craftspeak

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He began with reference to those who founded the modern idea of a historian as someone with a calling for the truth. Such an historian resists political pressures to produce hard facts on which the truth about the past can be established. Chakrabarty spoke about the Indian historian Jadunath Sarkar who attempted to pursue this kind of vocation in the early 20th century, to a negative response locally and indifference in the home of Empire, England.

Chakrabarty argued that historical relativism is bad for democracy: it provides nothing around which different interests might negotiate their common ground. He defended Sarkar, though he found his idea of history too romantic. In the end, Chakrabarty said that we need to have faith in the ‘craft of history’ as a practice that is open to reasoned skepticism.

For Chakrabarty, the concept of ‘craft’ seems similar to ‘calling’ in that it provides a way of pursuing your vocation for its own sake, rather than political expediency. However, unlike the individualistic notion of priestly vocation, ‘craft’ is collectively managed, whether through guilds or, indeed, history departments.

As scholars of the humanities begin to look for tentative forms of universalism, in response to growing tribal conflicts, might ‘craft’ become a a useful framework for constructing truths. A ‘crafted’ truth has a reliability, but its origin can be traced back to specific practices organised within a collective entity. Can we take this further – a craft of sociology?

The French sociologist Bruno Latour would certainly agree. His books like Laboratory Life all try to uncover the craft work that lies at the root of the manufacture of scientific knowledge. Latour invokes Martin Heidegger, Gedanke ist Handwerk - thinking is craftwork.

The Vera List Centre for Art and Politics in New York is hosting a discussion about craft as a medium for political protest.

Many contemporary artists are using craft as a largely unregulated place of protest where diverse and timely political statements are being made. Presented as part of a series of talks on agency, the panel proposes that crafting, because it is often social and communal, plays a vital role in the public sphere.

The panelists include Liz Collins, Sabrina Gschwandtner, Cat Mazza and Allison Smith. As well as participating in the panel, they have collaborated on a ‘large-scale knit banner’ that will be unveiled during the event. The discussion will be published in Modern Painters.

Political protest is an unlikely avenue for craft to use for profile in the visual arts. It would be interesting to determine if the crafting process itself is considered protest enough, in which case the actual cause selected is merely decoration.

Cricket writer Harsha Bhogle has attributed the success of the Australian team to the humble approach to their craft:

As such, he says, they are more humble than any other team. "Maybe not in terms of behaviour on field or in terms of the way they approach people, but in the way they approach their craft and the way they approach their profession, they’re humble. It’s the way they approach their craft."

Ponting’s Australians: good and humble

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The emphasis has moved from the object to the maker. This is most evident in the cover and its accompanying story. The risk is that it moves into Martha Stewart territory. At the moment, there is enough serious content to resist that. Paul Greenhalgh’s ‘Critics Corner’ raises some weighty issues about the place of craft in the pantheon of art history, though the criticism of craft ideology seems a fairly cheap conservative shot. It would be good to see the magazine feature an alternative line, pointing towards the increased ideological engagement of craft.

Meanwhile, the issue is beautiful to behold. The paper stock has been lovingly chosen. Of particular note is the change to the American Craft logo. It looks disarmingly similar to the Craft Victoria logo, don’t you think?

An article by Andrew Waggoner titled ‘The Colonization of Silence’ discusses the increasing intrusion of manufactured sound into daily life. He argues that silence plays a critical role in our appreciation of the sound environment. Silence is important for what he calls the ‘noiseless recalibration of the soul’.

Here’s what he says about the composer Morton Feldman:

Feldman’s view was equally rich and evocative, colored as it was by his friendship with Cage, though expressed in more workaday terms (he once remarked that like a tailor, he was a craftsman, committed to quality of detail; “the suit fits better” he said.)