Submissions are now open! Make a vase for the world
Sharefolder Fantasy is a new exhibition by Australian designer Dale Hardiman and American artist and designer Mark Dineen. This project will be presented at Australia’s largest design fair, Melbourne Design Week, presented by NGV in partnership with Creative Victoria. "We are asking anyone and everyone worldwide to participate by simply making a vase and sharing a photo of it with us", said Dale.
The exhibition dates are 17–27 March, 2022 and submissions close 1 March, 2022. The instructions are as simple:
Step 1: Make a vase
Step 2: Upload a picture of your vase through www.sharefolderfantasy.com along with your contacts and where you are
Step 3: Submissions will be presented on www.sharefolderfantasy.com from March 17, while some vases will go on display in Melbourne for Melbourne Design week 2022.
What is a vase?
A vase is defined as any object that can hold or present another material, this includes car exhausts, letter boxes, an open book, or even a glass of water.
Conceptual intent
This project fights the impulse to create defined, material objects in the well-trodden fashion of artists and designers. Instead, participants are solicited to build uncurated work on their own terms.
At the heart of the project is what Dale and Mark envision as a global scale manufacturing centre composed of, and controlled by, of all the participants in the project. This manufacturing centre is both instantaneously materialised and totally decentralised. It is one that is obedient to the individual instead of the inverse.
It also almost entirely eliminates the need for geographical square footage by prioritising digital communication to connect its stakeholders and distribute its products. In this way, the project’s broadest reach explores the implications of technology, labour, and de-structured hierarchies on domestic expressions of self.
Underpinning the exhibition is a humanistic outlook on the state of the world, in spite of the worst consequences of global marketplaces. Consequences which we have witnessed, but also readily accepted, in the pursuit of more. More stuff, more space, more people, more power, more everything. This project rejects the production standards and instant availability of consumer culture in order to invite expression and radical inclusivity.
FAQs
What can I make it from? Vases can be made from household objects or be as complex as desired. Materials can be found anywhere, from the grass in a park, to the cardboard packaging most items are delivered in. Your vase can represent who you are and where you live.
Could my vase be wrong? No. So long as you have created it and read the instructions, it is correct.
Why be involved? Not only will your work feature in an exhibition for Melbourne Design Week, but you might actually enjoy yourself.
Can I ask for an opinion on what I’ve made? Of course! Email it to sharefolderfantasy@gmail.com
How will the work be exhibited? Online at www.sharefolderfantasy.com and there will also be a physical version of the work in an exhibition at RMIT Design Hub in Melbourne, Australia.
So what’s with the hashtag? Upload photos of your work to social media on March 17 with the hashtag #sharefolderfantasy as a virtual exhibition to take place alongside the physical one.
How long should I work on this project? You can take one minute or one month. It’s your choice.
Mark Dineen is an Assistant Professor of Sculpture in the Department of Art and Art History at Colorado State University. His studio practice explores the plural nature of our material vernacular and its cross sections with craft, manufacturing, and domesticity.
Dale Hardiman is a Melbourne based designer and co-founder of furniture and object brand Dowel Jones and collaborative project Friends & Associates. He also explores the social, ecological and political life of materials and the systems through which they are made and supplied under his own name.
Learn more at sharefolderfantasy.com