Mårten Medbo

Mårten Medbo is a ceramicist who currently holds a position as senior lecturer at Konstfack University of Arts, Craft and Design in Stockholm. When he, as an artistic researcher, defended his dissertation in 2016, he was the first to do so in the subject area Craft in Sweden. This is how he himself describes his research project: It has been more than a decade since the research project presented here began, and just over six years since it ended. It goes without saying that some issues raised in the text have become less relevant over time, while others instead have become more so. Having said this, it can also be stated that the main themes of the thesis are timeless and constantly relevant for the artistic practitioners. The project is an attempt to better understand and describe the craft practice from an inside perspective. In all simplicity, it is about how art's linguistic expressions are created and how these expressions then land in a common realm where they are interpreted. The investigation raises questions like: How can art be understood as a way to communicate, or as a linguistic practice? What role does craft play in artistic creation? How is it determined what is a valid artistic expression or not? Does immaterial art exist?

The ?eld of ‘Craft Sciences’ refers to research conducted across and within di?erent craft subjects and academic contexts. This anthology aims to expose the breadth of topics, source material, methods, perspectives, and results that reside in this ?eld, and to explore what unites the research in such diverse contexts as, for example, the arts, conserva-tion, or vocational craft education. The common thread between each of the chapters in the present book is the augmented attention given to methods—the craft research methods—and to the relationship between the ?eld of inquiry and the ?eld of practice. A common feature is that practice plays an instrumental role in the research found within the chapters, and that the researchers in this publication are also practitioners. The aut-hors are researchers but they are also potters, waiters, carpenters, gardeners, textile artists, boat builders, smiths, building conservators, painting restorers, furniture designers, il-lustrators, and media designers. The researchers contribute from di?erent research ?elds, like craft education, meal sciences, and conservation crafts, and from particular craft subjects, like boat-building and weaving. The main contribution of this book is that it collects together a number of related case studies and presents a re?ection on concepts, perspectives, and methods in the general ?elds of craft research from the point of view of craft practitioners. It adds to the existing academic discussion of crafts through its wider acknowledgement of craftsmanship and extends its borders and its discourse outside the arts and crafts context. This book provides a platform from which to develop context-appropriate research strategies and to associate with the Craft Sciences beyond the bor-ders of faculties and disciplines.