I spent a really pleasant hour at the Quilts 1700 – 2010 exhibition yesterday, which showcases a wide range of quilts, some of historical significance, others more utilitarian and reflective of a more frugal past, and yet others making striking artistic statements with a strong sociological message from the present day.  The exhibition, which is part sponsored by Coats, lasts until 4 July 2010 and is well worth a visit.  This is the second time this year I’ve visited the V & A, my last visit taking in the Decode Digital Designs showcase, subject of a previous blogpost.  In many ways, the ability to host both the traditional art of quilting and  the leading edge of digital design so effectively shows the diversity of the V & A. Interestingly, though it might seem on the surface that digital design and quilting must be poles apart, there is a similarity in my eyes between them.  The aggregation of tiny pieces of material and stitching in repeating patterns to form an overall effect where we have to concentrate to home in on the building blocks, reminds me of how different pixels make up screens, where again the eye takes in the overall picture.  Take a look at this traditional pieced quilt from the American Folk Art Museum for example, or some stunning later work from Paula Nadelstern.  I do recall when I lived in New York State some years ago that quilting and crafting generally were far more to the fore in Department stores than they were in the UK at the time (mid 80s) and in many homes I visited, a sewing machine seemed to be set up and part of the living room just as a norm.  I took advantage of that and bought a fair bit of specialist equipment for doing this stuff myself one day, if I ever have time.  OK, I may not get FU money, but I certainly have an FU hobby, as you can do this stuff very cheaply using tiny pieces of leftover material [unlike the more expensive pre-cut packs in the museum shop!]

“I can create ‘behaviour’” says Golan Levin, one of the exhibitors at Decode: Digital Design Sensations, an exhibition running at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London until April 11. The exhibition,  a joint collaboration between the V&A and onedotzero showcases the latest developments in digital and interactive design, from small screen based graphics to large-scale installations. Levin’s comment was made in an interview (transcript available in Decode’s accompanying programme) in response to the question, “What do digital technologies allow you to do or investigate that other design tools do not?”. For me, it really gets to the heart of the three themes of the exhibition:

Code as a raw material

interactivity

the network (as in digital traces)

As I walked around the exhibition, it was clear that people were fascinated by the exhibits, excited, laughing, talking to people they didn’t know already…..maybe not new behaviours in one sense, but fairly untypical of formal art exhibitions. And certainly, they were forging new connections, maybe developing new links outside their existing sphere of influence.  These kind of interactions and connections across contexts can be be the spark that ignites innovation – maybe a small, incremental innovation, or maybe something big enough to change a market, society or the world – who knows? That’s the beauty of complexity theory, which underpins much of my research, potentially large effects from small changes in initial conditions.  That is why it is so vital to fund the leading edge artists and groups who are able to to challenge us in ways that make us think and indeed behave differently – especially in the Digital Economy, as I know from my own work with Proboscis*.  Of course it is difficult to quantify that kind of contribution in straitened times, but we can and must do so.

In one of those quirks of timing, I came home to the fervour for the newly-launched  iPad on twitter.  My colleague Tim Greenhalgh suggests that the iPad will form a nexus between the liberal arts and the network and will change everything.  Whether that device is ‘the gamechanger’ or not, it’s pretty clear that the power to create content, move it around, enjoy it, in all kinds of ways is now out of the lab and into the hands of the public.  Let’s make sure our creative artists have the space they need to make that happen, as Levin suggests, through creating new behaviours.  And as  a researcher in innovation, I want to focus on value creation as new products, service and indeed behaviours emerge.

Footnote

If that last paragraph was about networking and interactivity, where does code as a raw material come in? Perhaps best illustrated by example.  In all the joie de vivre, beauty and colour of yesterday’s exhibition, I was perhaps most taken by a quieter work by Troika, Digital Zoetrope. I do see a lot of beautiful images as I love space stuff, Hubble, NASA and so on.  I love the different renderings.  I also look at fractals a lot, and i have seen interactive installations before.  A fabulous excess!  Troika is diferent, a monochromatic barrel with vertical, horizontal and diagonal typefaces rotating quickly, which merge into letters and words at speed.  It reminded me of Wender’s black and white masterpiece Wings of Desire, where Angels hear sense from the whispered thoughts of thousands in Berlin.  It made me think of two new friends I have made on twitter in the North of England.  It made me think we have joked of having a dvd film festival weekend of German, or film noir, together at some point.  It made me think I should do it soon.  Now, I may be giving an invited talk for one of them, a lecturer in the Performing Arts in early February.  Who knows what may come of that?

*makers of mischief, and pioneers of pie in the sky