Culturescaping presents: proposal for Hampshire College's 45th - June 2015
TINKERING AS TECHNIQUE FOR INNOVATION
Colin Twitchell, fall'78: Senior faculty associate of design & innovation for social change in the School for Interdisciplinary Arts & the founding director of the Hampshire College Lemelson Center.
Tracy Ann Essoglou, PhD sp'79: thinking architect, artist, philosopher, designer & founder of Situation Design, Culturescaping & OffSiteLab. taessoglou@gmail.com /ctwitchell@hampshire.edu
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION
Tinkering exists in all disciplines, practices and mediums. It can be used to describe the continuously inventive adjustments practioners make in virtually any field: seamstress to photoshoot stylist, builder to architect, certainly mechanic and inventor, but also philosopher, designer, technologist, scientist....
Tinkering is made of hunches and born of experience. It is modeling, trial and error selection, but also casting – like a net. It's the willingness to trawl for the unexpected solution; knowing when to look straight, and when to blur, when to go wide angle or zoom, to use one's peripheral vision or go deep. Tinkering consists of finding parts that will best address a requirement or function - material or conceptual - as one moves from the general to the specific, or vice versa. It oscillates between imagination and 'the right tool for the job.' It is a technique of inquiry that launches innovation.
TINKERING AS TECHNIQUE is a uniquely Hampshire workshop created by two former Hampshire students who saw each other across campus, but only met and spoke 35 years later at a recent commencement, and have speaking ever since.
We're inviting HC alums, students, friends & family, to discuss how their hunches led them to tinker, their tinkering led to substance, and their substance to success: personal or profressional; material, mechanical, conceptual, philosophical, literary, visionary, artistic and/or scientific. Our goal is to collect these stories with an archival interest in furthering Hampshire's unique imprint on scholarship and practice. We look forward to facilitating this easy share of ideas and experience on behalf of our remarkable education and community.
As presented in HC Events Schedule:
TINKERING WORKSHOP: A TECHNIQUE FOR INNOVATION
Tinkering can describe the continuously inventive adjustments practitioners make in virtually any field: seamstress to photoshoot stylist, builder to architect, certainly mechanic and inventor, but also philosopher, designer, technologist, scientist. Tinkering is made of hunches and born of experience. It is modeling, trial and error selection, the willingness to trawl for an unexpected solution. It is a technique of inquiry that launches innovation.
Come discuss how your hunches led to tinkering, your tinkering led to substance, and your substance to success; personal or profressional, material, mechanical, conceptual, literary, artistic or scientific.
Colin Twitchell 73F senior faculty associate of design & innovation for social change and founding director of the Hampshire College Lemelson Center.
Tracy Ann Essoglou, PhD 79S thinking architect, artist, philosopher, designer & founder of Situation Design, Culturescaping & OffSiteLab.