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Otago Polytechnic

Every minute is precious

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

This project proceeded under the conceptual frames of materiality and the everyday, alongside a methodology I called the project as process. While projects are intended to create change, processes are designed to resist change, so the two operate in unison but with different agendas. A set of rule-bound actions and procedures (the process) can be allowed to proceed potentially indefinitely, all the while generating ideas and observations that can inform the project and move it towards completion. The process governed the production of wheel-thrown ceramic bowls. My plan was to decide on a "perfect" bowl, then repeat it potentially hundreds of times. As the project progressed it was clear there were several avenues of investigation to explore. I have called the project in its entirety Every Minute is Precious - a name co-opted from a piece of writing exchanged for bowls and which encapsulates the contemporary dilemma of wanting to make the most of time but always being anxious that we are too busy to get everything we want done. However, the central project that emerged from the methodology was The Exchange. Each bowl took an hour to make, glaze and document, and I exchanged it for an hour of someone's time. This hour could be measured in several ways, from the participant's hourly pay rate to goods or services for me or someone else that we agreed. Through The Exchange, and the process of negotiating and agreeing the 65 exchanges undertaken, social and cultural values were elicited, economic considerations were central to the process, and political values emerged from the consideration of time.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Fine Arts
Level thesis:degree_level
Masters
Grantor
Otago Polytechnic
Year dc:date.issued
2022

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Rowe, Liz

Subjects

dc:subject × 5

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Language dc:language.iso
en

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:researchbank.ac.nz:10652/5739

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Otago Polytechnic
Base URL
www.researchbank.ac.nz/server/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-27
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Rowe, Liz. Every minute is precious. Masters thesis, Otago Polytechnic, 2022. https://hdl.handle.net/10652/5739