Transformations: analyzing immateriality
The characterization of these seven objects has allowed us to know their “biographies”. In some cases it has allowed to reflect on the importance for their owners, in others it has shown the different connections formed from the object itself with different people related to it, also some have been re-signified or retained their significance despite the passage of time, as well as some have seen their social life built from this exercise when previously they were only considered a commodity. In this third section of analysis we will talk about the research process carried out in the case studies, the transformation that was made to the objects and the consequences that this type of digitization generates in their meanings.
In order to study the effects that digital transformation has on the social life of objects, in this research it was decided to form a collection of objects found in my home belonging to my maternal and paternal family. At the beginning, no pattern was followed when selecting the objects for the collection: I started looking for those that had accompanied the family for the longest time when remembering my childhood, such as the root and Uncle Ever’s paintings, those that had interesting or aesthetically more attractive shapes such as the teapot and grandfather Miguel’s mechanical calculator. To this is added another factor when I start the first case study, the Owl of my maternal grandmother, and I realize all the stories that converge in this single object. It was from the work done with this piece that I began to search for stories as I searched for objects. In searching for those stories I have heard throughout my life about my maternal family and the objects that best represent them, the mate was chosen. An object that represented a trip my grandmother took and the time she lived in Argentina. On the other hand, there is the souvenir from Italy that was given to my father and represents his life as a teacher.
Once the collection was defined and the study of each piece was carried out, several narrative lines began to form, connecting the different objects and their stories. The first line of connection found is made up of different keywords related to the objects; these are: memory, legacy, inheritance, tradition and symbol. All these keywords refer to the transmission of knowledge from one generation to another. This could be tied to the concept of cultural sustainability. Soini and Birkeland (2013) consider culture as a fourth pillar of sustainability, which can be analyzed along narrative lines, among which is cultural heritage. This narrative line understands culture as cumulative in temporal terms and local in spatial terms; Soini and Birkeland (2013) explain that cultural heritage is usually seen as a source of identity connected to a local sense. Focusing this analysis on the objects and the “biographies” that each possesses, it is seen how these stories are cumulative in generational terms as it focuses on the histories of the two families and narrates how they have experienced cultural and political phenomena, such as the violence of 1948. They are also related in local terms by the way in which the journeys of both families to Cali have been reconstructed, but in addition to being physical representations of these cultural accumulations, the objects help to sediment and be a trace that marks these events experienced by individuals.
The second line of connection found between the different objects and their “biographies” is centered on the gift theory, since several of these were given as gifts to their owners or at the end of this exercise ended up becoming one. As has already been cited several times during this paper, this theory stipulated by Marcel Mauss (2009) explores how the exchange of objects can create and maintain social, affective and symbolic relationships between people and communities. Lévi-Strauss also comments that, “What provides the value to the object is the relation to another.” (Lévi-Strauss, 1981). From this exercise the relationships between family members were strengthened, by remembering moments, anecdotes and people who are no longer with us. For example, in the case of the Root, it ended up being filled with meaning because it now carries the memories of the grandfather’s work and the relationship we had with him.
As mentioned at the beginning, this research arose from the doubts and effects that the digital transformation of recent years has had on the social life of objects. In the case study section we have presented images of each of the objects studied, these images are the result of their digitization by means of photogrammetry.
This technique is carried out by taking the objects and photographing their surface, then these images are processed to correct their colors and make white balance, later they are uploaded to the RealityCapture program to reconstruct the 3D model that is then edited and worked on for later use. The results of this process are faithful 3D reconstructions of the objects, with as many topographic details as possible. In some cases modifications were made due to the limitations of this technology in different materials, for example in the Teapot, the plastic handle on the top had to be removed because artifacts were seen in the reconstruction. These artifacts arise from surfaces without enough details, something recurrent in objects with plastic and that is why it had to be removed, the same happened with the bombilla of the Mate, which is what is used to drink it and is made of metal. In other cases, parts of the objects that were not reconstructed in their entirety had to be removed and remade, as was the case with the base of the Owl, the Root and the Calculator.
In addition to this digitization, these objects were transformed, being used as the basis for other pieces that have been presented throughout the reflections section. These transformations were carried out by joining the objects and their “biographies”, with the intention of making visible in some cases their stories and in others their meanings. Starting with the Owl, the intention was to represent the totem following what my grandmother and my mother told me in the interview about how this totem is something that the group creates for its member and that it is something that the guides must learn to accept and by which they are then identified.
Based on their story and especially on the key word “strange”, which was a feeling encountered when the totem is assigned, I started to take different visual references, such as nature, which is main for the guide camps, as well as the night which is the time when the ceremony takes place. In this way a scene was created in Unreal Engine, using different 3D models part of his collection and the scene seen in the image was created.
This procedure in the artistic transformation was replicated for each of the objects with their respective variations. These variations depended on the “biographies”, the keywords and the software that best suited the realization of the piece. For example, for the case of the second object, instead of representing a key moment in the history of the object, it was decided to imagine the intention behind the artisan hiring my grandfather and what would have happened if in the end the Root sculpture ended up as a famous work of art; thus, expanding and emphasizing that memory and possible meaning it had for the artisan who sought to gain more recognition by publicizing his art. For this case, instead of using Unreal Engine, Blender was used and a greater interpretative freedom was given.
Continuing with the artistic transformations, there were cases in which the intention was to represent actions carried out with the objects, as in the cases of the Teapot, the Mate and the Painting. Thus, the objects were shown fulfilling the function for which they were made even though this was not presented, as in the case of the Teapot and the Mate, objects that directly became decorative because of their aesthetics or because of the memories, ties and places they represent. On the other hand, the painting that was forgotten for a while and relegated to an attic is represented as being used again as decoration despite its damage and the passage of time.
Similarly, there were cases where it was decided to represent individuals and specific moments in the stories of these objects. For example, in the case of the Mate, a 3D representation of its owner using it was made, even though that moment never happened. The same happens with the souvenir from Italy; in this case we sought to represent the key moment in which the object was given and passed from one hand to another, but in this case we did not emphasize the individuals represented in 3D and we did not seek to represent their owners. In this line of wanting to represent their owners and individuals interacting with the object in the recreations, we arrived at the Calculator. The transformation that was sought with this object originally followed the pattern of showing its owner using it. In this way we began to imagine a representation of my grandfather’s workspace, following what my father told me. As the biography of this object took shape, it was decided to leave the desk chair empty, representing the emptiness left by this person.
Finally, in this section we have exposed the two narrative lines that have been found in the study of this small collection. On the one hand, the transmission of knowledge through memories and on the other, the way in which they reached their owners in the gift. This has allowed us to better characterize the relationship between the objects and the family, focusing on the social context in which they have lived and how it is represented in this collection. Likewise, the digitization process carried out with the objects was explained, first by capturing as many of their physical characteristics as possible, and then, based on these 3D reconstructions, artistic exploration continued in order to stage interpretations of these stories.
