digital relics: embedded media charms
a one-day workshop designing a clay relic of remembrance, study charms from different cultures, view the herder’s symbol dictionary, and embed a website into your sculpture.
we will read from the herder’s symbol dictionary to design a small sculptural charm that houses an nfc chip. nfc tags allow you to embed a url into a physical object. you will not only learn a new technical skill, but you will also receive a document about the art history of memorial relics and symbolic artifacts spanning european, asian, and slavic nations, each chosen for its hybrid role as a physical object that also encodes memory, lineage, devotion, or protection in symbolic form.
some examples include chinese spirit tablets, korean jesa ritual objects, celtic ogham stones, european hairwork jewelry, viking rune stones, and baltic region sun crosses. we will use the herder symbol dictionary to further disassemble relic designs and their meaning.
there will be snacks, drinks, and calm music. bring a friend!
learning outcomes:
- create a small symbolic charm inspired by historical relics and cultural symbolism
- embed and program an nfc tag to link digital content to a physical object
- gain a concise understanding of memorial artifacts across european, asian, and slavic traditions and their symbolic functions
agenda:
- 7:00 – history of historical relics and cultural symbolism
- 7:45 – craft charms and program nfc tag
- 9:00 – share and tell stories of meaning behind our designs
required materials:
a sketchbook if you have one
alexa ann bonomo makes net art, sculptures with embedded digital media, short film, real-time live performance visuals, creative writing, and other community-driven projects. she focuses on processes surrounding craftsmanship, the handmade, and laborious data collection and archiving methods like 3d scanning artifacts.
some of her work has been exhibited and presented in le cube garges in paris, centre de cultura contemporània in barcelona, montreal conference centre in montreal, and the exploratorium and gray area in san francisco. alexa teaches at the university of san francisco, is the curator of underneath.study, a wayfaring learning + arts collective, and researches motion capture for performance-based art in the world engines lab.
❧ mosscorpus