The hammer is the protagonist in this lecture where I will show unfinished work and experiments. As an audience you will meet a hammer so enormous that you are forced to cooperate as a collective to be able to maneuver it. You will encounter hammers made of hammer-unlikely materials, and you might also be confronted by some disobedient hammers.

According to archaeological findings, the use of a simple hammer dates to around 3.3 million years ago and might be the oldest tool (Harmand, 2011). Both an important device for gods such as Thor and Hercules, and the symbol of man’s strength and endurance; The hammer is saturated with symbolism to the point of cliché, and yet a well-suited artifact for exploring the human need to shape, create, break and control. How has the hammer shaped the world around us, and how has it shaped us? The evidence of humanity’s impact on the planet is overwhelming as we are immersed in a planetary climate change crisis caused by human made systems and designs. Have we used the hammer too much? What if we stop dividing things into subjects and objects putting ourselves on top with the hammer in our hand, and realize that materials, objects, living creatures and non-living things all have agency and value in and for themselves?

To create a world we want to live in, we need positive, collective imagining. I believe designers and artists can be catalysts in the process, making alternative realities more imaginable through our ability to materialize things that do not yet exist. Yes, art and design are hammers, but let ́s explore and reimagine what kind of hammers this could be.

DIVINE HAMMER is part of the ongoing Artistic Research Phd project HUMAN OBJECT which is an exploration of the interrelation between human and design.

Click here to view the remains of this cancelled presentation on Research Catalogue