But sometimes it’s good to stir things up. Paula Magazine recently rang a short piece about Justo Pastor Mellado, an important Chilean curator – gatekeeper – of visual arts. He makes all the right noises – against consumerism, fashion, conservatism, etc.  But there’s a sense of righteousness behind this as well. As though, ‘What can you expect from the world?’ Maybe this sentiment comes more from the journalist that the curator. But it leads to a kind of defeatism, as though the forces of evil will always find their way, no matter how straight the path. It’s a hard, critical, view of life, but it also justifies a kind of disengagement too. Why bother?

Perhaps that is a bigger challenge than getting craft into art galleries. The task is to find an door that is open, not just for the language of materials spoken by lowly artisans, for anything. From this distance, Barack Obama’s ‘audacity of hope’ seems a slick marketing phrase, following the yellow brick road of the American dream that has lead the world to the present abyss. But, on the other hand, maybe a little bit of hope isn’t such a bad thing. Like salt, in small proportions it enhances the flavour of things. But too much of it becomes poisonous.

Working with organisations like Raiz Diseño and ONA, I can see that there’s salt on the table. Today I also learned about the marvelous Mapuche craft promoted by the Chilean version of World Vision (funded by Australia). Chile is certainly a country filled with possibility.

Anyhow, tomorrow is the workshop when we get so see how craft as a ‘yoga for the mind’ is translated into authentic Chileno. Perhaps we can pick the lock.

I am in Santiago for a little while presenting a series of lectures and workshops on the theme of ‘craft as art’. The presentation is organised by Raiz Diseno and supported by ONA in partnership with MAVI.

The series basically involves outlining the practice of ‘contemporary craft’ as practiced in countries like Australia, and seeing how it might apply to Chile. There are many obstacles in this direction. ‘Artesanías’ is an inexact translation of ‘craft’. While craft is a largely middle class activity in Australia, in Chile artisans have quite a low status, despite their importance for national identity. But in Chile at this point in time, there seems to be so many people are wanting to open up the space between the gallery and the shop. It seems worth a try.

There was a great audience for the first lecture last night. The question of the lecture was the relationship between art, design and craft. It seemed useful to have a reasonable simple model of art to begin with, so I based the argument around a ‘yoga for the mind’.

The progress was steady and the mixture of Spanish-English-Spanglish gave us time to digest some of the strange practices on the other side of the Pacific. After two hours, the audience was still engaged and took the opportunity for some quite spirited discussion. As often happens, much of the passion evoked was about the barriers separating craft off from the centres of power. It helped greatly having this event in a visual art gallery, as it provided a good sign that opportunities exist, if we know how to ask for them.

It’s a reasonably clear day in Santiago. The smog is a thin veil, behind which you can just make out the Andes. And from MAVI, we can just glimpse the kind of creative expressions that craft might be able to achieve in a gallery.