The Very Nature of Materiality is an Entanglement

“As with all journeys, ours began with a yearning towards a new horizon of possibilities. We sought to test out new modes and practices of collaborative work, to create forms that would be enriching to us and our communities and participants, and which would set off a generative cycle of extended learning.”

From 2021 to 2024, OK-RM assembled a group of artists, designers, architects, researchers, musicians, and dancers to create new propositions for collective working and making. The very nature of materiality(…), therefore, a report from an archive of research and process work, alongside outcomes in all forms of media that have been edited into this arrangement. The book also features an exploration of alternative forms of design writing which seek to investigate the inner realm of the pursuit of meaning through the project. There are five stages of exploratory research—Enquiries— in which the collaborators pursued a dynamic synthesis of creativity, practice, and communication through the creation of films, performances, publications, poetry, images, sculptures, and musical compositions. Exploring alternative methods of publication and design, it is guided by the principle of ‘orchestration’: the act of creating a single project from the choreography of multiple parts.

The book’s materiality embodies the Enquiries’ working methods of transparency, hybrid combinations, lightness, curiosity, and participation. Printed in silver and constructed as a single, circular object, the reader is invited to engage with the book as an open-ended, non-linear experience, and to become a participant in its spirit of enquiry.

Pages: 296
Dimensions: 110 × 175 mm
Format: Softcover
Language: English
Year: 2024
Publisher: InOtherWords