Janeiro 2017
01 Discover what’s
IADE Creative University
Edição de Adriano Coelho adcoelho.uk@gmail.com Testos de Professor Carlos Rosa Professor Nuno Saldanha André Vasconcelos e Sá Kiana St. Louis Matt McCue Sean Blanda Adriano Coelho Fotografias de Mohau Modisakeng Grayson Perry Atipus Tiago Galo Adriano Coelho
Com o Apoio de Professora Susana Leonor Professora Maria Cardaço
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Mohau Modisakeng
Johanesburg, South Africa 3
What’s up?
Este futuro não-inventado é agora. Este futuro não-inventado está a ser liderado por duas áreas que cada vez mais estão a convergir: o design e a tecnologia. Pelo Professor Carlos Rosa.
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How to fix Design Twelve leading designers and creatives come together to point out how they would fix it.
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O espelho de Eva Imagem e “Iliteracia visual” Pelo Professor Nuno Saldanha.
O regresso ao relógios antigos pela mão do ex-aluno do IADE, Pedro Machado. Texto de André Vasconcelos e Sá
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O regresso ao relógios antigos pela mão do ex-aluno do IADE, Pedro Machado. Texto de André Vasconcelos e Sá
Este mês encontrarmo-nos com Tiago Galo, um dos mais recentes artistas da actualidade.
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Work of Mohau Modisakeng is personal and political. His photography, films, performance and installation grapple with the conflicting politics of leadership and nationhood.
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Grayson Perry Primeiro ceramista a ganhar o Turner Prize em 2013, conheça o seu trabalho.
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O design já atravessou o seu Rubicão… a sorte está lançada! “Que profissão gostarias de ter quando terminares o teu curso?” “Não sei… acho que ainda não foi inventada!” Este excerto de uma entrevista a uma jovem estudante norte-americana faz parte do meu modo de pensar há já alguns anos. Ajuda-me a olhar para a frente, a pensar o futuro ou pelo menos a tentar adivinhá-lo, antevê-lo ou se quiserem a “projectá-lo”. Este futuro não-inventado é agora. Este futuro não-inventado está a ser liderado por duas áreas que cada vez mais estão a convergir: o design e a tecnologia. Há uns largos anos os designers tinham os seus campos e as suas competências fechadas, circunscritas e muito bem definidas. Nos anos 60, 70 e 80, o papel do designer industrial era claro: criar um objeto físico. Só isso. Agora tem que entender a tecnologia que o vai orientar, os componentes físicos, os sensores, o ecossistema. Tem que saber de interface e de interacção, usabilidade, enfim… saber só de materiais e de processos de produção deixou de ser suficiente. A tecnologia não está apenas a mudar o modo como fazemos design. Está também a mudar o design que fazemos. Está está a mudar os objectos. Está a mudar os nossos desejos e necessidades. A maioria dos novos negócios, dos novos produtos e serviços que se vão atravessando na nossa frente, são brilhantes combinações de design com tecnologia. No relatório Design In Tech de 2016, elaborado pelo
John Maeda, pode ler-se que as 36% das 25 maiores startups financiadas são cofundadas por designers. Um valor bastante acima dos 20% em 2015. O que significa, não só que a tecnologia e o design têm uma relação escaldante, mas também que este casamento tem um potencial fortíssimo nas áreas de negócio. Continua-se a perguntar o que é o design. Já temos resposta? Talvez. Mas estranho que pareça é bom ainda não haver uma resposta consensual. Melhor, é bom que a resposta se vá transformando, mudando, evoluindo. Melhor ainda, é bom que a resposta se vá reinventando. Boas perguntas obrigam-nos a melhores respostas. Boas perguntas levam-nos a fazer coisas melhores. O design já atravessou o seu Rubicão. Já. E já não é possível voltar atrás. Não. O choque entre a tecnologia e o design deixou de fazer sentido. Este choque é agora uma aliança. Este choque forçou as novas relações que emergem entre nós, os objectos e a tecnologia. Esta aliança diz-nos de forma muito clara, e isto digo eu que sou suspeito, que se o design nos dá as soluções, a tecnologia dá-nos as possibilidades. Dean da Escola de Tecnologias, Artes e Comunicação na Universidade Europeia, Vice-Reitor no IADE-U carlos.rosa@universidadeeuropeia.pt Professor Carlos Rosa
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Este futuro não-inventado é agora. Este futuro não-inventado está a ser liderado por duas áreas que cada vez mais estão a convergir: o design e a tecnologia.
BMW Vision Next 100
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How to Fix Design Twelve leading designers and creatives come together to point out what they feel is the most pressing issue in the field of design today – and how they would fix it.
No one likes dealing with problems. They force us to take a detour away from what we really want to accomplish while we stop and untangle them. But here’s the thing about problems – they’re the genesis for good ideas. They provide the opening for solutions, which in turn give you a leg up on your career. The stronger your fundamentals and core competencies are, the better position you put yourself in when you make your moves, whether it’s a play for new business or showing how your designs provide value far beyond the aesthetic layer. That’s why we’ve asked some of the world’s leading designers and creatives to point out what they feel is the most pressing issue in the field of design today – and how they would fix it. Admittedly, this is a lofty, nuanced question. And it insinuates that something is broken. Nothing is broken here, but there is always room for improvement. Like, is design too indulgent for its own good? Or maybe designers have trouble conveying their importance to clients? Or there is a lack of diversity within the industry? We gave our subjects free rein to go in whatever direction they deemed to be the most troubling, so you’ll see all of these topics and more covered in the following responses. The feedback provides a chance for self-reflection, to see if you’re guilty of any of them, while also serving as an ongoing checklist to make sure you’re doing everything you can to be at your best. 8
By Kiana St. Louis, Matt McCue and Sean Blanda Artwork by Atipus
Problem: The combination of a misguided education system and culture’s obsession with fame. Antidote: “American culture has a habit of placing too much attention on people and their stunts versus a critical focus on people’s work. Additionally, our capitalist-driven society is a tough place for people looking to develop skills in the arts. Sadly, these factors have negatively impacted how we teach design in the U.S., resulting in work that doesn’t always stand up on the world stage. For the most part the American design curriculum is either focused on self- expression to form one’s individual style and/or focused on creating portfolios full of spec work to appeal to larger marketing agencies for employment. Additionally, the cost of education is incredibly high, which only magnifies the issue with the pressures to find work to pay off student loans. Now if I had a magic wand… I would move design education out of larger institutions and into small apprentice driven collectives that utilize the age old master/Apprentice method. These collectives/micro-schools would be small gatherings of like-minded practitioners that lead workshops and have one-on-one lessons with students with a very clear teaching methodology. A curriculum focusing on typography, process-driven conceptual thinking, and workshops in artistic mediums such as photography, painting, illustration, and motion. Philosophical study that champions critical thinking and collaboration. And lastly, a deep dive into art history to ensure that students understand how political, social, and cultural ideas affect artistic expression. This could be a more effective and affordable alternative to our existing design programs. The ultimate goal is to create designers with a well-rounded skill set making them valuable in a wide-range of work environments.” Mitch Paone
– Mitch Paone, Founding Partner and Creative Director, DIA
Problem: Design cannibalism. Antidote: “The proliferation of “inspiration sites” has created an environment where design can be too reliant on surface-level visuals and not enough on the concept and strategy behind the work. Many creators are no longer looking at design’s rich history or considering the future opportunities to elevate a concept when formulating their research. As a result, design trends are recycling at astronomical rates, all at the expense of true meaning. This lack of conceptual thinking strips the work of its ability to effectively communicate, which renders it relatively worthless to both the client and the designer. To solve this problem, and produce timeless work that effectively communicates, designers must reinvigorate the meaning in their work through meticulous research and experimentation. As designers we are problem solvers, and it is our responsibility to build strong conceptual foundations, not just paint the walls of an existing structure.” – Sam Allen, John Antoski, and Dustin Koop, Partners, Wedge + Lever
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Problem: Designers can’t convey their real worth to clients. Antidote: “Once in a while you meet a client who asks tough questions and demands numbers: What do we really get? How will this help us? What has your reference project really solved? Most of the time such questions come from people with a defined business background. As design thinking emerges rapidly, design isn’t isolated from the typical deliverables regime anymore. And design as a methodology or process can solve a hell of a lot more than a beautifully crafted logo. Design as a field of work has become more specialized and more fragmented. Where Massimo Vignelli and his team helped clarify the subway system, service designers now work on how to bring the queue for cancer patients down to a minimum. Both are important, but design as a profession is growing. For too long the term design has been defined by the workings of an oldfashioned advertising industry based on campaign thinking and with thick marketing glasses on. Not that a market perspective isn’t important for a designer as well. To explain design to potential clients, investors, or collaborators, however, we need to understand our own role in business development from a team perspective and not just as consultancies. Then, we can choose which chair to sit at
and what hat to wear when we now finally have a seat at the big boys’ table. As design as a business tool finally has a seat at board meetings (alongside finance, tech and the rest), we as an industry also need to take responsibility for defining and redefining how we educate our own clients and prove our own worth. It’s about time we stop talking about the list of deliverables and start talking about our methodology. When used right, it’s both people-friendly and business-friendly. Why talk about logos when we can talk about real change in a business? It’s a lot like the New York subway system. The designers didn’t change the infrastructure – they changed the presentation and the perception. Made it accessible and helped users actually use it in the right way. It wasn’t about being cool. There’s no real reason why metrics shouldn’t apply to the design industry as well. Most of our projects always involve restructuring some sort of information to make it more understandable, functional, or efficient. Such an exercise should be applied to our own communication as design agencies as well. And here, also to take stock of our limitations. What are we actually good at, and what kind of working environments do we fit into? I don’t believe every medium-size agency can solve any kind of graphic design task in a good way. Embrace specialization and embrace collaboration. On a day-to-day basis we designers get a unique insight and perspective into a huge variety of industries we can learn from. Bring design into them as a methodology, more than a deliverable. It’s rational; it’s not art.” – Mathias Hovet, Managing Partner, Heydays 10
“Price list” Photographer unknown
Problem: The public doesn’t truly understand what exactly the design industry does. Antidote: “Most people where I live are ignorant about graphic design because the discipline was popularized circa 1970, so it is still quite new. Indonesia is a growing country where agriculture plays an important role in driving the economy, so design is considered a less important element in building the country, even though the government is starting to promote the creative economy. To fix this problem up, professional designers, including myself, have created the Indonesian Graphic Designer Association, a member-based organization with a business development department that has started approaching the Indonesian government to try and collaborate with them. In the past couple years, we have collaborated on the 2018 Asian Games (to be held in Jakarta) and new signage for Jakarta’s mass rapid transit system. By doing this, we are opening the public’s mind about what graphic design is all about and showing the importance of design in everyday Indonesian life.”
Thinking Room Team
– Eric Widjaja, Creative Director, Thinking Room
Problem: The space is suffering from a bad case of look-alike syndrome. Antidote: “As I see it, there are three big problems in the online space right now: too much design looks the same, too much of it seems to happen in a silo independent of other factors, and it’s too wrapped up in looking pretty rather than working hard. At Jam3, we try to avoid that by challenging our design teams to articulate the real intent behind everything they’re doing. If a designer can’t concisely describe their design decisions, we’ll push back until they can. For us, “it looks great” is a requirement, but it’s not a rationale. Design intent for us goes beyond aesthetics and includes describing how the proposed design will help with the client’s business challenges and how it will come to life in the development phase. If it’s going to be a pain in the ass to develop, there better be a good reason. Working this way and really pushing on the question of intent is harder up front, but it pays dividends in the product, the process, and ultimately in the bottom line, too.” – Greg Bolton, Creative Director, Jam3 11
Problem: Clearly articulating how design touches every aspect of the business spectrum. Antidote: “Design isn’t a “thing.” It’s a process. It’s everything. I don’t think you can compartmentalize each phase. Or hand off parts of the process and portions of the work from one department to another. Great designers are part of the full journey. Design, above all else, is about solving problems. Used correctly (which is to say strategically), design, as described by Paul Rand and Philip Kotler, “is a potent strategy tool that companies can use to gain a sustainable competitive advantage.” I’ve always liked that line of thinking. Great designers are great thinkers—they are business-minded. I fear that the more we silo our thinking (and this discipline), the more likely that design will be seen as little more than the aesthetic layer—as superficial as wallpaper.” – Dave Snyder, Executive Creative Director, Firstborn YSL website by Firstborn
Problem: The dualistic nature of the designer’s ego. We love and hate ourselves — designers are masters of arrogant insecurity. Antidote: “We so often think of ourselves as brilliant auteurs who are changing the world with every mouse click, altering the course of human existence through our decisions and design solutions. We believe that our insight is critical to every decision about everything, as we shape the world in every conceivable way. At the same time, designers are frightened of not being taken seriously by anyone who is not a designer. We collectively lose our shit at being asked to work for “exposure,” constantly complain about how bad our clients are, and lament how companies did not consult every single designer on earth about their new rebranding. Designers can combat our arrogant insecurity by developing a more considered and meaningful relationship with our creative practice, specifically by examining and understanding the internal dialogue and relationship we should have with our work. We need to think deeply about the whys and hows, we need to understand our process, influences, and preferences, and we must be accountable to ourselves with what we are making. Then we can have a clear sense of how our creative practice can and should relate to everyone else, without being pompous or self-conscious.” – Mitch Goldstein, Assistant Professor of Design, Rochester Institute of Technology 12
Problem: The problem is that the design school curriculum is a lot slower than the speed of technology evolution. Antidote: “We’re seeing a lot of problems. The new issues are brought forth through digital technology and open the window of thinking. For example, there are so many different apps that profoundly change the way we live, how we shop, how we eat, how we get around, and these things weren’t even possible back in the day. But now, with digital technology, we’re able to open our imagination. It’s a double-edged sword. That’s the good part of it, but at the same time, because of the extremeness of it, other points of view become really pigeonholed by it. Design has been around since the very beginning of mankind, but I think there is this incredible demand for designers on UX/UI products. This demand has become such an incredible force in the field of design, as well as design education, that people forget to go back to the very fundamental question: What is classical design training? There are a lot of problems that we need to solve that are not necessarily rooted in the contemporary UX/UI approach. Design thinking, which is a very trendy thing right now, is a step-by-step process to kind of teach you design. But what it doesn’t teach you is how to actually think about problems through the lens of design. And that’s because it really comes down to the program, or the design of the curriculum itself. It needs to have strong classical training, but then that training needs to be put into the context of today’s media landscape, and it’s really up to the schools and the professors to do that. If time allows, I would create an integrated program for graduates and undergraduates that could bridge the gap.” – Natasha Jen, Partner, Pentagram
Problem: Those of us who consider ourselves part of that design world tend to view it too narrowly. Antidote: “Identifying the biggest problem in the design world is tricky because I’m not sure what “the design world” even means in the first place. An interior designer and a user interface designer are both designers, but they run into vastly different problems on a daily basis. Who’s to say which of these problems is the “biggest”? As much as we’d like to regroup these vastly different fields under a single grand unified theory of design, the truth is that what makes any designer great is precisely an intimate familiarity with the idiosyncrasies of their own specific craft. Yet sooner or later, all designers will get stuck at some point in their work. And that’s where considering ideas from other disciplines can become so valuable in helping you to move forward.” Instead of assuming every other designer out there is more or less like us, let’s remember that design is a discipline with literally hundreds of branches, and that we have a lot to learn from even our most distant cousins.” – Sacha Grief, Freelance Design and Coding Problem: Natasha Jen
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There’s a lack of diversity within design
schools. Antidote: “This creates a domino effect, pulling from the same pool of people, pulling from the same kind of class. We’re accepting the same kind of class, with a disposable income that can afford to send their kids to a certain kind of school or live in a certain kind of city – it’s a cycle. If I could change one thing, I would try to make the design world less self-reflective, and I’d try to inject more hubris and humility into the design world. I’d try to encourage designers to find more balance and to not be completely obsessed with design all the time, to have a better foundation in the real world. There’s a real disconnect from reality when you get into the real design world and that extends to designers making publications for other designers and having the pressure to have this perfect looking Instagram or Tumblr or Twitter account. Like, is that the point of design? I don’t think it is. I wish there was more curiosity in the design world.” – Lindsay Ballant, Creative Director, Foreign Policy Problem: Lindsay Ballant
Too quick to action. Sometimes our instinct
is to start with aesthetics before fully understanding the problem. Antidote: “We have a tendency to focus on the wrong thing first. This is partly because for a long time our job was poorly defined, but it’s also because we’ve perpetuated the focus of pixels over problem-solving. This, in turn, leads us to fall in love with our solutions instead of the problems were trying to solve. A designer’s first step should always be to understand the problem. Understand all of its intricacies, its audience, its origin, its impact. Get used to it. Fall in love with it. Make sure it’s well-defined because that will often lead to a better solution. How do get a more defined problem? Ask a lot of questions. This was something I was taught early in my career that has stuck with me. The more you ask, the more you’ll understand. Sometimes this process might even help you avoid pointless projects, as the repeated questions might help the stakeholder realize it’s not a problem to begin with. That’s in your best interest. Who wants to waste their time?” – Jared Erondu, Product Designer and Advisor Problem: Clearly defining what design means. 14
Antidote: “We have design of the thing, the artifact (which people consider more art-based and visual) versus design as a methodology, which is problem solving. All of that falls under the umbrella of design, but I think when you use the term design generally, it gets confusing to people. Part of this is educating people on all the phases and methodologies of design, with the idea that designers are not just the individuals doing it, that it takes a team of people to create a product or service that is valuable. You have to teach people about how all these interdisciplinary skills work together. There are a number of high-end programs you can go to to learn about design, but part of fixing design is making the education process start earlier and offering it across public education, so that we’re now making critical thinking and problem solving accessible to a wider audience. Right now you already have to know about the design industry to understand it, but there’s a huge subset of people that don’t even know that this exists, that it’s something beyond just visual design.” – Doreen Lorenzo, Director for the Center of Integrated Design, University of Texas
Doreen Lorenzo, University of Texas
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O Espelho de Eva Imagem e “iliteracia visual” As Imagens tornaram-se uma forma de poder. Potenciam poder económico neste mercado global, mas também fornecem sistemas de controlo e coacção. Tal como num imaginário geralmente associado ao universo feminino, a vida moderna desdobra-se num vasto mundo da visualidade, e quase todos os aspectos do quotidiano são fotografados, filmados, ou registados em imagens, o que possibilita um sistema crescente de apropriação do real. Dos grandes acontecimentos, aos mais vulgares, todos são passíveis da sua conversão em imagens reais, ou virtuais, indo ao ponto de, através de programas televisivos sites da internet, ou redes sociais, fomentar necessidades de satisfação da simples visualização do banal. E, se qualquer assunto é possível de se transformar em imagem, também as novas tecnologias permitem o seu acesso, a sua vulgarização e até a sua transformação. Qualquer pessoa tem à sua disposição um computador, um acesso à internet, uma máquina digital, um smartphone com câmara, ou um simples scanner, que lhe permite uma rápida obtenção de qualquer tipo de imagem, mas também a possibilidade de as criar, controlar, alterar e transformar. Não obstante o aumento global desta “visualização” à escala mundial, são também cada vez mais os opositores a esta tendência, e os riscos que ela parece comportar. Tal como para Platão, que já apelava para os perigos da Arte, comparando-os precisamente com a “falsidade” da maquilhagem nas mulheres, a base do visual é olhada como suspeita, como excessivamente “espectacular”, e que pode produzir manipulações ideológicas, regressões libidinosas, ou simulações demasiado sedutoras. Esta atitude de suspeita em relação às imagens, é ainda hoje manifesta
em declarações como as de Frederic Jameson, quando afirma que “o visual é essencialmente pornográfico”, e assente num mero fascínio desmiolado. Por outro lado, critica-se também o perigo resultante da não distinção entre realidade e fantasia, nomeadamente devido ao sucesso da chamada “realidade virtual”, fomentada pelas novas tecnologias, onde a imagem se mantém predominante. A imagem da tentação, a nova Eva, é virtual, e a sua maçã tem um logotipo da Apple. O que é interessante, é a realidade parecer estar a copiar a ficção. De facto, a manipulação da imagem, passa do virtual para o real. A generalização (senão mesmo banalização) das clínicas e cirurgias estéticas, e a vontade de manipular o código genético, não é senão a Vida a copiar a Arte? Não há em nós uma bruxa que se quer tornar Cinderela? Os novos avatares da Real Life tornada numa outra Barbieland? As novas tecnologias do visual, carecem assim de uma nova forma de escolaridade, de uma espécie de “alfabetização da visualidade”, como forma de proporcionar a capacidade para entender e interpretar o fluxo de informação visual que absorvemos diariamente nos mais diversos suportes e media. Esta “educação visual”, torna-se assim uma capacidade fundamental da idade da informação, sem a qual seremos incapazes de lidar com o real, tanto como profissionais, quer como indivíduos. É por isso que é sempre de aplaudir projectos que, através da divulgação e da promoção de temas de reflexão, possam contribuir para o fomento e compreensão dos fenómenos da visualidade, combatendo assim a, cada vez mais generalizada, “iliteracia visual”.
Professor Nuno Saldanha
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Ilustração, O Espelho de Eva, Adriano Coelho
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O regresso aos relógios antigos A loja quase minúscula gira à volta de três vitrinas, um balcão e relógios. Muitos relógios. Grandes, pequenos, de pulso, de pé. No Lugar do Tempo, a expressão “o tempo é o que se faz com ele” assenta como uma luva. O dono, Pedro Machado, 49 anos, formou-se em design gráfico no IADE, mas sempre se interessou por mecânica: “tudo o que é mecânico mexe comigo. A minha família sempre esteve ligada aos automóveis. Depois do curso fui trabalhar para a Guerin, que tinha cursos de formação profissional, e onde aprendi a reparar motores de automóveis”. Numa vida de “muitas voltas”, saltou dos motores e voltou à ilustração. Ocupou a função de gráfico residente no Teatro Municipal de Almada e aí conheceu um importador de relógios russo: “Era representante da Palhot e tinha uma relojoaria lá perto. Fui lá arranjar um relógio e começámos a falar. Depois de ter percebido o que eu fazia pediu-me para o ajudar no lançamento oficial da marca
em Portugal”. O lançamento correu bem e a directora de exportação da marca convidou-o a visitar a fábrica em Moscovo: “Pediram-me logo para fazer uns expositores para uma feira em Hong Kong”. Passou dois anos na capital russa, e a aprender a mexer a sério em relógios. “Comprava relógios antigos nas feiras e reparava-os na fábrica. Entrei mais dentro da mecânica. O primeiro relógio que desmontei foi na Rússia”. Apaixonouse de imediato: “Foi a partir do momento que comecei a perceber como aquilo tudo funcionava”. Voltou de Moscovo e foi trabalhar numa oficina de recuperação de relógios, com um mestre. Ficou dez anos a aprender e aperfeiçoar aquela que viria a ser a sua arte, até ter adquirido competências suficientes para abrir a sua própria oficina. Desse tempo lembra-se que para ele “o mestre era um deus na oficina”. Pedro escolheu especializar-se no restauro de relógios antigos: “Não gosto muito dos modernos. Aí a ideia é mais substituir peças”. Os antigos são um desafio maior:
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“É a possibilidade de poder reparar, recuperar a máquina. Um bocado como nos carros. A mecânica é mais desafiante, mais robusta”. O que gosta nestes objectos é ver a complexidade com que “aliam a forma à função”. “É absolutamente cativante. Os relógios têm uma mística muito especial”, de várias “disciplinas”: “Reúne escultura, grafismo, mecânica… Um bocado como a ópera está para a música.” Há seis anos, abriu a sua própria loja, no bairro de Campo de Ourique. O Lugar do Tempo começou por ser um espaço de coleccionismo e relojoaria em simultâneo. No entanto durou pouco tempo: “Começou a entrar tanto trabalho que esqueci o coleccionismo e tive que me agarrar à bancada”. À bancada, no singular: “Enquanto nos carros são precisas instalações grandes, muito investimento em ferramentas, nos relógios basta uma salinha pequena”. Aproveitou os restos de materiais de relojoarias que iam fechando: “As ferramentas antigas eram de muita boa
qualidade e a maior parte delas podiam ser arranjadas, tal como os relógios”. Estar bem equipado é fundamental. “A pior coisa é estarmos a reparar um relógio, precisar de uma ferramenta, e não a ter. É um desespero. Há muito tempo não tinha uma chave especial para afinar os Rolex, uma chave estrela. Agora já tenho”. Também nas ferramentas a antiguidade é um posto: “Na loja utilizo um torno mecânico antigo a pedal metido na bancada. São ambos dos anos 1930. Na oficina tenho um torno moderno, a motor, mas gosto mais do da loja. Temos um controlo diferente.” Nestes poucos anos, viu o negócio mudar. As marcas já não vendem peças para fora, querem acabar com a relojoaria independente: “Antes ia à Omega e comprava as peças que precisava. Hoje, já não, querem ser eles a reparar os relógios. Em alguns países, como a Austrália, ainda se consegue comprar, mas são uma excepção”. A procura por relógios antigos tem aumentado na última década: “Dantes eram de uso diário, de corda, toda a gente tinha um. Havia imenso trabalho para os
relojoeiros. Isso acabou com os relógios de pilhas nos anos 60 e a massificação. Era mais simples comprar um relógio novo do que mandar reparar um antigo. Só nos anos 90 é que o relógio mecânico ressurgiu. Hoje há cada vez mais procura, tanto a nível de coleccionismo como de pessoas que querem uma peça diferente, que tenha qualquer coisa lá dentro que não um gadget”, afiança Pedro. A personalização destes objectos - uma peça montada à mão, afinada por alguém - está na base deste regresso ao passado: “Esta foi a principal mudança na indústria. Também ajuda o facto de os relógios serem quase a única jóia usada por homens”, sublinha o relojoeiro. Pedro Machado não tem dúvidas sobre as máquinas de eleição: cronógrafos Breitling dos anos 40 ou 50, Rolex das décadas de 1910, 20 e 30, e relógios ingleses do século XVIII, a suíça Certina (“tem uns movimentos fabulosos e a qualidade da manufactura é fenomenal”), e o primeiro Speedmaster, que é o relógio mais conhecido da Omega, de 1957. “O modelo actual tem o mesmo design do de 1965. Quando é bem conseguido é
intemporal”. Os breitlings, rolexs e omegas são também os relógios que mais aparecem para reparação. “Toda a oficina está vocacionada para esse tipo de relógios”, com direito a algumas excepções: “Não quer dizer que não pegue em relógios modernos, de vez em quando faço-o. Mas quando vejo que não, encaminho-os para colegas que estão mais à vontade com máquinas modernas”. Tenta ter sempre solução para quem entra na loja e arrepia-se quando lhe pedem para meter uma máquina a pilhas dentro de um relógio mecânico. “Vai contra tudo aquilo em que acredito!” Mas o que acontece mais frequentemente é pedirem-lhe para reparar o relógio de um avô. “Pergunto sempre se querem de volta um relógio novo ou se o deixo tal como se lembravam dele no pulso dos familiares. A maior parte opta pela segunda. Limpo a máquina toda, fica com um aspecto “lavadinho”, mas nota-se que os anos passaram”. O designer gráfico-relojoeiro também tem um. “Deixei-o como era. Só lhe reparei o movimento”. André Vasconcelos e Sá
No bairro de Campo de Ourique há um sítio onde o tempo anda para trás. Os relógios antigos reinam e Pedro Machado conserta o tempo dos outros. 19
Designing the Next Generation of Condom Packaging What can condoms teach us about design, creativity, and entrepreneurship in a field where innovation faces a regulatory roadblock? Turns out, quite a lot. Because when you all but can’t change the actual product, you’re forced to rethink everything around it.
It’s hard to make a splash in condoms, despite it being a vital industry for public health that is projected, according to a May report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc., to comprise 48.5 billion units for a total market of $8 billion by 2022. The humble rubber sheaths are federally regulated as medical devices by the Food and Drug Administration. That puts innovators in the cockamamie poppycock position of
needing something in the ballpark of at least $5 million just to do human trials. The problem is clear: There is a real need to make a next generation condom that is easier to use, stigma-free and more visually appealing, but the product is tightly controlled by government guidelines. And the cost of trying to rethink the product itself is like playing high stakes poker with a buy in that is out of reach for most people. 20
That financial thorn is what poked holes in Mark McGlothin’s condom dreams. McGlothin won $100,000 as part of a 2013 Gates Foundation Global Grand Challenges contest to usher in a “next-generation condom” to turn the tide on condom use (worldwide, only 5 percent of men use them). Three years later, McGlothin has about a dozen collagen-based prototypes but is legally bound not to let anyone use them — despite having sunk about
by tweaking largely presumed packaging traditions. For one, their condoms open with buttercup wrappers — picture butter or grape jelly containers at a diner — that peel back without any of the tooth-and-nail approach seen in condoms’ classic tearable pouches. And because the condoms lay flat in the container, they’re always right-side up (no unrolling the condom a bit to see if you’re doing it the right way). “We’ve joked it’s the hipster condom, the artisanal condom, the bespoke condom,” Gaines said. “But no. It’s not that. It’s about taking the part we’re kinda stuck with because of the FDA and changing the relationship since we can’t change the technology. We’re able to do these minor things that actually do a lot of heavy lifting in the anxiety battle. It transforms anxiety into power. It’s like a training bra.
$60,000 of his own money and 2,000 hours of sweat equity into it. “It’s completely unfair,” he said. “I recently saw a speech by Peter Thiel that called this out: our progress in the world of bits and bytes, which is light-years ahead of where it was even a few years ago, versus our progress in the world of atoms, of actual objects — cars, drugs, condoms, buildings, whatever — which is stuck where it was decades ago because of all this regulation and oversight.” McGlothin was no random contestant. In the 1980s, buttressed by a $1.3 million National Institutes of Health grant and a matching sum from a family planning nonprofit, he developed Avanti, a polyisoprene, non-latex condom now used by industry heavyweight Durex. He is condoms’ Steve Jobs or Elon Musk, but is stuck living as the industry’s Nikola Tesla, his San Diego office stocked with blocked ideas and contraband prototypes. But not all condom stories are so blue. In 2013, the same year McGlothin hit his brick wall, Tiffany Gaines, then a graduate student in design for social innovation at New York’s School of Visual Arts, partnered with Claire Courtney, who was working with homeless teens in Los Angeles. The condom company they formed together, Lovability, has enjoyed wild creative success. Unable to change much about the condoms themselves — although they source “fresh” latex that has a 12-week trunk-to-junk life — the entrepreneurs triggered major changes 21
It allows for a fuller, more comfortable conversation.” The packages are stored in small round tins, like breath mints. “It’s unusual enough and discreet enough that someone can drop it out of her purse in an ice cream parlor full of kids and nobody is going to gasp,” said Gaines. “That is huge. We took it out of that hyper-sexual, hyper-clinical pharmacy space where it’s on an aisle with Band-Aids, cough syrup, and adult diapers. It needs to be more like lipstick, something that makes you feel sexier and braver and bolder when you use it.” Lovability is huge on feedback to avoid unnecessary or unhelpful designs that beleaguer products targeted to women, from the so-called “pink tax” to the inanity of, say, Bic’s “for her” line of pens. Alternately, the Lelo Hex condom of tessellating hexagons is bro-y both in its aesthetic and its marketing. Unafraid of targeting a younger audience, Debbie Martín, cofounder of design studio The Woork Co. in Madrid, flipped condoms’ packaging by putting the instructions on the condom’s wrapper and boxing it in a nondescript bright container for client Confortex. “We wanted it to look less like cough syrup and more like bubble gum,”
she said. “Now the condom looks — and feels — less like medicine and more like candy. You want it more.” But what happens if the packaging sports fruits and vegetables? Will consumers still want it more? National Taipei University of Technology student Guan-Hao Pan thinks so. He has developed a prototype line of condoms called Love Guide to address the issue of men buying ill-fitting condoms. Rather that packaging his condoms in a square box and wrapper, Pan has gone with elongated packaging, using different fruits and vegetables as context for size. “Each package is different in diameter and specified with a
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color as well as a label: cucumber, carrot, banana, turnip, and zucchini,” writes Pan. “Holding the package makes it much easier for buyers to determine which size fits them the best.” Designers are also asking their users to weigh in on what’s on the packaging. Take One Condoms. Sure, One’s pouches are round instead of square and have one tear spot instead of a miniature picket fence of vulnerabilities. But what’s key to One’s strategy is what’s on the wrappers. The word “One” is incidental to lavish, colorful illustrations commissioned by street artists, giving the condoms the allure
Sir Richard’s Condom Collection
and collectibility of Pokémon or pogs. It’s not as gimmicky as it might sound. “A glowin-the-dark condom may sound like a joke,” said One Condoms senior director of brand strategy Jared Maraio, “But not if it allows a conversation about wearing a condom that might be too nerve-racking or offensive with a normal condom.” Every three months or so, One releases new designs, which have been voted on online. The result is not just their sneaker-style collectibility but that condoms become much cooler and more approachable. “It’s selfexpression,” said Maraio. “It’s emotion. It’s power. It’s art. And so it’s designed to evolve with public attitudes and trends.” The condom maker might partner with Tom of Finland or exhibit in Urban Outfitters. But they’re very targeted. And whereas public health campaigns can creep slowly over years, One’s approach allows for radical shifts in the somber I’mthe-rubber-you’re-the-gloom scene of an STD clinic or middle school sex ed class almost immediately. “We can do different designs for urban markets or gay markets or whatever,” said Maraio. It’s working. One now partners with 3,500 public health organizations and recently were acquired by Karex, a blue-chip condom manufacturer, with plans to expand the 55 condom sizes available in the United States to the full 66 sizes offered in Europe. Meanwhile, McGlothin, in his San Diego office, bemoans the small victories with which those in the condom industry must make do. “Ten million dollars would accomplish exactly what Bill Gates tried to do,” he said. “But now I won’t even listen to someone offering just another $1 million. It just wouldn’t work. It’s not an industry where million-dollar ideas have power anymore.” 23
Tiago Galo é um ilustrador português baseado em Lisboa. Ele começou o seu trabalho como ilustrador em pequenas exibições e fanzines mesmo antes de terminar a sua licenciatura, em arquitetura, na Universidade Técnica de Lisboa. Em 2011 ganhou o prémio de melhor comic no concurso Amadora BD. Em 2014 terminou o curso de Direção de Arte pela Edit Creative School em Lisboa. Depois de alguns anos a trabalhar como arquiteto, Tiago entra numa busca interior e retorna a trabalhar como ilustrador. Atualmente trabalha como freelancer ilustradore designer.
Alguns dos seus clientes inclui The Hollywood Reporter, Casa da Música e Canadian Business Magazine.
Este mês encontrarmo-nos com Tiago Galo, um dos mais recentes artistas da actualidade. Como é que crias as tuas ilustrações? Trabalhas digitalmente desde o inicio ou começas por desenhar no papel primeiro? How do you create your artwork? Do you work digitally from the start, or do you sketch on paper first? Eu normalmente começo por fazer esboços de ideias em papel, que estão a marinar na minha cabeça. É por isso que tenho sempre uma caneta comigo, porque eu nunca sei quando as ideias vão surgir. Depois disso eu scaneo e trabalho em cima do esboço com uma caneta digital e um programa de vectores. It usually starts from sketching out ideas that I previously had marinating in my head. That’s why I always keep a pen nearby, cause I never know when something is ready to come out. After that I scan it and work on top of the sketch with a digital pen and a vector program. Zines e comics têm feito parte do teu trabalho ao longo dos anos. Fala-nos um pouco dos teu projetos anteriores na área e o
que eles representam para ti. Tens planos de continuar a cria mais comis no futuro? Zines and comics have played a bit part in your work throughout the years. Tell us a little about your previous projects in this field and what they mean to you. Do you have any plans to create any more comics in the future? Na minha infância eu cresci a ler bandas desenhadas, primeiro as de super-heróis tais como X-men e Batman, depois quando fiquei mais velho ganhei interesse em banda desenhadas mais maduras tais como, Corto Maltese de Hugo Pratt ou Ghost World de Daniel Clowes (eu era uma criança muito hiperativa como podes ver). Foi uma questão de tempo até eu queres desenhar e criar as minhas próprias estórias. Eu comecei com alguns amigos por fazer pequenas fanzines caseiras e a colaborar em publicações escolares. Mais tarde eu entrei em alguns concursos e consegui publicar alguns trabalhos. Eu tive que colocar a banda desenhada de parte quando comecei a minha
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licenciatura em arquitetura e depois quando comecei a trabalhar como arquiteto, mas em 2011 eu voltei a concorrer e ganhei o premio na maior concurso de banda desenhada em Portugal, Amadora BD. Depois disso não podia mais ignorar a paixão por comics, mesmo agora estando mais envolvido no trabalho de ilustração, estou sempre disponível para outros projetos na área. As a kid I grew up reading comic books, first the super-hero ones like X-men and Batman, and then as I got older I got interested in reading more mature ones like Corto Maltese by Hugo Pratt or Ghost World by Daniel Clowes (I was a very eclectic kid as you can see). So it was just a matter of time until I wanted to draw and create my own stories. I started out with some friends making small homemade fanzines and collaborating with school publications. Later on I eventually entered some competitions and got some stuff published. I had to put all this aside when I took my architecture degree and started to work as an architect, but I gave it another go in 2011 and won a major comic competition in Portugal
“Houseplant Explorer� I feel like an explorer every time my wife asks me to water the plants. Tiago Galo
called Amadora BD. After that I couldn’t ignore it anymore, and even though right now I’m more involved with illustration work, I always keep myself available for new projects in that field. Tem uma licenciatura em Arquitetura e uma outra em Direção de Arte. O que te levou a decidir que ilustração é realmente o que queres fazer e como é que isto influência e inspira te nas tuas ilustrações actualmente? You have a degree in Architecture and Art Direction. What made you decide it was illustration you really wanted to do and how do these subjects inspire your illustration work today?
que eu aprendi com arquitetura têm tido um grande impacto na forma como eu faço as coisas hoje em dia, não só esteticamente mas especialmente como eu consigo tornar uma ideia ou um briefing em algo real. Eu sempre digo que toda a decisão que eu tomei até este ponto, até mesmo a forma em como calço os sapatos de manha, levou me aqui, a responder a esta entrevista. I remember studying the Bauhaus movement at school and thinking: “Wow! These guys rock!”. The way art, architecture and design could be influenced by one another made perfect sense to me, so when I decided to get into architecture I always got my mind set on doing other stuff and experimenting
Quais os outros artistas que tu admiras e porquê? What other artists do you admire and why? Eu tenho bastante influencias e artistas que eu admiro, não só na área de comics e ilustração mas também, e expecialmente, em cinema. Pessoas como o Wes Anderson e Buster Keaton sempre me deram confiança de que é possível fazer coisas diferentes e não me conformar com o “normal” ou o convencional. Eu gosto de ver trabalho que me faz sentir assim. Para ser honesto eu sou influenciado por tanta coisa que é difícil para mim dizer qual o artista que eu mais admiro. I’ve got lots of influences and artists that I admire, not only in the comics and illustration field but also, and especially, in cinema. People like Wes Anderson and Buster Keaton always gave me a sense that it’s possible to make things differently and not to just settle for what’s “normal” or conventional. I like to see work that makes me feel that way. But to be honest I get influenced by so many different things that it’s difficult to say which artists I admire most. Onde encontras ideias para o teu trabalho? Na maioria, a mistura do quotidiano e do surrealismo é bastante interessante. Where do you get the ideas for your work? Much of it mixes the everyday and the surreal in a very interesting way.
“Leap Of Faith“ She bet with her friends that she was going to jump in that deep blue lake and she did. She didn´t resurfaced. A couple of weeks later we all got a wedding invitation from her and Aquaman.
Eu lembro me de estudar o movimento Bauhaus na universidade e pensar: “Wow! Eles são muito bons!” A forma em que a arte, arquitetura e o design podem ser influenciados um pelo outro faz perfeito sentido para mim, por isso quando eu decidi fazer arquitetura eu sempre tive em mente em fazer outras coisas e experimentar com outros matérias e técnicas. No entanto, ao trabalhar com arquitetura tornou-se uma experiência bastante intensa, sem deixar tempo para outras coisas. Eventualmente tive que deixar arquitetura para traz, e estudar direção de arte pareceu me o excelente caminho para seguir design e ilustração, mas certamente o
with different things. In the end, working as an architect turned out to be such an intense experience that really didn’t leave any space for other things to happen. So eventually I had to leave architecture behind, and studying art direction seemed a great way to get back on track and pursue design and illustration. But of course all I’ve learned as an architect has had a huge impact on the way I get things done today, not only aesthetically speaking, but especially in the way I manage to turn an idea or brief into something real. I always say that every decision I’ve made up until this point, even the way I tied my shoe laces in the morning, got me here, answering this interview. 26
Eu estou sempre a ter ideia estranhas nos sítios mais comuns e situações do dia-adia. Uma simples viagem de metro ou uma caminhada à noite com o meu cão pode se tornar numa “piñata” cheia de ideias. Eu tenho a tendência de observar pessoas onde quer que eu esteja (sim, eu sou um desses) e não há nada mais surreal e fascinante que a forma da maioria das pessoas se comporta. Incluindo me a mim próprio. I’m always getting odd ideas in the most common places and everyday situations. A simple trip on the subway or a late night walk with my dog can turn into a “piñata” full of ideas. I tend to observe people everywhere I go (yeah I’m that guy) and there’s nothing more surreal and fascinating than the way most people behave. Including myself. Lisboa é uma cidade tão bonita para se viver! Tu deves achar todos esses edifícios coloridos e azulejos padronizados bastante inspirador. O que achas da tua cidade e como é o ambiente criativo? Lisbon is such a beautiful city to live in! You must find all of those colourful buildings and patterned tiles very inspiring. What do you love about your city and is there much of a creative scene? É inspirador viver aqui, especialmente na forma como Lisboa se apresenta para ti, juntando tanta influencia cultural e arquitectónica. Podes ver que há muita coisa
“Chest Hair Balade� The hair on my chest reminds me of that time at the sea when I fell in love with myself. Tiago Galo
que aconteceu aqui ao longo dos anos, é uma cidade em camadas e cada uma tem uma estória diferente para te contar. Nos recentes anos tem havido muito mais coisas a acontecer artisticamente, especialmente na arte urbana. Uma simples caminhada pela cidade pode tornar se numa visita artística com murais feitos por artistas internacionais. It’s quite inspiring living here, especially the way Lisbon introduces itself to you, gathering so much cultural and architectonic influences. You can sense that a lot has gone on here throughout the ages. It’s a layered city and each one has a different story to tell. In the last few years there’s been a lot more going on in the art scene, especially in urban art. A simple walk in the city can easily turn into an art tour with murals made by great international artists.
Qual seria o teu trabalho de sonho ou comissão? What would be your dream job or commission? Realisticamente falando, eu penso que qualquer trabalho que proporcione o reconhecimento do meu trabalho, como meu próprio, por qualquer pessoa que o veja, já é um trabalho de sonho. Irrealisticamente falando, ter as minhas ilustrações numa nave espacial envida para o espaço com cumprimentos para qualquer vida alienista que possa velos. Realistically speaking, I think that any job that gives me the opportunity to get my work recognised as mine by anyone who sees it would already be a dream job. Unrealistically speaking, having my illustrations on a spacecraft sent to space with greetings to any alien life that could get them out there.
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Top left: “Wrong Kind Of People“ Cotton candy always attracts the wrong kind of people. Tiago Galo Middle: “Back Pocket“ My father always warned me that pretty girls carry the devil in their back pockets. Tiago Galo Bottom left: “Street Lamp Pole Dancing“ I have this friend that can´t help herself every time she sees street lamps. A simple walk into the bakery usually ends in a cabaret show. Tiago Galo Right: “Streactly Business” Don´t judge me as an asshole. Judge me as a business man. Originally published on The Hollywood Reporter Magazine. Tiago Galo
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Perry’s rich and detailed works draw the viewer in through their various narratives.
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Grayson Perry Grayson Perry é um artista contemporâneo conhecido pelos seus vasos decorativos de cerâmica. O seu trabalho contem predominantemente uma narrativa autobiográfica que detalha uma infância problemática e muitas vezes o seu travesti alter ego, Claire. O seu trabalho explora temáticas de género e sociedade através de pinturas e gravuras aplicadas em objector esculturais de barro, fundindo a forma clássica da urna com folclore e iconografia contemporânea. Nascido a 24 de Março de 1960 em Chelmsford, Inglaterra, Perry graduou-se em Portsmouth Polytechic com um Bacharel em Artes Plásticas em 1982. Logo depois inscreveu-se num curso póslaboral de cerâmica, um ano depois começou a fazer os seus vasos carismaticos. Em 2003, Perry foi o primeiro ceramista a ganhas o Turner Prize. Actualmente vive e trabalhar em Londres, Inglaterra, o Ceramista, Artista Têxtil, Escultor e Gravurista, foi premiado o titulo de Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire em 2013.
“Perry was the first ceramicist to win the Turner Prize.” Grayson Perry is a contemporary British artist best known for his decorated ceramic vessels. His work contains a prominent autobiographical narrative that details a troubled childhood and often features his transvestite alter ego, Claire. His work explores themes of gender and society through both paintings and etched images transferred onto clay sculptural objects, fusing the Classical form of the urn with folk and contemporary iconography. Born on March 24, 1960 in Chelmsford, England, Perry graduated from Portsmouth Polytechnic with a BA in fine arts in 1982. After enrolling in an evening pottery course, he began to make his signature pots a year later. In 2003, Perry was the first ceramicist to win the Turner Prize. Currently living and working in London, England the potter, textile artist, sculptor, and printmaker, was awarded the title of Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 2013. 31
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“#Lamentation”, The Vanity of Small Differences, Grayson Perry 2012
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“The Rosetta Vase” Who Wre You?, Grayson Perry 2011
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“Glazed pot represents modern family”, Who Are You?, Grayson Perry 2011
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“The Annunciation of the Virgin Deal”, The Vanity of Small Differences, Grayson Perry 2012
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Mohau Modisakeng
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Mohau Modisakeng was born in 1986 in Soweto, Johannesburg, where he grew up. He currently lives and works between Johannesburg and Cape Town. Modisakeng completed his undergraduate degree at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, Cape Town in 2009 and will be continuing his Masters degree at Colombia University NY in 2016. His work has been exhibited at the Sydney Biennale (2016), the 55th Venice Biennale (2015), MOCADA, Brooklyn New York (2015), Kunstraum Innsbruck, Austria (2015), the Museum of Fine Art, Boston (2014); 21C Museum, Kentucky, Massachusetts (2014); IZIKO South African National Gallery, Cape Town (2014); Saatchi Gallery, London (2012); and the Dak’Art Biennale, Dakar (2012). His work has been placed in numerous private collections both locally and internationally. Public Collections include the Johannesburg Art Gallery, IZIKO South African National Gallery, Saatchi Gallery and Zeitz MOCAA. More info at www.mohaumodisakengstudio.com
In Mohau Modisakeng’s work, the personal is political. Informed by his experience as a young boy in Soweto at the cross roads of a violent political transition, Modisakeng – this year’s Standard Bank Artist for Visual Art – uses memory as a portal between past and present to explore themes of history, body and place within the post –apartheid context. His photography, films, performance and installation grapple with the conflicting politics of leadership and nationhood, whilst also attempting to unpack the legacy of inequality, capital, labour and extraction of mineral wealth in contemporary South Africa. Premiering at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown June 2016 Lefa La Ntate represents a poignant moment of grieving, catharsis and critical response to the historical legacy of exploitation and current lived
experience of many black South Africans. Through his work Modisakeng critically engages with the complex mechanisms of violence, power and subjugation as propagated and to some extent internalized through the course of the successive colonial, apartheid and post apartheid regimes. Hauntingly evoked through Modisakeng’s signature crystalline imagery, impressions of memory and experience are exhaled like a breath captured in film and photography. Modisakeng uses a personal lexicon of ritual and symbolism in which his physical form becomes both a vessel and a signifier. His use of his own body is a significant shift away from the problematic depiction of the other and is a gesture of self-actualisation and acknowledgment of subjective experience.
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