DESIGN = DE-SIGN
Against the view of design as a form of '
styling',
i.e. as an activity concerned with shaping the external
appearance of things,
I propose the notion of '
DESIGNING FROM WITHIN'.
(see
Gérard Mermoz . Bruce Mau: In Conversation, Baseline #43 )
This entails 'GIVING FORM' to either a specific
IDEA/S or to a series of
integrated FUNCTIONS.
But this '
form giving' does
not mean that we should treat design primarily as a visual activity.
Design (especially graphic design) deals essentially with the
invisible; i.e. with invisible elements which the designer coordinates and makes visible only because of our physical limitations, to enable the designed content to take
effect through our
senses.
In the case of OBJECTS, the designer
performs a number of
actions
on specific
parameters,
which
take effect on a number of
levels.
Unconscious elements are also projected and take effect more subrepticiously.
The study of design presupposes being able to
identify all the
processes involved,
be aware of all the
parameters we can work on,
and be able to anticipate the
effects of making specific
design decisions.
EXERCISE: Select an object and identify all the functions (intentional and unintentional) that this object needs to or can performs. You can also imagine totally surreal functions which are
potential, although not intended.
REFERENCES
Designing from within:
1. Gérard Mermoz, ‘
Beyond Looking: Towards Reading…’, review of Bruce Mau’s book
Life Style (London, Phaidon, 2000), Baseline #33, March 2001].
2.
Gérard Mermoz . Bruce Mau: In Conversation, Baseline ? , Baseline, #43, 2003.
The Designer as Author
1.
Deconstruction and the Typography of Books, Baseline, n. 49, 1998.
2. Reading the City of Signs—Istanbul: Revealed or Mystified?, Baseline, #44, 2004.
3.
The Designer as Author: Reading the City of Signs—Istanbul: Revealed or Mystified?, Design Issues, Spring 2006.
Educational Project, Bangalore
http://totaldesignbangalore.blogspot.com/
Curatorial project to organise the
presentation-interpretation of traditional objects in the context of a modern museum. Check the students individual contributions submitted after three weeks. The roject included
curation,
scenography and related
publications (poster) to communicate the
concepts embodied in the
museography.
IDENTITY / IDENTITIES
O Homem cuja pátria o faz sentir tranquilo, é um principante ingénuo.
Aquele que integra cada espaço como seu, já é forte.
Mas só é perfeito aquele para quem o mundo inteiro é como um país estrangeiro.
(Click image to enlarge)
'Adoraçao de bilha…' ?
'1000 OBJECTOS DE CULTO'
At a time when
Phaidon, and the newspaper
Público in conjunction with
'EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN 09, LISBOA', are inviting us to 'worship'
'1000 OBJECTOS DE CULTO', with the intimation that these OBJECTS are
exemplary and of
universal SIGNIFICANCE; thus warranting an on-going (consumerist) 'CULT',
one may re-consider the
value and
implications of such exercises, which consolidate the value of
Capitalist Consumption and the myth of the superiority of Western
design (technology, Culture and Civilisation) over and above the
artefacts produced in societies that we have called, in turn, 'PRIMITIVE', 'ARCHAIC', 'NON-INDUSTRIAL', TRADITIONAL, ETC.
Cultures which we situate outside HISTORY and the flow of human PROGRESS.
The
BILHA gives us the opportunity to reflect about the
cult of DESIGN objects and the
assumptions upon which it rests, and to consider the
implications on a
planetary scale.
A first exercise could involve looking at the
bilha long enough, until we become aware of what is there (until it becomes
intelligible), and are able to
formulate what we see in sophisticated, critical terms, beyond TASTE.
Looking at the
bilha illustrated above, the first insight I gained was that, at the difference of (industrially produced) design objects,
its 'perfection' depends upon its imperfections (Its imperfection is a necessary part of its identity and a condition of its perfection).
This simple realisation invites us to challenge
DESIGNERISM, the attitude
fetishizes certain kinds of objects and assumes that WESTERN TECHNOLOGIES are superior to the 'OTHER' TECHNOLOGIES, developed by 'other' cultures and societies, as part of a pursuit of
survival in an ambient of
social solidarity rather than in the pursuit for
profit achieved through the
exploitation of the masses, by a few.
One may also compare objects produced in the same culture and set them in DIALOGUE to highlight their respective differences and specificities:
100 ALTERNATIVE 'CULT' OBJECTS
As an alternative, we could select if not 1000 at least
100 OBJECTS ; not from our industrial societies, but from other 'civilisations' including rural local cultures — currently relegated to the margins of HISTORY (including DESIGN HISTORY), in the ghetto of ANTHROPOLOGY, outside the flow of 'PROGRESS' and 'CIVILISATION' — and place them in the
expanded and
unified arena of human achievements (where they belong), in an concerted effort to
reconnect ourselves with HUMANITY on a planetary scale.
For this is one of the chief stakes set by ETHICS to DESIGN and to every other disciplines, which offers us an opportunity to step outside the vicious circle of EUROCENTRISM, ETHNOCENTRISM and irresponsible, unsustainable CONSUMERISM…
This modest proposal is an invitation to step out of the complacency which leads us, unwittingly, to assume that our design achievements are superior to those of other societies from whom
we can learn:
respect for our natural environment, moderate consumption of resources and energy, sustainable living, social solidarity in the family and community, generosity; qualities more worthy of warranting a CULT than objects fetishism which serves as stimulus towards umbriddled consumption, fueled by greed and short-term hedonism.
BILHA WORSHIP
The invitation to engage in 'BILHA WORSHIP' is an allegorical way of suggesting how we may redress the balance and open
new avenues for THINKING ABOUT the SIGNIFICANCE and the MEANING of CULTURAL ARTEFACTS in NON-HIERARCHICAL WAYS, as a prelude for defining ourselves — through THOUGHTS and ACTIONS — as
responsible citizens, rather than as
'hip' or as
'cool' and '
happy' consumers.
INVITATION CARD
This invitation to rethink our relation to and our role within DE - SIGN — DE-SÍGNIO' — may be formulated more concisely in the form of a visual equation:
'OBJECTS IN PERFORMANCE', at the Pitt Rivers Museum, in Oxford
presents
conversations with objects which define the basis of a
poetic , visual anthropology, in which the objects are not displayed as aesthetic commodities or as illustrations of types, but as
actors engaged in a symbolic re-enactment of the basis of human conflicts in human history:
Histoires #19 (Egyptian.Spray), 2006.
Projects
The NEXT STEP:
I propose to post some items, in the future, as part of the 100 objects alternative series and look forward to seeing some of the objects you select (on the blogs you set up); objects that — on a par with the 'bilha' — you regard as significant achievements of human endeavour, on a planetary scale
and wish you a productive and inspiring search…
To be continued…
