Research Centre
Art and Design Research Centre

Date
2013

Unpacking objects

Fascinated by the way social life is embedded in material form, Becky Shaw has focused on ‘unpacking’ objects. An example of this is the work Getting Real, in which she responded to the course Forensic Engineering at Sheffield Hallam University. Students were analysing a broken vodka bottle mould to identify why it had broken. She worked with staff at the University to copy the object using rapid prototyping technology. The copy was no longer ‘broken’, but it was flawed through errors in its replication process – leading to a reflection on where the ‘interior content’ of an object is situated.

The experience of making this work led her to begin the work The Inlaid Table, in which she is ‘unpacking’ a table inlaid with over five hundred samples of marble.

Researchers involved

Dr Becky Shaw - Post Graduate Research Tutor in Art and Design

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