00:00:08
Welcome to The Parson communication
00:00:10
design lecture series my name is Pascal
00:00:13
Gman I'm fulltime faculty and an
00:00:15
associate professor of communication
00:00:17
design here at Parson and we already had
00:00:20
an exciting series of in-person lectures
00:00:22
this spring today we're meeting on Zoom
00:00:25
because we are traveling to Lisbon to
00:00:27
meet Sylvio which I'm extremely excited
00:00:30
about hi Sylvio I'm going to introduce
00:00:33
you in a moment but before that I want
00:00:36
to point out that the CD lecture series
00:00:39
allows our students to meet design
00:00:41
thinkers and practitioners within the
00:00:43
discipline and adjacent field we have
00:00:46
one more lecture coming up and this will
00:00:49
be the final lecture for this semester
00:00:51
we will meet Elizabeth Goodspeed on
00:00:53
Thursday April 26th in Kaplan Hall so
00:00:56
we're going to be back in person as
00:00:59
always you can learn more about the
00:01:01
upcoming lecture from the communication
00:01:03
design app and you can watch all the
00:01:05
past lectures on our YouTube channel and
00:01:09
again one more time please keep yourself
00:01:12
muted and with that hi Sylvio I'm so
00:01:15
excited to welcome you to our lecture
00:01:17
Series today um Sylvio is a writer
00:01:21
artist and designer based in lisban
00:01:24
Portugal he published Andre precariat in
00:01:28
2018 and what design T to in
00:01:32
2023 Sy is an assistant professor and
00:01:35
co-director of the center of other
00:01:37
worlds at the luconia University in
00:01:39
Lisbon and the tutor at the information
00:01:42
design Department of Design Academy a
00:01:45
Hoven he holds a PhD in design Sciences
00:01:48
from the luf University of Ven um syvia
00:01:52
I saw that your publication what design
00:01:55
can do is basically a collection of
00:01:58
essays on design and dis illusion and
00:02:01
it's introduced with a sentence design
00:02:04
is
00:02:04
broken and then it says young and not
00:02:08
for young designers are becoming
00:02:09
increasingly aware of that so I think
00:02:11
that is a really exciting way to start
00:02:14
this and I hand this over to you through
00:02:16
you welcome to this the floor is yours I
00:02:20
I don't need to uh say much about myself
00:02:23
thanks to uh Pascal uh nice introduction
00:02:26
so I I'm gonna directly jump into to
00:02:30
um to these pictures that shows like my
00:02:33
two my two books my my two dear books um
00:02:37
and uh uh uh you know in a in a certain
00:02:40
way they are like
00:02:41
complementary um and they show a bit
00:02:44
like my my my my interest and and my
00:02:47
let's say research Obsession the first
00:02:50
is called enter precariat and was like
00:02:52
more or less about Labor and precarity
00:02:55
and
00:02:55
entrepreneurialism while this new book
00:02:58
on is more specific about design culture
00:03:01
uh and I would say focus more on the
00:03:03
notion of of the professional what is
00:03:06
what it means to be a professional today
00:03:08
I also like to call them let's say the
00:03:11
Marvel book and the uh the DC books and
00:03:14
today I'm going to focus more on the
00:03:16
Iron Man so the the the Marvel
00:03:20
one uh just just a few bits of info on
00:03:23
this book it was published by Seth
00:03:25
margins um which is a Dutch Dutch
00:03:29
publisher and the design is by federo
00:03:31
Antonini which is like a very good
00:03:33
friends of mine and you can see like
00:03:35
this tiny bits of the Melancholia by
00:03:38
Durer in in in the cover and back cover
00:03:42
which is something maybe not obvious was
00:03:44
like we were so immersed that we thought
00:03:46
it was was extremely obvious but then we
00:03:49
realized that many people didn't get it
00:03:51
so I'm happy to say it uh because I
00:03:54
didn't want to be esoteric with this so
00:03:56
um what is the uh the book about
00:04:00
um let's say to to to summarize it in a
00:04:04
sort of oneliner uh what I did in this
00:04:07
book was like to collect and analyze
00:04:11
what I would Define uh vernacular
00:04:14
informal colloquial expression of
00:04:18
disillusionment we design and use them a
00:04:21
bit as a lens to look at the multiple
00:04:25
and recurring crisis of uh of the field
00:04:29
which in themselves in themselves they
00:04:32
uh somehow mirror like a more General
00:04:35
crisis of uh modern subjectivity and
00:04:39
modernity at
00:04:41
large um so some of the categories uh
00:04:45
deploy that I deploy in order to to
00:04:48
describe uh this uh uh this crisis are
00:04:53
have to do with the the dichotomy
00:04:55
between Order and Chaos and I start the
00:04:59
book with this definition by Victor Papa
00:05:01
which probably uh most most of you uh
00:05:04
most of you know so the definition as
00:05:07
you can see is strongly um uh hooked on
00:05:10
a notion of order so uh design according
00:05:13
to papan is the conscious and intuitive
00:05:15
effort to impose meaningful
00:05:19
order uh but we know like if you think
00:05:22
of the metaphor of uh of like you know
00:05:26
the the kids room like a parent entering
00:05:28
a kids room you know that the the
00:05:30
precondition of of order is not really
00:05:33
void no it's not really a blank uh slate
00:05:37
but really chaos um and let's say the
00:05:41
Tactical move of writing this book was
00:05:43
like to speak about design not from the
00:05:46
perspective of uh how order is
00:05:50
constituted but really like from the
00:05:52
location of chaos and when I say chaos I
00:05:55
mean it in the most uh let's say um
00:06:00
like worldly terrain um like
00:06:04
heartly uh with the most like basic
00:06:07
meaning like uh the the the the the the
00:06:10
manual chaos of like everyday life uh
00:06:14
the the dust you know like the the the
00:06:17
books that are what you see in my
00:06:19
background basically well it's it's
00:06:21
quite okay it it was worse in the uh in
00:06:24
in different time but like this idea of
00:06:26
like um the entropy that's surrounds
00:06:30
someone like the the subject's
00:06:33
lives um and with the like I wanted to
00:06:37
focus with this Sensation that uh you
00:06:40
know chaos is a sort of
00:06:43
active agent in itself is something that
00:06:46
sip sin that you know we are
00:06:49
constantly uh uh fighting
00:06:52
against uh and I think like a good good
00:06:55
um um summary uh good iconic summary of
00:06:59
the book is this is this meme it exists
00:07:02
in various versions um and basically um
00:07:06
let's say the design discour the design
00:07:08
tradition has always been focused on the
00:07:12
top part so on the idea of the utopian
00:07:15
Politics on
00:07:17
how uh think like U con concentrated
00:07:21
with uh how to put it with um um the
00:07:26
things that ought ought to be better not
00:07:28
to use the definition of Herbert Simon
00:07:31
and this uh leads to a sort of
00:07:33
abstraction which is intrinsic to uh to
00:07:36
design think not the idea of the project
00:07:39
of something projected into the future
00:07:42
uh but then as soon as you start to
00:07:45
connect this abstract distant Dimension
00:07:49
this utopian Dimension to the uh py uh
00:07:54
reality of everyday life that very image
00:07:58
of the utop politics acquires of the
00:08:02
utopian images acquire a completely
00:08:05
different uh different meaning so
00:08:08
basically the book is located locates
00:08:10
itself in the kitchen sink in the bottom
00:08:13
part and um
00:08:15
it presents itself as sort of theory of
00:08:18
the kitchen sink what what is to how do
00:08:21
we see uh the utopian politics with all
00:08:24
the you know the flamboyan statement
00:08:27
once we go back home and we have to wash
00:08:30
the dishes uh so this is somehow uh the
00:08:34
the the the the Strategic location of
00:08:36
the book and this is just like a summary
00:08:39
of um of like let's say the mood the
00:08:43
vibe the the attitude of the book but
00:08:46
today in particular I want to focus on a
00:08:48
notion that um I tackle into one of the
00:08:52
essay of the book because the the book
00:08:54
is basically a collection of essays also
00:08:57
quite different quite quite diverse um
00:08:59
in themselves uh and it's the notion of
00:09:02
criticality that I'm sure
00:09:06
that has been present uh in also in in
00:09:11
your institution as a as a value no has
00:09:14
become like value in for for design
00:09:17
culture so when I speak of criticality I
00:09:19
don't mean just critical design and I
00:09:22
will explain uh like more in detail what
00:09:26
I mean with this kind of value that has
00:09:29
come uh really really um uh really
00:09:32
adiation to many design
00:09:36
practices um so but before entering into
00:09:40
the the the specific our specific
00:09:44
understanding of criticality I think
00:09:46
it's a a simple distinction is due
00:09:49
between like what we what we would call
00:09:52
critical thinking and what we consider
00:09:55
critical theory um so in a very crude
00:10:00
uh uh slide uh I would I would describe
00:10:04
the two in this way uh so looking at at
00:10:07
the left I will think of the cart or the
00:10:10
enlightenment Etc so the idea that
00:10:13
critical thinking is about seeking truth
00:10:17
through the exercise of reason so it's a
00:10:21
dubitative position uh that uh that has
00:10:25
like reason as a form of as a high form
00:10:28
of experience in the world understanding
00:10:31
the world critical theory is a bit
00:10:34
different uh in the sense that
00:10:38
um understands uh and it doesn't throw
00:10:42
reason out but understands the world uh
00:10:45
in terms of power structures what you
00:10:48
see on the right is like
00:10:50
hor um and interesting aspect here is
00:10:54
that to a certain extent while critical
00:10:56
theory can be considered a continuation
00:11:00
of critical thinking it's not a
00:11:01
coincidence that orim and adoro in minim
00:11:05
moralia they say that uh the
00:11:08
enlightenment is still our project but
00:11:13
uh in uh following reason all along you
00:11:16
start to criticize um reason itself as
00:11:21
being the result of of of power
00:11:25
structure manifestation of the very
00:11:27
power structure of of those V about now
00:11:31
while I had to why did I have to open
00:11:35
this small parenthesis because I think
00:11:38
that um there is like a bit of a risk in
00:11:42
education to go to entering uh and in
00:11:45
design discussions to enter directly the
00:11:49
critical theory
00:11:51
lens uh before having exercised critical
00:11:56
thinking uh so the risk is that um you
00:11:59
know um any any manifestation of of the
00:12:03
world on any phenomenon uh is read um
00:12:07
mostly and mainly through through the
00:12:11
category of power um and this has some
00:12:15
uh some some dangers also in developing
00:12:19
what we would call like more basic idea
00:12:22
of critical thinking so to put it this
00:12:25
in a more dubitative way to what extent
00:12:29
um like a lens on power
00:12:32
prevents um a sort of more more more uh
00:12:36
more like let's say open approach to uh
00:12:41
to to to uh to relating to to to to
00:12:45
society and to the to the world out
00:12:48
there so to what extent critical
00:12:51
theory becomes um itself a sort of um
00:12:56
opaque
00:12:57
B uh but um so now that that I made this
00:13:02
clarification I hope I made this
00:13:04
clarification um the question I I want
00:13:07
to ask is like what role does
00:13:10
criticality uh play in uh let's say
00:13:14
social
00:13:15
positioning and um my my reference for
00:13:19
this is the work of a US scholar called
00:13:23
Nicholas home um basically the idea
00:13:27
proposed by Nicholas home is that um uh
00:13:32
the uh the the the tool of of the elite
00:13:37
the the tool that the the elites used to
00:13:39
disting themselves from the common
00:13:41
people from the masses which was uh
00:13:45
according to bordo and others like the
00:13:47
aesthetic judgment no the elites were
00:13:50
able to read not not only to spot what
00:13:53
is high culture and low culture but also
00:13:56
to read the words in aesthetic terms why
00:13:59
the working classes didn't have that
00:14:02
luxury so in order to um you know to to
00:14:06
position yourself uh upwardly uh you
00:14:09
would develop that aesthetic
00:14:12
judgment um according to Nicholas home
00:14:15
things have uh have changed um and uh
00:14:19
what has substituted the aesthetic uh
00:14:22
the aesthetic disposition of the elites
00:14:24
is something that he calls critical
00:14:26
disposition which is basically a
00:14:29
popularized form of uh of critical
00:14:32
theory uh you can read it uh here it's
00:14:35
like very very close to the horer idea
00:14:38
of like uh questioning power structure
00:14:42
so the critical disposition This is Home
00:14:45
Encounter texts and when I say text of
00:14:47
course I uh he he means it in uh in in a
00:14:51
broad semiotic sense um so text in terms
00:14:56
of their politics their entanglement in
00:14:58
why their structures of
00:15:00
power so the the point that deres
00:15:04
through this is that the the distinction
00:15:06
between like the elites um and the
00:15:10
common people it's not anymore in the
00:15:12
type of artifacts it's not anymore in
00:15:15
the fact that um um U like the elite
00:15:20
would listen to uh uh to bitov and while
00:15:25
um I don't know the delay the the lay
00:15:29
person would listen to a pop song but in
00:15:32
the way any cultural artifact high and
00:15:35
low traditionally high and low would be
00:15:41
interpreted uh to to zoom in very
00:15:44
quickly and briefly into um uh our
00:15:48
design world like graphic design word um
00:15:51
um this meme somehow even if it's a bit
00:15:55
like a bit extreme in this sense shows
00:15:58
uh
00:15:59
some of the aspects of of the critical
00:16:03
disposition because what it displays
00:16:05
here is the fact that um in many
00:16:09
contexts um in certain contexts like the
00:16:12
same artifact is not um is not evaluated
00:16:17
for um like it's uh it's aesthetic
00:16:21
Dimension is um um uh aesthetic
00:16:25
structure let's say but there is like
00:16:29
like um an
00:16:31
intentionality that has to do with its
00:16:33
politics in terms of presentation and uh
00:16:37
and and intention so basically um the
00:16:40
same artifact when is presented
00:16:43
according to political teams acquires a
00:16:46
different value and there is also a um a
00:16:50
side effect a corollary effect in which
00:16:53
um speaking
00:16:54
formalistic about uh in in in
00:16:59
traditionally in traditional aesthetic
00:17:01
terms uh about an artifact about a text
00:17:05
again in in Nicholas home terms uh is
00:17:09
casted can be casted as
00:17:12
naive um you can see it in the meme it's
00:17:16
like it's spoken through as just
00:17:19
formalist experimentation is isn't that
00:17:23
just that you see the uh value judgment
00:17:27
while the the two um the two readings of
00:17:30
an artifact the two interpretation the
00:17:32
two presentation of the artifact are
00:17:34
both uh valuable and
00:17:37
legit um so the the the example that
00:17:42
Nicholas all makes are Hollywood
00:17:45
Blockbuster um so um the latest
00:17:49
Hollywood Blockbuster is for example
00:17:52
criticized for his reproduction of
00:17:55
regressive gender politics or
00:17:56
celebration of the market this was was
00:17:58
written in in in
00:18:00
2020 a few years before like what's uh
00:18:04
what's what has become very obvious in
00:18:06
our uh cultural landscape just think of
00:18:09
Barbie or poor things um so um what is
00:18:14
very important to point out here to
00:18:16
avoid the
00:18:18
misunderstanding is that Nicolas Holm is
00:18:21
not and of course me following his
00:18:24
argument um are not diminishing any like
00:18:28
the
00:18:30
criticality we are just interested in
00:18:33
showing and understanding how that
00:18:36
critical disposition plays a sort of
00:18:39
professional role and how it somehow
00:18:42
substituted that also by
00:18:45
tendency personally I'm way more um
00:18:48
attracted by the the critical theory and
00:18:51
critical disposition uh but that um
00:18:55
doesn't diminish uh let's say its its
00:18:59
positional values so to speak I'm gonna
00:19:02
tell you just very briefly like a
00:19:04
personal anecdote regarding the uh the
00:19:08
the first dune uh the the Dune one after
00:19:12
watching it together with friends I
00:19:14
remember like you know the beer after
00:19:17
you talked about the movie um and um um
00:19:22
it's like I was
00:19:25
somehow speaking about like the the
00:19:28
qualities of the the mov what I liked
00:19:29
and what I like was um very much
00:19:31
informalist terms I like the
00:19:33
architecture the scale the fact that um
00:19:37
you know like the human presence is very
00:19:40
small compared like to these big forces
00:19:42
which is even more clear in the second
00:19:44
part uh but then like the counter
00:19:47
argument in this you know Cafe
00:19:51
discussion was like how yes but how
00:19:54
couldn't you notice um how um let's say
00:19:58
how
00:19:59
orientalist uh it was like the
00:20:01
representation of of the framan for who
00:20:04
watched the movie um and as soon as the
00:20:08
statement is done um any reflection on
00:20:13
the you know again like on athetic
00:20:17
values is casted uh as as naive there is
00:20:21
no um like you can easily spot in common
00:20:25
conversation that nowadays
00:20:28
uh this uh the the critical reading has
00:20:32
more value is a stronger currency in uh
00:20:37
in in um let's say in Social debate in
00:20:41
social media debate in cultural
00:20:43
interpretation and so
00:20:45
forth um oh
00:20:49
this what is this here this this exactly
00:20:54
ah yeah yeah of course um when we relate
00:20:57
this uh to design
00:20:59
um we have to ask like a a sort of side
00:21:03
question emerges and it's like but is
00:21:06
design about
00:21:08
Aesthetics was if now um let's say a
00:21:11
critical disposition is uh gaining
00:21:15
gaining traction was it was it uh uh is
00:21:19
it real that in the past design was
00:21:22
acting through the classic the
00:21:25
traditional the the uh let's say the
00:21:29
bzar uh aesthetic
00:21:31
disposition um I would argue that yes it
00:21:35
was it's simply that the aesthetic of
00:21:40
design culture had a particular name
00:21:44
which was function um from the bow house
00:21:47
on we can argue together with um
00:21:52
theorists like the the German W wgang
00:21:56
frit that what design calls
00:22:00
function um is some sort of appearance
00:22:04
of Ed value it's like a sort of self
00:22:09
self advertisement of what it consider
00:22:13
itself function because of course
00:22:15
functionality we know it very well is a
00:22:18
very relative and subjective feature of
00:22:21
the object uh but design culture one of
00:22:25
the trium of design culture from the
00:22:27
bowow on was somehow um to clarify to to
00:22:32
to to pretend to a certain extent to be
00:22:36
able to split the functionality to the
00:22:39
ornament to the excess Etc and here my
00:22:42
main reference to say this is Jambo who
00:22:46
understands like design culture and bous
00:22:49
as a sort of um Ain to um uh to a
00:22:54
general equivalent to something that
00:22:56
creates a feature that allows to um to
00:23:00
compare objects that are completely
00:23:02
different a bit like
00:23:04
money um okay um now uh how does um this
00:23:11
critical
00:23:13
disposition uh specifically manifests in
00:23:17
contemporary design culture um I Pro I
00:23:22
don't know if it's the same in the US
00:23:24
but at least in Europe the notion of um
00:23:28
uh raising awareness has been very
00:23:30
present in um the the the the the the
00:23:35
the vocabulary of design culture so to
00:23:38
prove this there is like this nice um uh
00:23:42
this nice uh collage of description of
00:23:45
projects at design Academia and doen by
00:23:49
Alonso deat um in which he shows that
00:23:52
this formula of raising awareness is
00:23:55
constantly is is um over overuse maybe
00:24:00
like it's it's used a lot so where does
00:24:03
this come
00:24:04
from um I mean here I have to say
00:24:08
something um
00:24:09
um maybe a bit uh harsh about like let's
00:24:14
say the design Ence design Soul so um
00:24:18
it's I I think it's a it's a truth that
00:24:21
the design especially information design
00:24:24
graphic design has always had an
00:24:26
aspiration to be pedagogical to educate
00:24:30
its user to explain things um to a
00:24:34
certain extent even to be um uh it's can
00:24:38
even be considered
00:24:39
paternalistic uh
00:24:41
condescending um simple example of this
00:24:46
is what happened during during the the
00:24:48
peak of the pandemics where designers
00:24:51
started to uh design poster explaining
00:24:54
how to wash your hands so it's a lot in
00:24:57
line with this idea of like we have to
00:24:59
elevate the people we have to elevate
00:25:02
the working classes in fact and this is
00:25:05
like something I don't say in the book
00:25:06
but quite frankly I believe that if you
00:25:09
would ask what is the class uh the class
00:25:13
position of design as culture I would
00:25:15
say is the bourjois it's like that kind
00:25:18
of um um is the idea of having uh you
00:25:24
know the value set and be able to spread
00:25:27
them to
00:25:29
uh to all the rest of the people it's
00:25:32
always from the top to a certain extent
00:25:35
this design culture traditionally of
00:25:37
course there are like the exception but
00:25:39
they just confirm like a sort of general
00:25:44
rule um so um while this idea of raising
00:25:49
Awareness on one side is a tached
00:25:53
somehow to um let's say design like the
00:25:57
vocation of of design as a whole it's
00:25:59
interesting to see how um it connects to
00:26:03
a more like
00:26:04
General uh let's say uh positional gains
00:26:09
that happen within like um the the the
00:26:12
scope of liberalism so to speak um and I
00:26:16
think this was well described in the
00:26:18
most concise Way by um us artist called
00:26:22
Brett tral whose activity um is mainly
00:26:26
to write uh
00:26:29
V to create video
00:26:31
reports um here what he was analyzing
00:26:35
was like the kind of discussion on
00:26:37
social media um but I think it can be
00:26:40
extended to you know like debate uh at
00:26:44
large the argument that Bret Ral was
00:26:47
doing is that raising
00:26:49
awareness has like a side function an
00:26:52
idden function which is not just to make
00:26:56
people aware but to make people aware
00:26:59
that you aw are that you yourself are
00:27:02
aware of like the important conversation
00:27:05
is a way to enter like a sort of space
00:27:09
of debate and uh to demonstrate your own
00:27:13
let's say up toess so to speak uh and I
00:27:18
think like the raising awareness in
00:27:19
design is a lot about this because very
00:27:22
often um it feels like uh the the the
00:27:26
project that are supposed to raise
00:27:28
awareness of the of the people uh
00:27:32
construct these people in order to show
00:27:35
that they are aware now U for example
00:27:38
there is like um a lot of projects about
00:27:43
and here I'm like speaking
00:27:45
conversationally about this um about
00:27:48
like uh how um social media use uh you
00:27:54
know like use data for profiling uh and
00:27:58
still like this um for for user
00:28:02
profiling now and still like it feels
00:28:04
like that this that
00:28:06
people like have no idea that this is
00:28:09
happening while there are like Netflix
00:28:11
series like speaking about that so it
00:28:13
seems that sometimes you construct this
00:28:16
image of a uh of a of a uh of users of
00:28:22
like the people that are
00:28:24
um they lack the knowledge in order to
00:28:28
portray project uh the sense that you as
00:28:31
designer have that that knowledge and
00:28:35
also the point is that the people
00:28:37
doesn't exist anymore no so there is no
00:28:40
no general idea of the public uh and
00:28:43
this very often speaks in terms of think
00:28:47
in itself uh thinks in terms of uh
00:28:52
general public um how if if the goal if
00:28:57
the practice the activi is that of
00:29:01
raising awareness or at least like the
00:29:03
goal the vision uh how does this
00:29:05
manifest concretely
00:29:08
materially um I think it it happens with
00:29:12
a with an interesting reversal which I I
00:29:16
I called I started to call ornamental
00:29:19
politics um so if it's true as Brett
00:29:23
roml says as Nicholas Holmes says that
00:29:27
you know uh politicality like to display
00:29:30
a political um uh a political
00:29:34
interpretation of of social phenomenon
00:29:37
is a plus is something that um gives us
00:29:41
um somehow more value as players in a
00:29:46
positional game in
00:29:47
society um and when I say game I don't
00:29:51
say in a scenical way I say because uh
00:29:54
really there is you you can read um um
00:29:59
um um exchanges and practices as a form
00:30:04
of um of a field um and this is like my
00:30:09
reference to for this is like again like
00:30:13
Pier bordo the idea that uh is like the
00:30:17
cultural practice are convertible in in
00:30:20
forms of capital
00:30:21
symbolic economic Etc but um if this is
00:30:25
all true if there is like an incentive
00:30:28
implicit or explicit uh to manifest the
00:30:33
critical
00:30:34
disposition um then um sometimes you
00:30:38
would have the incentive to um somehow
00:30:42
decorate projects that are could be
00:30:45
formalistic with um W with the political
00:30:50
uh with a political Allure so we have an
00:30:53
interesting reversal of of the so-called
00:30:58
aesthetization of politics of valter
00:31:02
benam so the idea that um is the
00:31:05
politics itself that becomes form it's
00:31:08
the politics itself that becomes a form
00:31:12
of decoration and it's not that Designer
00:31:14
add decoration to political content it's
00:31:17
vice versa uh now it might seems very
00:31:21
abstract what I'm saying but so so I
00:31:23
added a few example that I think
00:31:26
captures this very very
00:31:29
clearly uh there is a form a cult very U
00:31:33
recognizable cultural form of this this
00:31:37
which uh is what I call in the book the
00:31:39
fa Piet like the the fake Piet basically
00:31:44
uh in which you have like the Aesthetics
00:31:47
of of the protest of activist idea of
00:31:51
politics with slogans that are not
00:31:55
actually attached to to a actual Cod so
00:31:58
this is like for example was in Berlin
00:32:00
in
00:32:01
201 17 where you have like the the
00:32:04
protest in
00:32:06
imagination and then you have like
00:32:08
slogan like jlet which is uh but
00:32:13
um in the very context of of the
00:32:17
Netherlands not for example the dut
00:32:19
design week you had this uh the idea of
00:32:23
the picket as a sort of uh spectacular
00:32:26
performance that again like shed sheds
00:32:29
lights on the on the aspiration of
00:32:32
design
00:32:33
culture final example uh in this uh in
00:32:37
in this line of uh ornamental politics
00:32:40
is this incredible movie by Max lens
00:32:44
which is a German
00:32:46
director the movie is a sort of Bleak
00:32:49
look on uh on on the let's say the
00:32:53
intermingling between
00:32:55
Academia uh politics and innovation
00:32:58
and in this what you see in this scene
00:33:00
is like a
00:33:01
professor who um looks at the a protest
00:33:05
of the students the protest as you can
00:33:07
see is very stylized it's a bit it shows
00:33:10
a bit like the aesthetic of the movie
00:33:12
but the interesting aspect is that the
00:33:15
the professor reads the the protest
00:33:20
through uh the with with an aesthetic
00:33:23
lens with an aesthetic disposition in in
00:33:26
fact he says like very interesting very
00:33:29
interesting and creative this proess so
00:33:32
as if it was like a a painting to
00:33:34
contemplate and by doing this he reveals
00:33:38
uh somehow the the decorational quality
00:33:43
of
00:33:43
it um now this is like the most
00:33:47
difficult part which are uh uh it's uh
00:33:51
it's at risk of uh of misunderstanding
00:33:54
so I I really hope to say the things I
00:33:57
want to say without uh with without um
00:34:02
let's say giving excess of
00:34:04
interpretation of what I say so I'm
00:34:06
going to take extra effort uh in in in
00:34:10
this
00:34:11
part um so if all the discussion about
00:34:16
uh the the critical disposition of
00:34:19
course involves like the
00:34:21
subject um and so the question is like
00:34:24
what what what what role does identity
00:34:28
play when it comes to manifesting the
00:34:31
critical disposition and we have to to
00:34:35
do a uh sort of jump in the past and
00:34:39
starts from this
00:34:40
consideration that um in white color
00:34:44
jobs uh which designed to a certain
00:34:46
extent is one of them
00:34:49
um somehow the the the skills that
00:34:53
really matter are not anymore neither
00:34:56
like strengths nor actual intelligence
00:35:00
but really personality takes like a
00:35:04
centrality that never had before uh in
00:35:08
uh uh in uh in history uh and I think to
00:35:13
prove this is very simple uh just
00:35:16
consider like the emphasis on soft
00:35:19
skills uh in uh you know in on LinkedIn
00:35:24
so to speak and you know sometimes
00:35:27
someone has the Sensation that soft
00:35:30
skill is a managerial term for
00:35:34
personality of course I'm stretching a
00:35:36
bit here uh but you get the sense of of
00:35:40
this
00:35:41
argument um so the shift uh I I I
00:35:46
somehow um highlight which I think has
00:35:49
both positive and risky um um um um
00:35:54
consequences is this um
00:35:58
in the past like the profession would
00:36:03
somehow be uh like the basis of identity
00:36:07
for um uh for for like the the the the
00:36:11
the liberal professional the nice
00:36:13
example like the simple example to
00:36:15
capture to capture this uh is the doctor
00:36:19
no in my hometown small Hometown you
00:36:22
would call a person not even by name
00:36:25
they would identify so fully with their
00:36:28
profession that you will call them the
00:36:30
doctor the architect no nowadays we have
00:36:34
like a sort of shift in which
00:36:39
um identity itself acquires a
00:36:42
professional like is somehow
00:36:45
professionalized um and this um happen
00:36:49
in the in design in the field of design
00:36:51
through is can be let's
00:36:54
say looked at it can be like I lighted
00:36:58
from the tool like this cultural form
00:37:00
which is the professional
00:37:01
bi um so professional bi in certain
00:37:07
spheres of design has become um For
00:37:10
Better or For Worse interestingly or not
00:37:13
this I leave it to you a space uh where
00:37:17
like people can manifest proud pride and
00:37:20
a sort of sense of
00:37:22
affinity
00:37:23
um can be a space of protest can be a a
00:37:27
space of um uh of of of um of like
00:37:32
fighting a certain exclusion and these
00:37:35
are like some examples of professional
00:37:38
bios that manifests to a certain extent
00:37:41
like uh the the the professionalization
00:37:44
of identity uh for
00:37:48
example it's um um to a certain extent
00:37:51
it's something that never has been seen
00:37:53
before that you could um add
00:37:58
to a professional bio um something that
00:38:02
you would strategically essentialized in
00:38:06
order to um bring on like a political
00:38:09
agenda or uh as a form of emancipation
00:38:13
so to call yourself in your professional
00:38:16
bio on LinkedIn on your website queer
00:38:19
designer liberatory designer or um
00:38:23
identify as a mother so um I don't uh uh
00:38:28
I don't spend too many words on the uh
00:38:31
let's say emancipatory aspect of this
00:38:34
because I think it's pretty obvious uh
00:38:36
it means that finally one can uh bring
00:38:39
to the force something that uh in the
00:38:42
past would limit that professional
00:38:45
possibility uh so it's a form of of
00:38:48
pride of political action um but at the
00:38:52
same time there are like some um uh some
00:38:55
risks that shouldn't be ignored in my
00:38:58
opinion I'm going to try to describe
00:39:01
them um through some examples for
00:39:04
example a document 15 in Castle like the
00:39:07
last document highly criticized by the
00:39:09
way for for various reason um you would
00:39:12
find a bit of the sense of like how
00:39:16
identity understood uh in this kind of
00:39:21
professionalization um process can can
00:39:24
become uh sort of a negative feature
00:39:28
like a trap uh in the sense that for
00:39:30
example like a group of artists would
00:39:32
write statement like this my biography
00:39:36
seems more interesting than my art um in
00:39:39
which there is a sort of expectation
00:39:41
from the outside that the biographical
00:39:44
should should
00:39:46
emerge um
00:39:48
so the the risk uh briefly put is that
00:39:53
um uh the uh identity aspect of a work
00:39:59
uh becomes a necessity of someone
00:40:02
practice that is forced upon that
00:40:04
identity forced upon on someone um and I
00:40:10
I I found this Manifesto that somehow
00:40:13
seem to uh to to to um to to express
00:40:18
this uh uh this risks in which
00:40:22
ejane uh says I'm not an identity artist
00:40:25
just because uh I'm a black artist with
00:40:28
multiple self so uh they are somehow
00:40:31
rejecting this um this uh uh this
00:40:36
essential idea of identity pushed on
00:40:39
them another interesting example again
00:40:41
from
00:40:42
theuma um is uh from um a Palestinian
00:40:46
artist who um speaks of like the the
00:40:50
political value of doing nonpolitical
00:40:53
artart basically his argument is the
00:40:56
following uh for us um uh for us coming
00:41:01
from um let's say politically chared
00:41:04
areas it seems un It seems impossible to
00:41:09
do formalist art and again we go back to
00:41:12
the aesthetic disposition because like
00:41:14
the the general expectation is that that
00:41:17
everything we do is uh is and must be uh
00:41:22
politicized therefore about like like
00:41:25
the powers that
00:41:28
uh that oppress us and so on and so
00:41:30
forth uh and those are like um some
00:41:34
examples on the wild more personally
00:41:36
I've noticed five minutes perfect uh
00:41:40
yeah I've noticed in in uh several
00:41:45
educational context in a sort of um um
00:41:50
uh in a sort of
00:41:52
implicit way like an expectation a
00:41:56
reinforcement of U uh uh of um like a
00:42:01
sort of nudging of bringing to the four
00:42:06
um like your biography understood as uh
00:42:11
one like one like one essential
00:42:16
essentialized let's be let's be more
00:42:18
precise essentialized feature of
00:42:20
identity um so this is like the the risk
00:42:24
and the trap uh I I I see
00:42:28
uh five minutes so um okay I'm going to
00:42:31
speed up on this so
00:42:34
um all of these um features all of these
00:42:40
um um um ideas about raising awareness
00:42:43
Etc to me can be summarized within like
00:42:47
this notion uh which is a bit cheeky but
00:42:50
comes from it's also anage to um an
00:42:54
Italian cultural creative which is
00:42:55
called Tomaso la branka which spoke of
00:42:58
critica emphasizing the repetition
00:43:02
aspect um and basically the argument I
00:43:06
want to do here is that uh all this
00:43:10
raising awareness manifesting critical
00:43:12
disposition happens to a specific use of
00:43:16
language um if um Maden sovich could say
00:43:23
back in the days like a few decades ago
00:43:27
that an artist who cannot speak English
00:43:29
is no artist he feels that nowadays um
00:43:34
an artist or a designer who can speak a
00:43:36
specific kind of English which is what
00:43:40
Alex Ru and David line Define
00:43:42
International art English um couldn't be
00:43:46
artist or designers so there is again
00:43:49
like an incentive of using a certain
00:43:53
language that charges artifacts with in
00:43:56
with a certain political
00:43:58
intentionality uh terms like interrogate
00:44:01
subvert imcat displaced that um makes
00:44:06
sense within this larger logic of the
00:44:08
critical disposition it's not a
00:44:11
coincidence that I think that in a
00:44:14
critique of critical design which I
00:44:16
didn't speak much today like the
00:44:18
specific current of critical design
00:44:20
therefore like speculation Etc the
00:44:23
critique is similar is about language
00:44:26
all the projects articulate refuse
00:44:29
critique spark transgress formulate
00:44:31
Etc um
00:44:34
so just to summarize these are like the
00:44:37
list of of the so-called critical okay
00:44:41
so critical disposition ornamental
00:44:44
politics or politics use as ornament the
00:44:48
paternalistic ambition to raise
00:44:51
awarness uh the risk and
00:44:54
opportunities of using of using identity
00:44:59
as a
00:45:00
professional uh skill and you the uses
00:45:04
and abuses of of of international art
00:45:09
English two more words to
00:45:12
conclude won't be um uh you know
00:45:15
full-fledged um um um uh conclusion but
00:45:19
I think like a couple of words like to
00:45:22
uh zoom out from the uh from from the
00:45:25
book and to um uh from from this chapter
00:45:29
and to speak the book a large are
00:45:31
somehow
00:45:33
necessary uh so I open the book with
00:45:35
this with this quote by Antonio gr she
00:45:38
says the challenge of modernity is to
00:45:40
live without illusion and without
00:45:43
becoming this illusion um what I've
00:45:46
tried today uh in the chapter in the
00:45:49
various chapter of the book is like
00:45:50
really to uh you know tear apart a bit
00:45:54
of certain illusion so one of them is
00:45:57
really like this idea this paternalistic
00:46:00
ambition of educating of like raising
00:46:03
awareness because I believe that it's
00:46:06
exactly in the maintaining um in the
00:46:09
keeping of Illusion that this illusion
00:46:12
disillusionment uh
00:46:14
emerges uh and another quote that I'm
00:46:17
really um close to I I feel an affinity
00:46:20
to is by an Italian fiction writer who
00:46:23
speaks about literature but I think the
00:46:25
same can be said about design uh the
00:46:28
design criticism really changes things
00:46:30
when it bumps up against his own
00:46:33
powerlessness um so uh my effort in the
00:46:37
book and let's say in my design
00:46:39
criticism has always been like to tackle
00:46:44
uh the spaces of lack of power of like
00:46:46
not being able to do and from this um uh
00:46:51
this is where the the title of the book
00:46:53
deres thanks so much
