Thanks to Lizzie for pointing out this lovely quote in The Secret History of Social Networking, Episode 3; “In a modern networked world, we are all brands and you want to be attentive to what brand you’re creating”.
Zygmunt Bauman on Managerialism and Design
There’s a film excerpt here of Zygmunt Bauman discussing the rise of managerialism and it’s associated effects on design, systems, and humanity. He goes on to discuss how this has since changed, and his ideas about ‘Liquid Modernity’.
It’s from An Interview with Zygmunt Bauman, part of the forthcoming documentary ‘The Trouble with Being Human These Days’, directed by Bartek Dziadosz and produced by Grzegorz Lepiarz
Hyper Links
“Great cultural changes occurred in the West when it was possible to fix time as something that happens between two points”
McLuhan, Understanding Media
Politics of Aesthetics
“If you don’t address the politics behind the aesthetics, there will be no real change. Like in “critical design.” So basically, there’s are still people today, who do the stuff Droog designed back in the 1990s. They do it even better than Droog did it. But Droog did it when it was also politically relevant. Of course the politics of those aesthetics have been re-defined in the meantime. So you can’t do the same thing now, and imply the same thing. We perceive it differently now. We’ve all ingested that material and, in the meantime, we’ve seen other things. They don’t produce the same effects they once did.
Now I’m interested in the sort of politics that point to the hidden ideology of critical design itself. If you talk about the ideology of critical design in the late 90s, you could talk about Dunne & Raby, Design Noir and the hidden narratives of consumer objects. What are the secret narratives of electronics?
Its interesting that those were the politics of that time, defined by the information age, a global capitalist society, a post-Wall world, the idea of a risk society and hyper-individualization. But again, critical design from the 90s no longer produces the same effect. We’ve seen other things. And we’ve seen a total breakdown of the free market and social democratic ideology, yet without another model taking over. We fully experience the ‘lack’ or shortage of a new model that Ulrich Beck talked about in his “Risk Society” thesis, written over two decades ago.”
Good Questions
“The period since the 1960s in particular has seen significant shifts in the perceived role of contemporary art in society, as well as the impact organizations displaying art have on economic and political infrastructures and vice versa. “Identity” attempts to animate the typically fraught relationship between cultural and corporate spheres, as contemporary art institutions become increasingly preoccupied with their own image. How do changes in the graphic identities of art institutions over the last five decades reflect the shifting landscape of institutional policy and strategy? How does the conception of ‘identity’ – through an organization’s use of graphic design, its marketing and branding – function to mediate between audience, artwork, and institution?”
via Artists Space. Coming to Tramway, Glasgow, Fall (or Autumn), 2012
Every Movement Needs a Logo?
“Every Movement Needs a Logo“ says the New York Times.
“Of 6 established design practices, only @projectprojects understands that Occupy Wall Street does *not* need a symbol.” tweet Metahaven.
States of Design
MoMA design curator, Paola Antonelli, details how brands themselves have changed the landscape of contemporary communication; via States of Design 02: Brand design – Design – Domus.
WikiLeaks and Identity
(and)
(thanks Lizzie)
“Everyone knows that Glaswegians live, breathe, eat and sleep style”
I’d meant to post about this a while back, but now that Glasgow’s Style Mile has its own iPhone app, thought it might be a good time to do so. And it’s been a while.
Incase readers are wondering, its a mile because Glaswegians (and visitors to Glasgow) are so stylish they can only remember things that rhyme.
Criminally over-looked; Glasgow’s fashionable hectare, Glasgow’s elegant kilometre, Glasgow’s sophisticated square-yard, Glasgow’s achingly-cool acre (think that’s enough style/distance/area combo’s –ed)…