SIX BY SIX: 6 x 6 Exhibition
“Design is relationships.”
You are invited to a reception for design exhibit Paul has been asked to curate called “six by six: 6x6.”
Wednesday, Feb 3
7:00-9:00
at Covenant College, in the gallery which can be found on the second floor of the library building, Anna Emma Kresge Memorial Library.
There will be a public conversation about the show starting 8:00.
I if you plan to join us, please RSVP to Paul: info@widgetsandstone.com
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ABOUT SIX BY SIX: 6x6
“In social life, networks are communicative structures,” suggest Emanuel Castells. From his 2009 essay, Communication Power, Castells asserts how, as a set of interwoven nodes, “networks are the patterns of contact that are created by a flow of messages.” These messages of communication take place between “social actors” who foster their own values and interests with other “social actors”. In today’s climate of artistic production and design, we cannot overlook the importance of this flow of information and creativity that enables artists, designers, and architects to share and distribute information and ideas. Ultimately this network of people, technology, and ideas shape our cultural environment.
The exhibit, six times six: 6x6 is based loosely on the theory that any other person, through a chain of acquaintances, can be connected (networked) with another person in six or fewer steps away. With design as it’s nexus, 6x6 is not really an exhibition about design. Centered in Chattanooga, 6x6 is not really about Chattanooga. Initiated by Chattanooga designer Paul Rustand (a designer, and the hub of 6x6), the project asks each of its participants to think of their work as a part of a continuum of form, values, and ideas. Yet while the exhibition features a range of artifacts (some more overtly designed, some less so), 6x6 is not about the things we make or their value in the world.
Instead, the exhibition asks its participants to think about their work in the context of people and their relationships. Rather than a selection based on a particular work or project; participants were invited entirely as the result of the creative relationships formed around their work (design or otherwise), and sustained through the kind of respect and trust that can only be forged over time. Participants in 6x6 are collaborators, mentors, teachers, and students—all of whom, in some way, have had a profound and lasting impact on one another as their network of of support and influence continually expands. Collectively, the exhibition models the rich, complex, and multifaceted relationships that we cultivate as artists, designers, and professionals, and the vital role that those relationships play in shaping our visual culture.