According to Gilbert Simondon, our relationship with techne takes on two opposing statuses: that of the majority and that of the minority. The minority status, which we acquire through the experience of the object from a very young age, constructs our tacit understanding of the technical world. As an adult, it confronts rational and scientific analysis to achieve the majority status. However, the construction of a complete technical culture for the individual (and by extension in society) requires perfect harmony between these two statuses. This is one of the objectives that the DES2650: Design & Manufacturing course aims to explore.
Mechanical dissection, or the act of dismantling an object to understand how it works, is a method for building this link. It is one of the exercises given to students as part of the course: disassemble a chosen object, organize a logical breakdown, name the parts or sets of parts explicitly then describe the probable materials and manufacturing processes used to make them alightened from the knowledge acquired during the course.
The posters exhibited here represent part of this research carried out by groups of five students in 2022 and 2023.