Re-creative Practice: Bring the past to life and inform the future | Mary O'Neil | TEDxDeMontfortU

Mary's talk focusses on re-creative practice, which mines museum collections to reverse engineer objects, and produce contemporary works inspired by the design, or skills used to make them. Re-creative practice focuses on the intangible forms of knowledge that the museum embodies, how we conserve and sustain these, and make them accessible. The project emphasises the benefits of low-tech solutions in the form of traditional craft skills as a sustainable model, and the potential of museum collections to not only document the past, but to inform the future. Mary O’Neill is an artist, author, and educator whose practice engages with profound cultural issues that often leave us mute, such as isolation and loss. Through her ephemeral and re-creative works, she explores the search for meaning in the face of life experiences that can render the world chaotic and incomprehensible. Her recent projects draw on maritime language and the laws of salvage as metaphors to reflect on both personal grief and the collective losses inherent in an ever-changing world. These works weave together moving images, sculpture, text, and sound-ranging from spoken word to recordings of the natural environment. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx