Tinkering and Hacking with Objects in the Art Classroom

Although attempts are currently being made to understand the connections and differences between art and design education (Zwirn & Zande, 2015), there is little reflection on a key problematic that binds them together: the relationship between form and function. In this article, authors Tyson Lewis and James Thurman briefly share a three-part assignment that they developed to help studio art students (and teachers!) at their research university reflect on the nature of form and function. First, they outline how they utilized the practices of tinkering and hacking (to tinker is to suspend function and to hack is to manipulate form) as jumping-off points for introductory students to contemplate how form, function, and matter coexist in everyday objects. They conclude with some implications for art and design education more broadly.