I just stumbled upon a few local and national blogs and communities, really opened my eyes to what is going on on my doorstep, rather than presuming everything happens elsewhere.
A showcase for many artists, based in Ireland. It hosts talks as well as creating a digital magazine, Candy, a compilation of their scour for talent.
A local blog, alluding to many cultural goings on in Belfast, mostly around the galleries. It’s updated very regularly so a great place to go when you feel Belfast is getting a little dry.
The nature of context in design has been brought to my attention recently.
Is it possible to create without context?
I was struck the designer Ivan Chermayeff’s words when talking about modernism:
“I work in a completely white room. If it hadn’t been white, I would have painted it white right away. The room is merely a canvas in which other things happen. It is not an end in itself. If it were I’d have to take all the art off the walls and anything else that gives it focus. I would have to remove myself as well.”
I don’t believe it is possible to create without context. Modernism asked that the creator merely looked forward, never back. When the nature of context in design was brought to my attention, I was forced to consider the failing of trying to create without context: you cannot write without a font/handwriting style, you cannot paint without a brush, you cannot think without memory.
But it is something to aspire to?
iQ Agility Font
From todayandtomorrow
The Belgian advertising agency Happiness Brussels asked Pierre Smeets and Damien Aresta of pleaseletmedesign to create a typeface with a Toyota iQ.
They collaborated with Stef van Campenhoudt, a pro race pilot, who had to drive all the characters with the iQ.
Zach Lieberman wrote a custom software to track the movements of the car and translate them into single characters.
Font can be downloaded here.
And it’s the same Zach Lieberman who has now joined this project…
Rhonda
Amit Pitaru developed this amazing piece of software around 2003. Around that time he was collaborating with James Paterson, their project was called InsertSilince.
In this video you can see James drawing using Rhonda with his unique style.
[It reminds me of the Alexander Calder exhibition we saw in the Pompidou Centre, wire sculptures of extraordinary depth.]
So it’s very nice to hear that the development of Rhonda will continue with the help of Zach Lieberman (openFrameworks) and Zach Gage (synthpond).
And openFrameworks is Zach Lieberman.
Open Frameworks
“Can artists make tools at the same time as they make their own artwork”
OpenFrameworks is a creative commons library, heading for online access, but the work that it has already helped with is amazing!
Including a UVA project!
United Visual Artists
Their work speaks for itself, this especially.
(It has obvious links to a piece called ‘Pendulum Music’ by the composer Steve Reich. For all you musos, four microphones hung over four speakers, creating feedback as they swing back and forth. Lovely.)
An ‘Imagine…’ documentary (Let There Be Light) about light artists is not available on this blog.
Multitouch Barcelona
Similar group, with delightful interactive projects, including Hi, a real human interface.
From the eye magazine blog.
Just a little fun? Or advertising that plumbs new depths of cynicism?
Reminded me of the great debate last semester from Jonathan & Dale/Stephen, Allister & Vasare about the ethics of advertising. It raises really uncomfortable questions about the current political climate, and how far advertisers (in essence, designers, us) go to sell some tat.
Also, a good time to mention Milton Glaser’s ‘Road To Hell‘:
“I once created a test called The Road to Hell. I had just finished illustrating a section of Dante’s Divine Comedy for an Italian publisher. When I first got the assignment I was unhappy that I had been given Purgatory as a subject as opposed to Inferno. As an illustrator, Hell had always seemed more interesting to me. Frankly, I never quite understood the difference between Hell and Purgatory. As you may know, the difference is simply that those in Hell are not aware of what put them in Hell and are doomed to be there forever. Those in Purgatory are aware of their sins and consequently have the possibility of getting out by moving to a higher plane. This fact immediately made Purgatory more relevant to me, in part, because Purgatory is where most of us are right now. In any event, awareness of what we actually do in life seems worth thinking about.
1. Design a package to look larger on the shelf?
2. Do an ad for a slow-moving, boring film to make it seem like a lighthearted comedy?
3. Design a crest for a new vineyard to suggest that it’s been in business for a long time?
4. Design a jacket for a book whose sexual content you find personally repellent?
5. Design an advertising campaign for a company with a history of known discrimination in minority hiring?
6. Design a package for a cereal aimed at children, which has low nutritional value and high sugar content?
7. Design a line of T-shirts for a manufacturer who employs child labor?
8. Design a promotion for a diet product that you know doesn’t work?
9. Design an ad for a political candidate whose policies you believe would be harmful to the general public?
10. Design a brochure piece for an SUV that turned over more frequently than average in emergency conditions and caused the death of 150 people?
11. Design an ad for a product whose continued use might cause the user’s death?”
Ambiguity & Truth
Brand Identity Conference, AIGA, NYC
June 21, 2004
http://www.miltonglaser.com/pages/milton/essays/es2.html
Orgesticulanismus Mathieu Labaye
A short film expressing the idea of movement inside the mind of a physically disabled person. The film is a tribute to his father, Benoît Labaye, who died of multiple sclerosis.
I love the film’s incessant movement, it’s attention to detail and it’s depth. The relation between the music and the animation is also inspiring, especially around 7:07 when the abstract shapes react to the tinkling piano.
Watching it frame by frame is a wonderful exercise.
Please Say Something David O’Reilly
Again, a deeply meaningful film, a divinely executed palette of detailed bits.
Animation work in progress.
