This practice-led project explores the idea of in-betweenness through the physical
and metaphorical aspects of glass. The starting point of the research is that glass, as
an artistic medium, when examined with a focus on materiality and the making
process on both physical and metaphoric levels, can be compared to the idea of
cultural in-betweenness. My aim is to provide metaphoric and theoretical analogies
that contribute to an understanding of in-betweenness.
To examine the mechanisms of in-betweenness, this research integrates literature
review with studio practice and object analysis to interpret the material and process
of making objects in both literal and metaphorical dimensions. Historical glass
artefacts are analysed to explore the idea of a trans-culture embedded in glass
exchange between East Asia and Western Europe during the early modern period
(roughly sixteenth to nineteenth centuries) and in practice today. Building on the preexisting
scholarly analysis of objects from disciplines including anthropology, art
history and archaeology, I experimented with glass and creative process in the
studio to provide a fresh analysis based on the materiality of glass and the making
process.
Findings achieved through the conceptual and practical research reveal parallels
between the idea of cultural in-betweenness and the materiality of glass. The
analogies drawn from my studio practice and theoretical research for understanding
the mechanisms of in-betweenness include:
- In-betweenness is a fluid concept that is in a transitional state: the state of
‘becoming’.
- In-betweenness is a gradual yet disruptive action that breaks the order of things.
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- In-betweenness is a process of partial or selective abstraction to the extent where
the awareness of origin remains whilst ambiguity is also present.
- In-betweenness can be achieved through a mixture of control and chance. It is
deliberate creation with an element of chance while some amount of control is
maintained.