Students & Things

Every student must choose a "domestic tool" as object of his/her own inquiry.





For the first week a pictorial catalogue is required, as in the example of the "Achille Castiglioni hammers"

The artifact, the tool, the machine

Albrecht Duerer, Melencolia (1514)

The artifact (artefatto (IT); artefact (FR); artfacto (SP); Artefakt (DE); 品, 伪 (Chinese))is the produce of an intentional activity that modifies the natural reality.

The tool (utensìle (IT); outil (FR); Werkzeug (DE); utensilio (SP); 工具 (Chinese)) is an artifact that extends the human capabilities, a prosthesis of the body.

The machine, or better the engine (macchina (IT); machine (FR); maquina (SP); Maschine (DE); 机 (Chinese)) is a device that by using a resource transforms the structure of a system.

HOMEWORK: find in the Duerer engraving Melencoloia the artifacts, the tools, and the machines.

Here the first reply by Vito Domenico Vinella.