Surface Tensions Surface, Finish and the Meaning of Objects

Surfaces are often held to be of lesser consequence than 'deeper' or more 'substantive' aspects of artworks and objects. Yet it is also possible to conceive of the surface in more positive terms: as a site where complex forces meet. Surfaces can be theorized as membranes, protective shells, sensitive skins, even thicknesses in their own right. The surface is not so much a barrier to content as an opportunity for encounter: in new objects, the surface is the site of qualities of finish, texture, the site of tactile interaction, the last point of contact between object and maker, and the first point of contact between object and user.

Surface Tensions includes sixteen essays that explore this theoretically uncharted terrain. The subjects range widely: domestic maintenance; avant-garde fashion; the faking of antiques; postmodern architecture and design; contemporary film costume. Of particular emphasis within the volume are textiles, which are among the most complex and culturally rich materialisations of surface. As a whole, the book provides insights into the whole lifecycle of objects, not just their condition when new.

Glenn Adamson is Head of Research at the Victoria and Albert Museum, UK.
 
Victoria Kelley is Postgraduate Course Tutor, University for the Creative Arts and Senior Lecturer, School of Fashion and Textiles, Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design, UK.

Introduction; Glenn Adamson and Victoria Kelley
1. A Superficial Guide to the Deeper Meanings of Surface; Victoria Kelley
2. Surface and Practice; Lesley Millar
PART I: TIME, WORK
3. Layering: Materiality, Time and Touch in Japanese Lacquer; Christine Guth
4. Patina and the Bourgeoisie: the Appearance of the Past in Nineteenth-century Paris; Manuel Charpy
5. A Falsification of Temporality: Carpet Distressing in Morocco; Myriem Naji
6. Textiles and Time: Conservation and Public Response; Margaret Ponsonby 
7. Surface Engagements at Astana
PART II: TEXTILES, SKIN
8. 'No less dangerous to use than that of a Basilisk': Skin and Seventeenth Century English Embroideries; Mary Brooks
9. Colour, Language and Light in Mid-nineteenth Century Women's Fashion; Charlotte Nicklas
10. Wifedressing: Designing Femininity in 1950s American Fashion; Rebecca Arnold 
11. Long Coats, Flowing Fabrics: Fashioning Masculinity and Desire in Film and Television; Sarah Gilligan
12. Surface as Material, Material into Surface: Dialectic in C.C.P.; Ulrich Lehmann
PART III: DEATH, IM/PERMEABILITY
13. Surface Recognition: Light and Reflection in Mid Nineteenth-century Drawing Rooms; Alice Barnaby 
14. A Theory of the Paint-by-number Surface; Stephen Knott
15. The Materiality of Print; Steve Brown
16. Substance Abuse: the Postmodern Surface; Glenn Adamson
Index