#2 - On making boomerangs

This was the first session we would create a product with our hands - we met in Mitte at the Cluster of Excellence "Matters of Activity", Sophienstr. 22a, where Maxime gave us a short introduction about the place and his work there. Special about the MoA Cluster is a history of interaction between design, humanities and natural sciences, which you could recognize in the style of the working and workshop areas there.

We started with a reading discussion about Gretchen Anna Bakke, and Marina Peterson (2018):  eds. Between Matter and Method: Encounters in Anthropology and Art / Edited by Gretchen Bakke and Marina Peterson and shared different perspectives on thinking about “the arts rather then the art” and “many worlds in one world”. Secondly, we talked about Tim Ingold’s introduction of Correspondences (2020) where some were inspired by his practical approach to recognising ideas in a creating process: „What if the idea were the shake, rather than the pattern that results from it?“ (S. 2). During the discussion Maxime was reminded of “Art as an Experience” by John Dewey.

After a break, the hands-on-part in a full equipped workshop began:

Maxime was guiding us through the steps of making boomerangs - just like his father did years ago. Surprisingly the whole process would require intensive interactions with loud and powerful machines such as a jigsaw or grinding machine. During the discussion before, Maxime also talked about the history of boomerangs as there were made by Australian aborigines and similar throwing objects were used for hunting (note: boomerang is and was always designating the game, not the actual hunting weapons, which didn’t come back on their own). In our appropriation of this technique, quite everything seemed different: We worked in a room full of machines such as 3D printer in a large building in the middle of Berlin expecting to produce with the intention to play with the boomerangs afterwards. Because of the noisiness of the machines the interactions of the people were reduced to hands, eyes and observations of the producer.

Step 1)

• cutting out a specific boomerang form in layered wood

• the form was drawn around the prototype from Maxime’s childhood

• teaching and learning through showing movements and imitating

  

Some people were feeling restrained by the jigsaw. It was more trying and feeling with the hands and fingers because of the noise of the machines - noise as an actor, multisensorial machines: Finding or learning a way to make a curve with the saw - How to guide the saw?

Step 2)

• Round of the edges of the wood in a specific form to make it flyable

• The form needs to dive into the air but also to be sleek and carried by the wind

• Finalizing: smooth and supple with

  sandpaper

First analytical thoughts:

Questioning about: What do anthropologists do with their hands?

How to learn with hands.

Aspects developed while arranging cropped images with a focus on hands:

• showed different uses of hands or fingers

• observing cultural techniques of using tools

• positions, describing practices

• hands for using tools

• hands for teaching

• hands for learning

• hands for gesturing, communicating

• collaboration of hands and eyes