Material Memories

Exploring the ethics and stories of objects using photogrammetry.

Background

From the tangible to the digital. Using research-creation, ethnography, and photogrammetry, this exhibition reflects the ethics and stories of objects that reveal the power of material memories. The objects each carry embodied and ranging meanings. These meanings evoke connections of the materiality to concepts of family, tradition, change, freedom, female connection, friendship, gift, love, culture, effort, utility, and grief. This exhibition captures the complexity and ethics of making things digital and exploring how objects become things as they move through our everyday lives.

The poems and concepts reflect their value to the makers and the unique biographies of objects. You are invited to find your own connections to the social lives of things.

Visit the Material Memories page on the CE2 Lab website.

Details

Project Status: Complete

Type of Project: Teaching + Learning

Timeline: January – April 2024

  • Two people are seated in a dark room with colorful lights, veiwing a large video wall. On the screen is a 3D model of a piece of Star Anise.

    Dr. Fiona McDonald and a student on showcase day.

Objective

The goal of this project was to introduce advanced digital practices and workflows to Anthropology students while learning about the intricacies of object meaning and ownership. Throughout the course, students learned how photogrammetry can be used to produce 3d models. The course culminated in a public curated exhibition.

Students learned about the materiality of things, essential photography (including image capture and editing), as well as advanced 3D model reconstruction. Additionally, students wrote and performed poems, recording them for playback in the exhibition.

Students will leave the class having applied anthropological thinking to highly technical processes.

Team

Principal Investigator: Dr. Fiona P. McDonald, Assistant Professor, Department of Community, Culture, and Global Studies, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

Students:

Allison Barr, Cooper Bennett, Connor Benson, Lindsay Cann, Maya Chavez, Derek Chin, Isabella Coppola-Gibson, Amanda Curatolo, Romeer Dwivedi, Grace Fox, Jennifer Gideon, Khushi Jain, Kai Johnson, Hallie Krauss, Luna Li, Nina Lloyd, Angeliki-Iliana Louloudi, Kieran Marshall, Taya McCartney, Fiona McDonald, Hannah Patterson, Chris Polacco, Jessica Rowley, Avery Shtykalo, Abigail Sitler, Sydney Sovde, Mackenzie Stasz, Aja Sy, Joel Thiessen, Jordin Trueman, Makenzie Wellerdt, Christian Zenteno Tenorio

Staff:

  • Matthew Radar, Associate Professor, Creative Studies, Critical Writing
  • Joel Thiessen, Senior Emerging & Digital Media Specialist
  • Taylor Wilson, Digital Media Specialist & Production Assistant