[anti-][syn-]thesis by Lehu Zhang

ttention on importance of ation of space, surface and s, and excluded all things vant to these factors. graphy is an excellent carrier cumenting life. In the 0:00 59, I have used photos as my material to explain my ies of the day. In this project, pted a similar technique of ment as the one used in the er work, photo and diary. ent from previous one, I only ne photo to represent the of my day. Every photo s to the text diary, but these ections are abstract and ct. Another challenge of this ct is how to use pure etric shapes and colors to nt emotion, and it leads to er topic about expression’s ctivity and objectivity. As one knows, color and etric shapes is a universal age that is recognizable by e from almost every different e in the world. But different es have different understandbout the meaning of what s and shapes carry. For ple, red could represent l, passionate, but in some e it comes with meaning of and evil. I was thinking why I create a new language based y personal subjective iousness since I can’t find a rsal explanation from the ng knowledge. Audience will to understand the meaning gave to each color, shape and on before viewing my works, hen use them as the key to de them. In response to nsky’s theory and other e of books about color theory, shapes, colors, positions zes meaning like these: single composition consists arts: abstract graphics and iary. In the art perception ective, graphic and text are wo different method of art ssion. By reading text, nce could immediately get a

[anti-] [syn-] thesis

of mime and become my creative theme. The three works in this chapter all take a pair of opposite words as the starting and expand. One day I worked in the studio late into the night, and I had randomly placed many documents on the computer desktop. I was about to go home when I looked at the disordered computer screen and suddenly felt a vague sense of restlessness. I began to notice that the disorder can have such a big impact on my mentality. At this point, order and disorder became the first pair of opposite concepts in my mind. From this concept, I began a series of researches. How do order and disorder affect reading system and exist in people’s lives? How are they embodied in nature? Columbia University conducted a study which showed that regardless of the combination of letters in an English word, as long as the first letter and the last are in the correct position, people will fully understand the meaning of the word, because they do not read letters, they read whole words. This is an interesting phenomenon, and in Chinese this law is reflected in the sentence. It is also interesting to note that order and disorder are not absolute concepts, but relative concepts. For example, when one person sees a painting in a museum and describes it as disordered, the only way he can come to that conclusion is by subconsciously comparing this painting with another he finds relatively ordered. Similarly, if there is another painting more disordered, then, relatively speaking, the first one will appear more orderly, and the second will be defined as disordered. In other words, a single picture can contain both the concept of “order” and “disorder”, and the conversion between them depends entirely on the impact one has on the other. I wanted to investigate these terms

coverage by the Chinese official smaller. The concepts of dive media and the next page, which and globalization are commo has a layout that allows the reader in many of today’s internation to unfold the left page, contains cities. In the process of cultu the coverage by the Western exchange, conflict is inevitab media. Upon reading, a reader may Different cultures may first in feel that the Chinese media is with each other suspiciously, perhaps hiding something. slowly they extend mutual un However, the reader must decide standing and integrate. Beca which side to believe. As the of my personal experience w antithesis of this work, I select cultural differences, when I a “public” and “objective” as in the United States I becam keywords within the framework of very interested in the differen dialectical thinking. between Eastern and Wester In 2008 I attended a seminar 墙里墙外 | 在后现代主义思维影响下 Beijing that was initiated by t 的当代设计师逐渐把目光投向了社 young designers, Zhang Zijian 会和政治。大到政治宣传海报，小 Mi Shijie, who were intereste 到一些讽刺社会现象的艺术，艺术 in combining Eastern and We 家们在积极地扮演者一种公知的角 ern aesthetics and translating 色，将艺术作为一种传播媒介向大 these concepts into the prac application of graphic design. 众陈述一些客观事实，或者表达自 extracted composition conce 己的观点。我个人也经常关注时 from classical paintings and u 事，并在博客上发表一些自己对某 these in tandem with Eastern 些事情的看法等。但艺术家真的会 Western philosophies to crea 有这么大的力量么？我对此持怀疑 “ChiYun Composition”, which greatly inspired my creative w 态度。太过于在作品中表达政治观 The East and the West vary 点的艺术家往往会将自身置于风暴 dramatically in their artistic 的中心，成为争议的话题。当然， aesthetics. According to trad 这也必然与所处的文化、政治环境 Western aesthetic conceptio 有关。比如众所周知的中国当代艺 beauty comes from precise, 术家艾未未，无时无刻不在作品中 and representational actualiza This is why the classic Weste 表达着他个人的政治观点。其本身 arts, such as sculpture and 就成为了一种争议，因为人们无法 painting, tend to authentically 判断他所诉求的观点是否是正确的 vividly portray the subject thr 还是错误的，即便是历史也不能做 techniques like focus perspec 到百分之一百的客观。作为一个关 proportion and shadow. In accordance with common We 注时事的设计者，我更倾向于尽量 thought, the golden section, 罗列一些完全客观的事实，抛开自 is based on a mathematical r 己对这件事的主观看法，让世人去 represents the most aesthet 自己去评价这个事件。因为很多时 pleasing proportion and has s 候我无法判断我知道的真相是否就 as a crucial theory in both sci and art. It is widely reproduce 是真的真相。中国的网络封锁政策 Western painting, architectur 一直是西方主流社会批判的议题。出 even modern design. Conse于一些政治因素，很多西方主流网 quently, Western art aestheti 站、媒体，如Facebook, Youtube, embodies the beauty of math Twitter等都无法在中国大陆登陆。 ical proportion, which require 其原因无非是不希望中国人看到西方 stable and stationary structur 媒体对一些中国历史上的敏感政治事 contrast to the West, aesthet 件的观点，影响中国社会的“和谐” appreciation in ancient China 。近年来，中国政府对网络的管制丝 originates from Taoism, which

Lehu Zhang

张乐乎

capacity to convey action, listeners can still acquire concrete impressions from some symbolic sounds, like the sound of a door shutting, or waves crashing onto a beach. In this work, I try to randomly record my surroundings’ sounds, most of which are symbolic sounds. In contrast, text may give people a perceptual experience, but it can also achieve abstract existence through art forms like poetry. Through this work, I intend to give the audience two different, yet inter -related, sensory experiences. In a video, I combine fragments of the identifiable sounds I recorded with images of short sentences that consist principally of a single word. Abstract words in connection with sound, and the change of the background color at specific intervals, communicates to the audience implied situations and states of being. For the final visual form, I store the video on a CD and design the cover. As a synthesis of artistic expression, the sound diary gives the audience both an “abstract” and “direct” experience. 声音日记 | 如何将抽象与直观结合在一起是这部合题作品所要面临的挑战。众所周知，抽象的东西本身给予人们的艺术体验就是间接的，他们本身在含义上就是相反的。也就是说，我要在同一部作品中既表现出抽象又要表现出直接。中国艺术家徐冰的作品《地书》1 给予了我很大的启发。他运用纯象形符号来创造出一种世界人都能读得懂的语言。在阅读体验上，符号本身是相对抽象的元素，但是因为人们日常生活中的频繁使用，他们又会直接在人们脑海中映射含义。除了符号之外，还有什么象征性事物能给人一种直观的体验呢？声音。声音作为一种视觉载体，并没有视觉那么直观。视觉，听觉，触觉，常常是艺术家与设计师喜欢探索的领域。但人么依然会从一些符号化的声音里得出具象的印象，比如，开门声，海浪声等等。我尝试随机性的记录存在我周围的环境音，他们大多数是具有象征性的声音。同时，

[正] [反] [合] 题

[anti-] [syn-] thesis [正] [反] [合] 题 A thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Fine Arts in Graphic Design in the Department of Graphic Design of the Rhode island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island. Approved by Master’s Examination Committee :

by Lehu Zhang 2014

Thomas Ockerse, Professor, Department of Graphic Design, RISD Thesis Advisor Chair

美国罗德岛州普罗维登斯市罗德岛设计学院，平面设计系平面设计艺术硕士学位毕业论文集。张乐乎 2014

Nancy Skolos, Interim Dean, Division of Architecture and Design, RISD Thesis Advisor

Anther Kiley, Critic, Department of Graphic Design, RISD Thesis Advisor

Jon Sueda, Grad Program Director, Department of Graphic Design, CCA, External Critic

Bethany Johns, Professor, Grad Program Director, Department of Graphic Design, RISD

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission from the author, Lehu Zhang.

lehuzhang.com

To my future self. 致未来的我。

thesis

antithesis

正题

反题 Dialectics

辩证

synthesis

合题

All things are in themselves contradictory, and it is this principle, more than any other which expresses the truth, the very essence of things. — Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel 1770 – 1831

所有的事物都存在着自身矛盾，这种矛盾超越其他一切，成为事物最核心的本质。 — 格奥尔格·威廉·弗里德里希·黑格尔 1872 - 1947

contents chapters

acknowledgments

thesis abstract

preface

interview with Xu Bing

design expression

107

163

projects

description

color identity

color as universal media print, website, tool

0 : 00 - 23 : 59

representational + direct print, website

abstract Diary

abstract + indirect print

sound diary

abstract + direct video, sound

111

order & disorder

private + subjective motivated book

131

inside & beyond the wall

public + objective motivated book

145

who is Lance Zhang

private + public program, tool, book

167

golden section grid

Western + mathematical branding, tool, layout

185

chi diagram

Eastern + spiritual Resonance branding, tool, layout

design content

design philosophy

211

interview with Zhang Zijian

217

conclusion

221

bibliography

223

colophon

目录章

特别鸣谢

论文摘要

前言

徐冰访谈

设计表现

107

163

作

节

品

简

介

印象色

色彩作为共性媒介印刷，网站，工具

零点至二十三点五九

再现＋直接印刷品，网站

抽象日记

抽象＋间接印刷品

声音日记

抽象＋直接视频，音频

111

有序&无序

个人＋主观书籍

131

墙里墙外

公共＋客观书籍

145

谁是 Lance Zhang？

个人 + 公共程序，工具，书籍

167

黄金分割网格

西方 + 数品牌，工具，版式

185

气格

东方 + 韵品牌，工具，版式

设计内容

设计哲学

211

张子建访谈

217

结论

221

参考目录

223

版权记录

acknowledgments

special thanks to: my thesis advisory committee : Thomas Ockerse, Nancy Skolos, Anther Kiley, Jon Sueda.

my teachers

my colleagues :

my editor :

Bethany Johns,

Sameer Farooq,

Elizabeth Bearden.

Thomas Ockerse,

Remeike Forbes,

Nancy Skolos,

Jonathan Hanahan,

my inspiration predecessors:

Tom Wedell,

Brain James,

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel,

Lucinda Hitchcock,

Jerel Johnson,

Wassily Kandinsky.

Hammett Nurosi,

Brienne Jones,

my interview respondents:

Anne West,

Hyunjin Kim,

Clement Valla,

Yoonkyung Kim,

Xu Bing,

Cyrus Highsmith,

Chloe Lee,

Zhang Zijian.

Colin Owens,

Sohpie Mascatello,

Andrew Sloat,

Ali Qadeer,

Alan Rapp,

Matthew Tsang,

Robert Giampietro,

Bob Wilkinson,

Jerel Johnson.

Yoana Wiman,

all of my family members, all of my friends.

Erin Zwaska.

without your help, I would not be finished this. Thank you very much.

[anti-][syn-]thesis

特别鸣谢

特别感谢：我的论文评审组： Thomas Ockerse, Nancy Skolos, Anther Kiley, Jon Sueda.

我的老师们：

我的同学们：

我的编辑：

Bethany Johns,

Sameer Farooq,

Elizabeth Bearden.

Thomas Ockerse,

Remeike Forbes,

Nancy Skolos,

Jonathan Hanahan,

我的灵感先驱：

Tom Wedell,

Brain James,

格奥尔格·威廉·弗里德里希·黑格尔,

Lucinda Hitchcock,

Jerel Johnson,

瓦西里·康定斯基

Hammett Nurosi,

Brienne Jones,

Anne West,

Hyunjin Kim,

两位被采访者：

Clement Valla,

Yoonkyung Kim,

徐冰，

Cyrus Highsmith,

Chloe Lee,

张子建。

Colin Owens,

Sohpie Mascatello,

Andrew Sloat,

Ali Qadeer,

Alan Rapp,

Matthew Tsang,

Robert Giampietro,

Bob Wilkinson,

Jerel Johnson.

Yoana Wiman,

我所有的家人，我所有的朋友。

Erin Zwaska.

没有你们的帮助，我无法完成这些。由衷感谢。

[正][反][合]题

thesis abstract | As a traditional Chinese student living and studying in the United States, I frequently experience discordance caused by culture shock. I make use of this tension by allowing my keen sensitivity to the interplay of cultural differences to find a discernible visual language in my design work. Friedrich Hegel concerning the dynamics of dialectics says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;All things are in themselves contradictory, and it is this principle, more than any other which expresses the truth, the very essence of things.â&#x20AC;? Using the dialectical method as a compositional strategy for generating form, I question whether this method might yield a productive synthesis, perhaps even universal communication, through the tension of opposing concepts. When I contemplate a dialectical structure, I begin by charting how two distinct lines of thought are experienced. Are they indeed separate or parallel? Are they parts of an image contributing to a whole view? With heightened awareness to my new environment, I notice (or disregard) details, and question some exist. With each compositional move, I narrow the space between divergence, exploring possibilities of convergence among multiple mass media platforms with various visual exportations.

thesis abstract

[anti-][syn-]thesis

论文摘要 | 作为一个接受传统中国文化熏陶的中国学生在美国工作和学习，我经常会感受到一种由文化冲击造成的不协调感。通过敏锐地感觉到自身中体现的种种冲突，我尝试通过设计在相反概念中寻找一种共性的视觉语言，并将此“相反”概念扩展至设计表现、文化、哲学以及表现内容等方面。德国哲学家弗里德里希·黑格尔在解释动态辩证思维时表示，所有的理念都存在着由两种相反概念而产生的内在矛盾，并形成一个由正题、反题、合题的三段辩证过程。在运用辩证思维作为一种方法论探索形式的过程中，我对“合题”是否可以作为在两种相反概念的冲突中衍生出的一种共性沟通语言提出疑问。在我冥想辩证结构时，我提出不同的论题来使两种不同乃至相反的思维展开对话。在实验的过程中，我试图寻找他们是否真的完全对立或平行？他们是否是一幅更大的蓝图中不同组成部分？在每一组实验性作品中，我尝试缩小种种分歧概念之间的距离与间隙，并通过在不同媒体媒介中利用不同视觉输出形式来寻找他们聚合的可能性。

[正][反][合]题

论文摘要

preface

Within all things and notions in the world there exists a contradiction, which is implicit to the duality or multi-faceted nature of every existence. People can better perceive light because of the contrast of darkness. As the earth rotates, light alternates with darkness making it so that neither light nor darkness can occur without the other. Every so often, since the world began, I imagine there might have been an argument between light and darkness about who should be the leader of the world. Arguments, as a habitual act throughout mankindâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history seem to be an effective way to promote the development of human civilization. Often started by two parties with opinions quite different or even in opposition to one another, an argument is a process through which a consensus can finally be reached. It is a result that must transpire alongside compromises and combinations. As the German philosopher Friedrich Hegel states, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Just as little is seen in pure light as in pure darkness.â&#x20AC;? 1

1. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, The Science of Logic; Translated by A.V. Miller, Prometheus Books, New York City, 1991

preface

[anti-][syn-]thesis

前言

Friedrich Hegel says about the dynamics of dialectics, “All things are in themselves contradictory, and it is this principle, more than any other which expresses the truth, the very essence of things.” The dialectic process that Hegel uses throughout his writings to explore the contradictory essence of nature is comprised of three parts: thesis, antithesis and synthesis. An advanced concept, the synthesis, is thus derived from seeking common points between two different sub-concepts, the thesis and antithesis. Dialectic thinking structure can be simply understood as a triangular formula. If the concepts A1 and B1 are taken as the thesis, then the antithesis is comprised of two contrary concepts A2 and B2. We choose a concept respectively from both

[正][反][合]题

the thesis and the antithesis to constitute the antithesis, for example A1, B2, or A2, B1. The synthesis unifies certain characteristics or positive factors in both stages on the new or higher basis. If white is the thesis, then the black is the antithesis, and our synthesis is gray, however, gray is different from white or black. There are now different schools of art, regional cultures, styles, forms, methodologies, contents and so on. I want to explore in my work if the “synthesis” described in Hegelian can help me discover a universal method of communication which unites oppositional ideas and philosophies. And what do we acquire and lose during the process of seeking common ground while attempting to preserve our difference.

任何存在于世界上的事物，概念等，都存在着其相反的一面，我们称之为事物的两面性，或者是多面性。正因为有了黑暗，人们才知晓光明为何物，世界也是随着黑暗与光明轮替而运转的，缺一不可。我时常在臆想，也许在世界初始，光明与黑暗有过一场关于谁将主导这个世界争论。争论，作为一种人类的基本行为无时无刻都在发生着，似乎是促进人类文明发展的一种有效手段。他往往是由两方持不同或者相反的概念发起，经过争论这个过程，从而找到一种符合双方意见的结果。这个结果往往是伴随着妥协与结合而产生的。如哲学家黑格尔所说，“在纯粹光明中就像在纯粹黑暗中一样，看不清什么东西。”

黑格尔认为，所有的理念都存在着由两种相反概念而产生的内在矛盾。两种概念在求同去异的过程中衍生出一个高阶的概念，形成一个由正题(thesis), 反题(antithesis), 合题(synthesis)的辩证过程。他表示，任何事物都是在自我辩证的过程中发展下去的。辩证思维架构简单可以理解成一个三角形的公式。如果将概念A1, B1当做正题，那么反题则是由两个与之相反的概念，A1，B2组成。然后，我们各自从正题、反题中选取一个概念组成合题。比如 A1，B2，或者A2， B1。合题把正反两个阶段的某些特点或积极因素在新的或更高的基础上统一起来。如果白色为正题，那么黑色则为反题，他们的合题就是灰色。但是灰色既不同于白色，也不同于黑色。当今的世界处处呈现着多元化，在文化、艺术、设计领域更是比比皆是，不同的艺术流派、地域文化、风格、形式、方法论、内容、等等。作为一名设计师，如此众多不同，乃至一些相反的事物中是否存在一种共性语言？黑格尔辩证理论中的“合题”是否发挥着这种作用？如果将这种思维应用于设计，是否会产生一种更高级的新形态，亦或是低级的？在求同去异的过程中我们得到了什么又失去了什么？

前言

带着这个问题，我尝试使用辩证理论作为我整体结构的方法来思考，并在我所提出的众多相反论题中寻找那种共性，即所谓的合题。我的作品“日记系列”包含三个独立作品，是我尝试使用辩证结构体现设计表现方式的一个实验。第一部作品名为“0:00 - 23:59”，我在卧室设置了一台相机，并设定在24小时内每15分钟拍摄一张卧室窗外的街景。同时，我用图像与文字记录我自己在整个过程中的行为与心理状态。在艺术表现手法上，这部作品属于再现并直接的，我透过照片、文字使作品中所有的信息直观明了，意在使读者通过最直观的形式来理解我的作品。第二

部作品，“抽象日记”，我运用了与之相反的概念，抽象与间接。在这部作品中我借鉴了俄罗斯艺术家康定斯基的理念，所有的纯几何形状、颜色以及位置构图都具有其自身的情感和声音。参照康定斯基以及一些色彩学的理论，我赋予了不同形状、颜色、位置以及大小一些情感定义，并只用纯几何图形与色彩，附带一张抽象照片来表现日记。0:00 - 23:59是正题，那么这部抽象日记就是反题。相对的，他们的合题应该是抽象与直接的。在第三部作品，“声音日记”中，我尝试运用声音碎片作为素材来表现日记。声音作为一种载体，并没有视觉那么直接。但人们依然可以从一些符号化的声音里想象出具体的形象，比如开门声，海浪声等等。声音从某些程度上起到了抽象的作用，但给人的感官却又是直接的。

preface

在实验探索的过程中，我发现了很多局限性与未知性。一件作品并非只可以从一个角度诠释，从另一个角度来看则又是另一条完全不同的辩证结构。这也恰恰体验了艺术，这个庞大的领域，的广泛性与不确定性。也许随着争论的不断加深，随着妥协与结合的不断生成，也许在未来的某一天艺术将变成了一种单一形式。留下的必然属于精华，但在过程中被舍弃的也并不一定就是垃圾。我所探索的是一种可能性，也许我并不能从这些作品中得到一个明确的答案，但这恰恰不就是艺术的魅力所在，不是么？

With this problem in mind, I endeavor to make use of dialectics while considering a larger structure, and the possible universalities synthesis provides, through oppositional topics proposed by myself. My diary series group project, which includes three independent projects, is an experiment to evidence my design through an application of dialectical structure. The first project is called 0:00-23:59. To create this work, I set up a camera in my bedroom to shoot the streetscape outside my bedroom window every 15 minutes for 24 hours. Meanwhile, I also recorded my physical activities and psychological states by taking photos and writing text throughout this process. With respect to artistic expression, this work’s intention is to represent my concepts directly. All the information is embodied intuitively through pictures and words, so that the audience can comprehend my work in a visceral manner.

[anti-][syn-]thesis

I tried to represent opposite – abstract and indirect – ways of communication in my second project, Abstract Diary. In this work I utilized Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky’s theory that all geometrical shapes, colors, and positions have their own emotions and voices. By referencing Kandinsky’s theory and other books about color, I have reinvested different shapes, colors, positions and sizes with different emotions. In keeping with my intention to display my theories abstractly and indirectly, I present my diary simply through geometrical shapes and colors along with an abstract photo. Since the thesis is 0:00-23:59, the antithesis must be “Abstract Diary”. Because these two projects are my points of reference, the synthesis ought to be abstract and direct, which represents the mediation between the two. In the third work, Audio Diary, fragments of sound are used as materials in the diary. Sound, as a carrier, is not as intuitive as sight. But some materialized sounds can be imagined out of symbolized sounds, such as the creaking of the door and the breaking of the ocean tide. Each sound track comes with a short abstract text script as the lyrics. The text and

[正][反][合]题

sound will give the audience two different experiences, abstract and direct, which still share an inner relationship. During my exploration of these concepts, I’ve found many unexpected aspects of this process. Far from being explained by merely one point of view, one’s work may have a totally different dialectical structure when observed from another perspective, which reflects the universality and uncertainty of art. Perhaps art will someday change into a single form that encompasses the development of arguments and the resulting generation of compromises and combinations. The syntheses of these conflicts will be stronger because of the culmination of thought that went into them, and even the abandoned prospects may not all be worthless. What my work probes for are potential possibilities, and even though I might not be able to acquire a specific answer from my work, I accept that as simply a part of art’s fascinating dialect.

前言

color identity 印象色 synthesis

color as universal media

合题

色彩作为共性媒介

Here I want to introduce a separate work that does not belong to any chapter, but directly relates to the core concept of the topic I explore. What is synthesis after all? Today due to the integration of a variety of cultures, language differences have become an obstacle of mutual understanding and communication between cultures. According to the Bible, all humans, at one time, spoke the same language and could communicate with each other. Then humanity united in order to build the Tower of Babel, which they intended to keep building until it reached heaven. In order to prevent humanity’s plan, God made the humans suddenly speak different languages so that they could not communicate. The construction of the Tower stopped, and humanity scattered.

Even today, despite developed network and transportation technology, the language barrier remains a substantial problem. Human beings have made many efforts to create a common language. Dr. Lazarz Ludwik Zamenhof from Poland created Esperanto in 1888 as a way to eliminate language barriers in international exchanges. Artist Xu Bing’s work “Book from the Ground” created a common language based on web emoticons. These works have caused me to wonder what language, other than a hieroglyphic system, could be understood by people throughout the world. Color.

这里我想介绍一个单独的作品。他不属于任何一个主题章节，但是直接关系到我所探索的论题的核心概念的。到底什么是合题？在不同文化交融的今天，语言差异成为不同文化相互了解与沟通的一个很大的障碍。据《圣经》所述，人类本来是使用同一种语言，可以相互沟通。人类联合起来建造一个巴比伦塔试图通往天堂。为了阻止人类的计划，上帝让人类说不同的语言，使人类不能沟通，从此四散东西。在网络与交通技术的发达的今天，语言的不通成为障碍的问题更为明显。人类在创造共性语言上做出过很多努力。波兰的柴门霍夫博士在1888年曾经创造世界语 Esperanto，旨在消除国际交往中的语言障碍。艺术家徐冰的作品《地书》创造了一种以网络表情符号为主的共性语言。我在思考，除了象形符号外还有什么是世界人民都能了解的呢？色彩。

color identity

[anti-][syn-]thesis

[正][反][合]题

印象色

Color is understood by humans as a cross-cultural definition, but it is not clearly connected to many individual concepts. For example, if someone asks, “What color is graphic design?”, There would be no answer. In this work, I try to establish a correlation between color, objects and concepts. Google’s image search engine, I believe, is a tool favored by many people for its convenience. When someone searches for a picture associated with a keyword, Google pulls countless pictures out of its database for the user to browse. If you squint, these pictures will appear to be a vivid color board. Based on this observation, I created a website prototype that can pixelate search results. By adjusting the resolution, pictures are eventually integrated into one pixel and one color. In the experimental stage, I select 200 one pixel results and composed them a color board,

which I then turned into an entirely different color through pixelation. In this way, the final color has a direct correlation with this keyword in the process of : keyword - images - pixelate - 1 color with 1 pixel - color palette (200 colors/pixels) - 1 color. It is undeniable that although the concept of Esperanto is intriguing, it is hindered by its promotion. Today, the world’s lingua franca is still English. In order to use color to create a language I used the same process to convert the twenty - six English letters into colors, which formed a new color language system. This work reflects my interest in the possibility of color acting as a universal language.

The Bible in Esperanto

世界语的圣经

Google Images Results for Graphic Design

谷歌图片关键词平面设计搜索结果

color identity

[anti-][syn-]thesis

色彩属于一种跨文化种族的元素被人类认知。但色彩与单独概念的联系却是不完整的。比如如果有人问，平面设计的颜色是什么？估计没有人会回答上来。这部作品中我就试图在色彩与单独物体、概念之间建立一种关联。谷歌的图片搜索引擎我相信是很多人惯用的工具。当你想搜索与一个关键词所关联的图片时，谷歌图片会从数据库调出无数结果，形成一个巨大的图片集合。如果你眯起眼睛，这些图片隐约会变成一个大色版。基于这个灵感，我创造了一个网站原型，功能是可以将谷歌图片搜索的结果进行像素化。通过调整不同的分辨率，图片最终可以虚化到一个像素，一种颜色。在实验阶段，我选取了200个1 pixel/color 的结果组成一个色板，再将这个色板像素化成一个颜色。这样，这个颜色就与这个关键词产生了直接的关联。

Keyword

不可否认的是，虽然世界语的概念很好，但在推广方面却受到了阻碍。今天世界最为通用的语言仍然是英语。为用色彩创造一种语言，我用同样的过程将英文二十六个字母转变成颜色，形成了一种新的色彩语言系统。色彩是否可以成为沟通语言的最终合题？这部作品反映了我对这一问题的思考以及试验。

200 imgs

pixelated

1 color / 1 pixel

color palette (200 color)

1 single color

linked

[正][反][合]题

印象色

Prototype “Pixelated Images”, will turn imgs into pixelated version

像素图网站原型，能将图片转变为像素化

color identity

[anti-][syn-]thesis

Keyword Monet, 2% resolution

关键词莫奈， 2%分辨率

[正][反][合]题

印象色

Keyword Monet, 20% resolution

关键词莫奈， 20%分辨率

color identity

[anti-][syn-]thesis

Keyword Monet, 50% resolution

关键词莫奈，50%分辨率

[正][反][合]题

印象色

Keyword Monet, 80% resolution

关键词莫奈， 80%分辨率

color identity

[anti-][syn-]thesis

Keyword Monet, 100% resolution

关键词莫奈，100%分辨率

[正][反][合]题

印象色

200 one color/pixel collections

200个单色/像素集合

color identity

[anti-][syn-]thesis

Color of Claude Monet

[正][反][合]题

# 807b4d | C 47 M 40 Y 81 K 15 | R 129 G 124 B 78

印象色

Keyword Mao, 2%, 24%, 50%, 74%, 100% Resolution

关键词毛泽东，2%, 24%，50%，75%，100%分辨率

color identity

[anti-][syn-]thesis

[正][反][合]题

印象色

Color of Mao Zedong

# ba4d36 | C 11 M 85 Y 91 K 1.5 | R 186 G 77 B 54

color identity

[anti-][syn-]thesis

[正][反][合]题

印象色

Keyword Obama, 2%, 30%, 70%, 100% Resolution

关键词奥巴马，2%, 30%, 70%, 100%分辨率

color identity

[anti-][syn-]thesis

[正][反][合]题

印象色

Color of Barack Obama

# 604c40 | C 47 M 62 Y 70 K 38 | R 96 G 77 B 64

color identity

[anti-][syn-]thesis

[正][反][合]题

印象色

color identity

[anti-][syn-]thesis

Color of Kenya Hara

[正][反][合]题

# 262425 | C 26 M 20 Y 18 K 0 | R 187 G 188 B 192

印象色

Color of Graphic Design

# 83664c | C 37 M 56 Y 73 K 20 | R 131 G 103 B 77

interview with Xu Bing

Interviewer: Lehu Zhang Respondents : Xu Bing

Nice to see you, Professor Xu. I am a postgraduate student in the graphic design department at the Rhode Island School of Design. My topic of study centers around the concept of the “opposite”, mainly in regards to Oriental and Western culture. My methods of design expression and design content search for some commonality between these opposite concepts. I think that you, as a success both in Oriental and Western arts, are qualified to tell the story of how this combination can occur. First, can you simply talk about your mind and mood the year you just arrived in the United States? Were you impacted by the cultural differences? Well, there is an interview covering this issue on the Chinese website of the New York Times. I do not know if you’ve seen it. Xu Bing, Vice President of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China

徐冰, 中央美术学院副院长，北京，中国

interview with Xu Bing

Yes, probably, I have visited all of your articles.

The culture shock is definitely present, yes, for a time the Chinese artists, American artists and Western artists outside the mainstream hope that they can integrate into the mainstream culture and be recognized by the mainstream culture. But finally you will find that this hope I think is a problem, for this integration means that you discard yourself and look like everyone else. In this way, you will not see yourself and become a part there. I think this understanding is a problem, because others really do not need you to integrate. Only when you can suggest something they do not have, or your suggestion is greater than the range of their thinking, or you have something that inspires them, then you are needed and a relationship of dialogue can be established. The only way to form a dialogue is by bringing something that it is lacking. So the shock is that you want to transform yourself and you want to integrate into the new environment at that time, and as a whole this becomes a big shock to you. The core of the art of an artist, after all, cannot be changed even if the style of the work is changed.

[anti-][syn-]thesis

徐冰访谈

采访者：张乐乎

被访者：徐冰

你好，徐老师。我是罗德岛设计学院平面设计系的研究生。我研究的论题是围绕在“相反“的概念上，主要在东西方文化，设计表现的方法和设计内容等领域里寻找一些存在于相反的概念中的共性。我觉得徐老师，作为一个同时在东西方艺术界都获得成功，是最有资格来讲述这样一个事情的前辈老师。首先您能简单说说当年刚到美国时有一种什么心态和心情呢？有没有受到一种文化差异的冲击呢？恩，这个我在纽约时报中文版网站上有一篇采访，谈到了这个问题。我不知道你是否看到过。是的，您的文章大概我都浏览过。

[正][反][合]题

这个文化冲击肯定是有的。因为那个时候，中国艺术家，美国艺术家，西方主流之外的艺术家都希望自己能够融入到这个主流文化之中，被主流文化所认可。但是经过工作以后，最后你会发现，这种希望融入的态度我觉得是有问题的。因为这个融入，就说明你把自己划掉以后，变成跟别人一样。这样你会看不见你自己，你就变成了那儿的一部分。我觉得这样的认识是有问题的，因为别人其实不需要你融入，但是只有当你能提示他们没有的东西的时候，或者说提示大于他们的思维范围的时候，或者说你的东西对他们有启发的时候，这个时候那个地方才需要你，才能构成一个对话的关系。你能把那儿没有的东西，或者说那儿缺失的东西带进去，只有这样才能够构成一个对话。所以说这种冲击呢，比如当时的这种你希望改造自己，你希望融入新环境，整体上就是对你自己构成一个很大的冲击。但说来说去，一个艺术家核心的艺术，即便你作品的风格改变了，本身有的那种东西最终还是没法改变的。

徐冰访谈

Interpersonal perception of art is very difficult to change, and the impact of growth in an environment on a person is immeasurable. I would like to talk about one of your works “Book from the Ground”. As a graphic design student, I think this work is closely associated with this field. In class, professors and students also discussed “A Book from the Sky” and “Book from the Ground”. In my opinion, you use symbols and small icons, to create a common language everyone can understand. Do you think that language and its characters can best embody a culture or the cultural characteristics of a region, even though, at the same time, they are one of the main barriers to communication between different cultures? Of course it is. In fact for different races and different cultures, languages are indeed associated with different nations’ characters, values and the core part of culture. Characters are the basic and core concept of a culture. The understanding of the character in fact is an understanding of the race’s attitude to everything. This relationship is doubtless. The reason for this is that the previous world is

separated and the language barrier caused by national difference and “non-communication” is obvious. You use these common symbols to create a language that everyone around the world can understand. Which expectations do you want to share with the world? In fact, what the artist can share is limited. I just want people to realize the language and communication barrier today. Before mankind hoped to create a Tower of Babel, they used a common language. But at that time, because there was no Internet, humans were not really linked together, and language was not as important as it is today. Today people’s lifestyle is entirely different than it was thousands of years ago, yet the methods of language are still old. Many places have shown that the traditional language is inadaptable to today’s life and work styles. So today is a period for a new turn at hieroglyphics. I just want my work to prompt this prediction. I think this will be a very important channel of communication in the future. It cannot be all communication, but it will be very important.

个人内在对艺术的认知是很难改变的，生长环境对一个人的影响是不可估量的。

您用这种大家共有的符号来创造这种全世界人都能懂的语言，想告诉世人一个什么样的期望呢？

这里我想谈到您的一部作品，《地书》。作为一名平面设计学生，我觉得这部作品与这个领域非常相关。在课堂上我们也有教授、同学也讨论过《天书》，《地书》。在我看来，您用符号 — 这种小图标的形式 — 创造了一种所有人都能看得懂的共性的语言。您是否认为语言和文字是最能体现一种文化，或者一个地区的文化特征，但同时也是不同文化之间交流的一种主要障碍呢？

其实艺术家能做的事情终归是有限的。我只是希望别人能意识到今天这个时代人们在语言、沟通上的障碍。以前人类希望创造一个巴比伦塔，大家用共同的语言。但是那个时候，因为还没有互联网这种技术，人类没有真正的连在一起，那时候语言并没有像今天这样重要。但今天人们的生活方式跟几千年以前截然不同，但语言的方式还是旧的。很多地方都显示出，传统语言对今天的生活、工作方式的不适应、滞后。所以今天是新一轮的象形文字的时期。我只是想通过我的作品，给人们提示这样一种预示吧。我认为这是未来人类的一种沟通的很重要的渠道。不可能是全部的渠道，但会是一个很重要的渠道。

这个当然是了。因为实际上，不同的种族，不同的文化的语言的不同，确实是与这个民族的性格、价值观、文化核心的部分是非常具有相关性的。因为文字，是一个文化最核心的最基本的概念。对一种文字的了解，其实是对这个文化的种族看事情方法的一种理解。这种关系是毫无疑问的。之所以这样是由于以前世界是不通的，民族性的不同与“不沟通”在语言上造成的障碍是显而易见的。

Xu Bing, Book of the Ground, 2003

徐冰，地书，2003

interview with Xu Bing

[anti-][syn-]thesis

You just mentioned hieroglyphics. Though I was educated in the United States, I am also concerned about the development of Chinese characters. The earliest hieroglyphics in ancient times are very intuitive, and development to today’s simplified Chinese is a process from the figurative to the abstract. But today’s symbols and icons I think harken back to nature, back to the concepts of the earliest hieroglyphics. People first translated symbols into language, and today we translate language back to symbols again, and this process is very interesting. In fact, the hieroglyphic character is dependent on the commonness of human physiology, so hieroglyphics are the most intuitive and efficient way of expression that can have exist outside of geographical and cultural boundaries. As we said, the symbol of a cup is the closest to a real cup. In Chinese, in fact, it is a few similar matchsticks that symbolize the cup. In English, from the point of view of image, “glass” or “cup” is far from the real cup. So the hieroglyphic character can be a common thing for mankind.

Xu Bing, Phoenix, New York, 2011

徐冰，凤凰，纽约，2011

[正][反][合]题

徐冰访谈

The hieroglyphic character is perhaps an embodiment of “commonness” within language characters. I have one last question. Probably two or three months ago, I saw your “Phoenix” in New York. It was very shocking. In the church? Yes. I did not have the opportunity to see the other piece “Where Does the Dust Itself Collect”, but I am interested in some of your interviews. Artists and designers should focus on some common topics. You also shift from your earlier purely academic studies to more public topics. At RISD, professors also expect the designer to pay more attention to public issues and social events and to do something meaningful for the public. What opportunity caused such a shift? Should designers and artists be focused on these issues?

Of course, if not so, I would not be like this. In fact, I never treat the art itself too seriously. Moreover, within the art system itself, there is no fresh blood. All fresh blood can only be brought in from outside the art world. But where does it come from? It must be obtained through the development of society and human civilization. It’s like Leoh Ming Pei, an architect, who has repeatedly stressed to his studio personnel, “you must not take art design as your goal nor take design as your pursuit, adhere to the design itself”. From an artistic perspective, the genre is not important, and the artistic depth does not come from the comparison between art styles and genres. The real depth comes from the technology with which the artist addresses his era and the relationship he has with his era. This is a true source of the artistic depth and it is the same with the design. Design, certainly, is not a thing concerned with the design vision itself.

interview with Xu Bing

Right, it is not formalized, on the surface, but it is a process to explore the inner-self. All in all, outstanding people in any field, such as a good artist, designer or architect certainly must have a very strong thinking ability. An outstanding athlete must also have a very strong thinking ability. In fact, this is a kind of commonality.

刚才您提到象形文字，虽然我是在美国接受教育，但也一直在关注中国汉字的发展。古时候最早的象形文字是很直观的，发展到今天的简体字，是一个具象化到抽象化的过程。但今天的符号、图标等，我认为是一种返璞归真，又回到了最早的象形文字的概念。人们最早把符号翻译成语言，今天又把语言翻译回符号，这个过程非常值得回味。因为实际上，象形性是依赖于人类生理上的共性，是最直观和最有效的表达方式，是一种超越地域文化的存在。就像我们说一个杯子，一个杯子的符号是和真实的杯子最接近的。而一个中文的杯子，实际上是靠几根类似火柴棍一样搭起来的杯子。英文的杯子，glass或者 cup之类的，从形象上看离真正的杯子就很远了。所以象形性是人类共有的一个东西。

[anti-][syn-]thesis

象形性也许就是“共性”在文字中的一种体现方式。我这里有最后一个问题。大概是两三个月前吧，我到纽约看到了您的《凤凰》作品，很震撼。是在教堂么？是的。还有您另一件作品，《何处惹尘埃》，很遗憾我没有机会看到真正的作品。但我关注到您的一些采访中说道，艺术家、设计师应该关注一些公共话题。您也是从最早研究纯学术而转移到了公共话题。在RISD我们的教授也期望设计师能多关注公共话题，关注社会时事，多做一些对公众有意义的事情。是一个什么契机使您做出了这种转变呢？设计师、艺术家理应这样么？

那当然了，如果不是那样，我也不会这样。实际上，从我个人来讲，我从来不把艺术本身太当回事儿。而且，在艺术系统本身里，是没有什么新鲜血液的。所有的新鲜血液只能从艺术圈之外带进来。对不对？那这个东西从哪带？那一定是从社会的发展，人类文明发展的现实的状况中获取。那就像建筑师，贝聿铭，他就跟工作室的人反复强调，你们千万不要把艺术设计当做自己的目标，不要把设计这个事情作为自己的追求，固执在设计本身。从艺术角度来讲，风格流派都不重要，而且艺术的深度也不是由风格、流派比较出来的。真正的深度来自于艺术家怎么处理他所生活的时代，用艺术来处理他和时代的关系的这一种技术。这个是艺术的深度真正的一个来源和参照，设计也是一样。设计，肯定也不是关于设计视觉本身的事情。

是的，他不是一种浮在表面上的形式化的，而是探索内在的一个过程。总而言之，好的艺术家、设计师、建筑师等等，任何一个领域优秀的人，肯定是一个具有极强思维能力的人。包括一个体育运动员，优秀的体育运动员也一定是一个很具有思维能力的人。这其实就是一种共性。

Xu Bing, Where Does the Dust Itself Collect?, 2011

徐冰，何处惹尘埃，2011

[正][反][合]题

徐冰访谈

design expression | What makes art fascinating is that it has various methods of expression. Various schools and doctrines in the history of art have their distinct methods. “Form”, is a topic which every people in art filed cannot avoid to talk about. Form, as the ultimate carrier of art, is the only bridge which connects art work and audience no matter what emotion it expresses. Representational and abstract, is one of the classification method of art expression from the macro perspective. Representational art, refers to realism, is an ancient way of expression in different cultures and almost in all ages. It directly describes people’s understanding and perception towards subject matter, without artificiality and avoiding artistic conventions etc. As opposed to representational is abstract expressionism, an American post – WWII art movement mainly developed in New York in the early 1900s. Generally, it subjectively expresses through pure shape and color instead of directly redraw the natural world.

design expression

[anti-][syn-]thesis

设计表现 | 艺术使人着迷的地方就是有着多种多样的表现方法。艺术史上的各种流派，各种主义都有着其独特的表现手段。 “形式”，是每个艺术工作者无法逃避的一个话题。无论一件艺术作品所传达的情感是什么，形式作为艺术品的的终极载体，是连接作品与观众情感的唯一桥梁。写实的与抽象的，是众多艺术表现形式分类中比较宏观的一种。写实主义，也称现实主义，无需多说，是各个文化从古至今一直拥有的艺术表现形式。即直接描绘我们对物体之理解与感知。与之相对的抽象表现主义则是二十世纪初期，盛行于第二次世界大战后，以纽约为中心的艺术运动。一般来讲，是一种透过形状和颜色以主观方式来表达，而非直接描绘自然世界的艺术。

0 : 00 - 23 : 59

Abstract Diary

零点至二十三点五九 representational + direct 再现＋直接

抽象日记

design expression 设计表现

abstract + indirect 抽象＋间接

Sound Diary 声音日记 abstract + direct 抽象＋直接

[正][反][合]题

设计表现

0:00 – 23:59 零点至二十三点五九 thesis 正题

representational + direct 再现＋直接

In an art culture strongly in tune with new media, a dispute quietly appears between narrative and database. Narrative, by definition, is storytelling. The story defines how we think, live, and dream. It is a way for humans to summarize life experience. Regardless of our culture, narrative is deeply rooted within our minds and subtly influences our behavior. Any art form, such as a novel, movie, music or painting, seems to be inseparable from narrative, which means that every piece of art seems to tell a story. However, the advent of the new media age has caused people to address a new concept, the database.

Lev Manovich explains, “Many new media objects do not tell stories; they do not have a beginning or end; in fact, they do not have any development, thematically, formally, or otherwise that would organize their elements into a sequence. Instead, they are collections of individual items, with every item possessing the same significance as any other.”1 The Internet is an enormous database, where numerous information and virtual objects co-exist. But these data are simply lists, existing in the virtual world of the Internet without rule. Humans haven’t discarded the instinct of narrative, so they rearrange the information in the database in order to create a story. This process attempts to convert the database into narrative.

design expression

在新媒体充斥的艺术界，一个新的争端悄悄发生在叙事性与数据库之间。叙事性，顾名思义，就是讲故事。故事定义了我们如何思考，如何生存，如何做事，以及如何梦想。他是一种整理人类对生活的体验的方式。无论何种文化，叙事都已经深深根植于我们头脑深处，影响着我们的行为方式。小说、电影、音乐、绘画，任何艺术形式似乎都脱离不了叙事性，任何一部艺术作品都在讲述一个故事。但新媒体时代的降临，使人们突然意识到了另外一个概念，数据库。新媒体艺术家列夫·曼诺维奇讲述，“很多新媒体物体并不讲述一个故事。他们没有开端或结尾。其实，他们不存在任何发展，主题，形式，或以其他方式将其组成元素的序列。相反，他们是个体的集合，与任何一个其他个体拥有相同的含义。”1 互联网的存在就是一个庞大的数据库，无数的信息、物体存在于互联网中，他们只是一个列表，无规则的存在于互联网这个虚拟世界中。人类并没有丢弃叙事的本能，人们用不同的方式重新排列数据库中的信息，创造着一个个故事。这个过程就是将数据库叙事化。

0:00 - 23:59

[anti-][syn-]thesis

[正][反][合]题

设计表现

零点至二十三点五九

The purpose of “0:00-23:59”, originally inspired by a common topic in the classroom, is to create a database and then construe it as narrative. An event I selected from the column “On This Day”2 in the New York Times, becomes a point of reference for the creation of my own work. On February 20, 1965, U.S. spacecraft Ranger 8 crashed into the moon’s surface during its mission to capture images of the lunar surface. In the twenty-three minutes before the collision, Ranger 8 returned a total of 7,127 high-quality photos of the lunar surface, made a perfect record of the data, and created a database. “Continuous capturing to record data within a period of time” became a source of inspiration for me. I decided to simulate Ranger 8 by recording an object continuously over a period of time.

I set up a camera in my bedroom to take photos of the streetscape through the window of my bedroom every 15 minutes for 24 hours. 96 photos recorded the changes in the same area that day; joking pedestrians, passing cars, and the sky’s slow variation from dark to light and light to dark, were captured by the camera. At the same time, I used my own cell phone camera to record my activities indoors, and simultaneously, I documented my mental state. The scenery outside the window, my indoor movements and my mental state formed three groups within the database and also formed three narrative stories.

The final work appeared in two forms, printed and online, and acted as a diary of the day. In relation to a dialect argument and from the point of view of artistic expression, this work could be categorized as “representational” and “direct”. All information, photos and text are in front of the audience in the most direct form. Within a dialectical framework, if this work is taken as the thesis and its keywords are “representational” and “direct”, then the “antithesis” should be “abstract” and “indirect”. My next work explores how to use an abstract form to express the contents of a diary.

Ranger 8

徘徊者8号

design expression

0:00 - 23:59

[anti-][syn-]thesis

0:00 – 23:59的创作目的就是如何创造一个数据库，如何将他们叙事化。最初的灵感来自课堂上的课题，我需要在纽约时报上的一个栏目，“历史上的今天”2 中选择一个事件，从这个事件中找到一个点来创作我自己的作品。1965 年2月20日，美国徘徊者8号太空船以撞击月球表面形式来拍摄最清晰的月球表面影响。在撞击前的23分钟内，徘徊者8号一共传回了7127张高品质的月球表面照片，进行了一次完美的数据记录，创造了一个数据库。“在一个时间段内连续拍照记录数据”这个行为成为了我的灵感来源，我决定模拟徘徊者8号，在一段时间内连续记录同一件物体。

我在我的卧室里设置了一台照相机，每15分钟拍摄一张我卧室窗外的街景，持续24小时。96张照片记录了同一个区域内一天的变化，有时我会拍摄到说笑的行人，有时会拍到路过的汽车，以及天色慢慢从暗到亮，再从亮到暗的过程，非常有趣。同时，我用手机记录我自己的室内整个过程中的主要行为，并用文字记录我的心理状态。最终，窗外景色，室内活动，心理状态形成三组数据库，也同时形成了三个叙事故事。形式上，最终的作品以印刷品与网站两种形式出现，整部作品成为一部记录我一天行为的日记。回到章节的主题，从艺术表现角度上，这部作品是再现与直观的。所有的信息，照片、文字，都是以最直观的形式出现在观众眼前。在辩证框架内，如果我将这部作品标为正题，随着关键词再现的与直接的，那么“反题”就是抽象的与间接的。如何运用抽象的形式来表达日记这一主题内容成为我下一部作品的挑战。

Moon Surface Photos taken by Ranger 8, 1965

徘徊者8号传回月球表面照片，1965

1. Lev Manovich, Database as Symbolic Form,1998, http://manovich.net/DOCS/DATABASE.RTF 2. On This Day: February 20, New York Times, http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/on-this-day/february-20/

[正][反][合]题

设计表现

零点至二十三点五九

0:00

96 photos have taken every 15 mins for 24 hours

24小时内每15分钟拍摄一张照片，共96张

design expression

0:00 - 23:59

[anti-][syn-]thesis

23:45

[正][反][合]题

设计表现

零点至二十三点五九

Streetview photos, indoor photos and text diaries create 3 different narrative. Final print versoin. 窗外照片、室内照片和文字日记组成三部不同的叙事故事。最终印刷版。

design expression

0:00 - 23:59

[anti-][syn-]thesis

[正][反][合]题

设计表现

零点至二十三点五九

design expression

0:00 - 23:59

[anti-][syn-]thesis

[正][反][合]题

设计表现

零点至二十三点五九

design expression

0:00 - 23:59

[anti-][syn-]thesis

[正][反][合]题

设计表现

零点至二十三点五九

Website Version provides another experience for user to interactive with 网络版本将给予观众另一种交互体验

design expression

0:00 - 23:59

[anti-][syn-]thesis

[正][反][合]题

设计表现

零点至二十三点五九

Each time sequence shows the indoor activity and my text diary 每个时间点展示了我在室内的行为和文字日记

design expression

0:00 - 23:59

[anti-][syn-]thesis

[正][反][合]题

设计表现

零点至二十三点五九

abstract diary 抽象日记 antithesis

abstract + indirect

反题

抽象＋间接

Let me talk a little bit of my limited understanding of abstract. Abstract reflects a new perspective from which human’s description and feelings of the world and it breaks the limitation that art must have an identifiable image. At first, the basic theory of abstract art was metaphysics, namely, seeing through phenomena to seek nature. Through analysis of nature subjects, early abstract artists translate subjects from nature to the simplest geometric shapes through analyzing them visually and mathematically. For instance, overlapping of several triangles becomes a Christmas tree. After that, Russian painter and theorist Wassily Kandinsky first proposed there is a relationship between abstract art form and

human spirits in his book Concerning the Spiritual in Art. He proposed that all pure shapes, colors and positions in the composition had their inherent feelings and sounds. And when there started to interact with people, a second sound would be generated by the interaction between the audience’s subjective consciousness and cultural differences. Meanwhile, in his other book, Point and Line to Plane, Kandinsky described the changing of emotions in different basic art elements more specifically. He said, “Everything starts from a dot,”1 and “Color is a power which directly influence the soul.” 2

先来谈谈我自己对抽象有限的理解。抽象反映了人类描绘和感知世界的一个新的角度，突破了艺术必须具有可以辨认形象的局限性。最初作为抽象艺术的基本理论是哲学中的形而上学理论，即透过一切表面现象看到事物的本质。早期的抽象艺术家将自然界中的事物通过分析，归结到最简单的几何形体。比如，圣诞树变成数个三角形重叠等等。之后，由俄罗斯画家与理论家瓦西里·康定斯基著写的《艺术中的精神》，首次提出了抽象形式与精神和概念的联系。康定斯基提出，所有的纯几何形状、颜色、以及位置构图都具有其自身固有的感情和声音。然后，这种声音与人们开始互动的时候，会产生第二种因观众自身主观意识和文化理解而产生的互动声音。同时，在《点线面》一书中，康定斯基详细阐述了在各种基本元素中的感情变化。 “所有的事物始于一个点。”1 “色彩是直接影响灵魂的力量。”2

1. Wassily Kandinsky, Point and Line to Plane; Published by Dover Publications, Inc. in 1979. Chinese simplified translation by Chu Chen Books. 2. Wassily Kandinsky, Concerning the Spiritual in Art; Published by Dover Publications, Inc. in 1979. Chinese simplified translation by Chu Chen Books.

design expression

abstract diary

[anti-][syn-]thesis

[正][反][合]题

设计表现

抽象日记

也正如美国艺术批评家克莱门特·格林伯格所述，之所以毕加索、康定斯基、保罗·克利等人的艺术精彩，就在于他们关注对空间、表面和色彩等的创新和处理，并排除了所有与这些因素相关的东西。

Just like American art critic Clement Greenberg commented that, the reason that the works of Picasso, Kandinsky, Paul Klee etc., were so impressive was that they paid attention on importance of innovation of space, surface and colors, and excluded all things irrelevant to these factors.

design expression

abstract diary

[anti-][syn-]thesis

Photography is an excellent carrier of documenting life. In the 0:00 – 23:59, I have used photos as my initial material to explain my activities of the day. In this project, I adopted a similar technique of document as the one used in the former work, photo and diary. Different from previous one, I only use one photo to represent the mood of my day. Every photo relates to the text diary, but these connections are abstract and indirect. Another challenge of this project is how to use pure geometric shapes and colors to present emotion, and it leads to another topic about expression’s subjectivity and objectivity.

照片是记录生活非常好的载体，在前一部作品中我运用了很多的照片来讲述我一天的行为。这部作品我依旧采取了相似的记录手法，照片与日记。与之前不同的是，我只用一张照片来表达我一天的心情。每张照片都与文字日记有关联，但这种关联是抽象，不是直接的。另外一个难题是，如何用纯几何图形和色彩来表达心情。这又关系到另一个层面，主观表现与客观表现的问题。

Abstract Photos 抽象照片

[正][反][合]题

设计表现

抽象日记

design expression

abstract diary

[anti-][syn-]thesis

Abstract Photos 抽象照片

[正][反][合]题

设计表现

抽象日记

[正][反][合]题

设计表现

抽象日记

As everyone knows, color and geometric shapes is a universal language that is recognizable by people from almost every different culture in the world. But different cultures have different understanding about the meaning of what colors and shapes carry. For example, red could represent radical, passionate, but in some culture it comes with meaning of blood and evil. I was thinking why I don’t create a new language based on my personal subjective consciousness since I can’t find a universal explanation from the existing knowledge. Audience will need to understand the meaning that I gave to each color, shape and position before viewing my works, and then use them as the key to decode them.

众所周知，色彩与几何图形是一种共性语言，全世界各个文化的人都能识别。但要说到他们所表达的含义，这就因文化差异而不同了。比如红色可以代表激进，兴奋，同时在一些文化中代表鲜血，罪恶。在此，既然我没有办法找到一种共性的解释，我何不自己创造一种基于我主观意识理解的语言。在看我作品之前，读者需要先理解各种颜色、图形以及位置所表达的情感含义，再对我的作品进行解码从而了解其含义。

In response to Kandinsky’s theory and other couple of books about color theory, I gave shapes, colors, positions and sizes meaning like these:

在参照完康定斯基，以及几本讲述色彩学的书籍后，我对不同形状、颜色、位置以及大小赋予了以下的情感定义：

Free Relax

Stressful Tense

design expression

abstract diary

[anti-][syn-]thesis

Irresolute Indecisive

Tense Nervous Anxious

Transitional Involved

Harmonious Peaceful Delightful

Ordered Structured Forced

Controlled Calm Normal

Active Positive Sharp

Dull Negative Silly

Smooth Traveling

Passionate Excited Romantic

Warm Cozy Energized

Free Mysterious Emotional

Stressful Upset Unconsciousness

Happy Relaxed Loosen

Fresh Natured Idyllic

Deep Serious Sedate

Illuminated Imaginative Curious

Strength of Emotion

Small / Light

[正][反][合]题

Big / Bold

设计表现

抽象日记

design expression

abstract diary

[anti-][syn-]thesis

This manual includes all the key elements and their meanings I have used for my abstract compositions. As a reader, you can choose to use this guild as the key to decode my compositions. Or, you can use your own eyes and emotion to feel them, trait them as abstract art pieces.

这本小册里包含了《抽象日记》所有的元素与其含义。读者可以拿着手册一个一个对照来解读我的日记。或者，抛开系统，用你们的眼睛和情感去感觉他们，把他们当做抽象艺术品来鉴赏。

[正][反][合]题

设计表现

抽象日记

Every single composition consists two parts: abstract graphics and text diary. In the art perception perspective, graphic and text are also two different method of art expression. By reading text, audience could immediately get a sense of works logical context; it is direct compares to abstract graphics. By putting abstract graphics and text together, I proved anther format of “opposition” which contains relatively direct and indirect. I also provide two options of reading my works to audience. I put my entire code and text diary on a small brochure; people could use it as the key to decode them. Otherwise, if they don’t want to interpret them by comparing to the charts, they could feel them subjectively by reading text diaries and graphics.

From dialectic perspective, this work becomes the anti-thesis of the previous one, 0:00 – 23:59. The previous one is representational and direct, and this one, abstract diary, is abstract and indirect. And there is also a thesis and anti-thesis specifically in this project, which is graphic expression and text expression.

每一个单一的构图是由两部分组成的：抽象构图与日记文字。从艺术感官上讲，图形与文字也是两种不同的艺术表现形式。阅读文字可以使读者瞬间了解其中的逻辑脉络，相对于抽象图形来讲是直观的。我将抽象图形与文字放在一起，又验证了另一种形式的“相反”，即相对间接与相对直接的。在观众阅读我作品的方式上，我给予了他们两种选择。我将我所有的注解和日记文字都写在一个册子上，观众可以参照我的注解来对我的抽象日记进行解码。但同时，如果他们不想对照着图表逐一解读，也可以凭着简短的文字用他们自己主观的理解来感受这部作品。

从辩证思维的角度来看，这部作品与上一部0:00-23:59，在艺术表现手法上来看形成了一对鲜明的正题、反题。前一部是写实的与直接的，这一部则是抽象的与间接的。同时，在这部作品自身中也存在着两个相对的正题与反题，他们就是图形表现与文字表现。

10/ 18/ 2013 I have fallen in love with a wild horse. But there is no grassland in my house. That makes me feel despairing.1

10/ 18/ 2013 我爱上了一批野马，但我的家里没有草原，这让我感到很绝望。1

1. Song Dongye, Miss Dong; lyric, 2012, Beijing ,China.

design expression

abstract diary

[anti-][syn-]thesis

Oct. 18th, 2013

[正][反][合]题

设计表现

抽象日记

Sep. 29th, 2013

design expression

abstract diary

[anti-][syn-]thesis

9/29/2013

9/2 9 /2 013

周日的夜晚。很美。什么都不想做，只想休息。当你关上灯，黑暗会带走一切。但两秒钟后，消失的东西又回来了。

Sunday night. Wonderful. Don’t want to anything, just want to relax. When you turn off the light, the darkness will steal everything. But after 2 seconds, the disappeared things appeared.

[正][反][合]题

设计表现

抽象日记

9/23/2013

Night is beautiful,especially when I was staring at the lights on the street, they became blurry.

夜晚很美，特别是当我盯着街上的灯火，他们变得模糊了。

design expression

abstract diary

[anti-][syn-]thesis

9/30/2013

10/1/2013

9/9/2013

Writing in English is always a nightmare to me. Luckily I have chance to take this writing class on Monday afternoon.

It’s Chinese national day today. My father called me in the morning, but in China it’s night. He said he will go to Japan today for holiday.

Journey is always delightful. I flied back from China to Providence.

The room is small, and there’s a small window on the high area of the wall.

So jealous.

So tired, I had a dream, but cannot remember it.

9/30/2013

10/1/2013

9/9/2013

用英文写作对我来讲一直是个噩梦。还好在周一的下午我可以上这门写作课。

今天是中国的国庆节。我的父亲早上给我打来电话，但是在中国是深夜。他说他今天要去日本度假。

假期往往是幸福的。我从中国飞回了普罗维登斯。

羡慕嫉妒恨。

很累，我做了个梦，但是记不清了。

教室很小，但是墙的上方有一扇小窗户。

[正][反][合]题

设计表现

It was a 16 hour flight.

十六小时的飞行。

抽象日记

Oct. 12th, 2013

design expression

abstract diary

[anti-][syn-]thesis

Oct. 13th, 2013

[正][反][合]题

设计表现

抽象日记

10/4/2013

9/28/2013

10/2/2013

10/3/2013

After TA for a class. I saw two big footprint on my way home. It’s a metaphor of time, I think. After 100 years, they may still be there. But we don’t know who made that.

My aunt visited NYC today, I have to go there to see her. 3.5 hours plus 3.5 hours, 7 hours drive, it was not funny at all. But worth it, she was happy, so did I.

Coming Saturday will be a big day. We will have an important presentation about our on-going thesis. It was a sunny day, I saw that giant cloud in the sky. It will be a lie if I say I’m not nervous at all. But, things are coming, nothing can be stopped.

My monitor was broken. It shows a very modern and beautiful pattern. Well, isn’t that interesting? I can fix a computer but know nothing about monitor. I’ve been use this monitor for more than 3 years. It’s time to get a new one, maybe.

design expression

abstract diary

[anti-][syn-]thesis

10/6/2013

It was a busy day, I stayed in Studio for more than 12 hours. I arrived home at round 1 AM, it was already next day. I left nothing in my mind, just nothing. Can’t open my eyes. 10/6/2013

很繁忙的一天，我在工作室呆了12小时以上。到家的时候已经凌晨一点了，已经是第二天了。我脑中什么都不剩，已睁不开眼。

[正][反][合]题

设计表现

抽象日记

Oct. 11th, 2013

design expression

abstract diary

[anti-][syn-]thesis

10/11/2013

Blue sky, white cloude. The building is hiding in shadow. I love to look at coulds in the sky, they are in different forms all the time.

蓝蓝的天，白白的云。大楼躲在阴影里。我喜欢看天上的云，他们每时每刻都在变化。

They are artists.

[正][反][合]题

他们是艺术家。

设计表现

抽象日记

sound diary 声音日记 synthesis

abstract + direct

合题

抽象＋直接

As a synthesis, how to combine the “abstract” and the “direct” concepts is a challenge. People’s experience of the abstract is indirect, which means that these two concepts are opposite in meaning. In other words, I have to find a way to show both the abstract and the direct in the same work. Chinese artist Xu Bing’s work Book from the Ground 1 inspired me during this project.

He uses pictographic symbols to create a language that can be understood by people around the world. The symbol itself is a relatively abstract element, but because it is frequently used in people’s daily life, it directly links to meaning in the mind. This project made me wonder, other than established symbols, are there any inherently symbolic images that grant a perceptual experience? Sound.

Video Link:

如何将抽象与直观结合在一起是这部合题作品所要面临的挑战。众所周知，抽象的东西本身给予人们的艺术体验就是间接的，他们本身在含义上就是相反的。也就是说，我要在同一部作品中既表现出抽象又要表现出直接。中国艺术家徐冰的作品《地书》1 给予了我很大的启发。他运用纯象形符号来创造出一种世界人都能读得懂的语言。在阅读体验上，符号本身是相对抽象的元素，但是因为人们日常生活中的频繁使用，他们又会直接在人们脑海中映射含义。除了符号之外，还有什么象征性事物能给人一种直观的体验呢？声音。

视频连接： https://vimeo.com/93118123

1. Xu Bing, Book of the ground: from point to point; The MIT Press, February 7, 2014

design expression

sound diary

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Sound as a carrier of imagery is not as intuitive as vision. Vision, audition and touch are the senses that artists and designers tend to explore. Despite sounds’ limited capacity to convey action, listeners can still acquire concrete impressions from some symbolic sounds, like the sound of a door shutting, or waves crashing onto a beach. In this work, I try to randomly record my surroundings’ sounds, most of which are symbolic sounds. In contrast, text may give people a perceptual experience, but it can also achieve abstract existence through art forms like poetry. Through this work, I intend to give the audience two different, yet inter -related, sensory experiences.

In a video, I combine fragments of the identifiable sounds I recorded with images of short sentences that consist principally of a single word. Abstract words in connection with sound, and the change of the background color at specific intervals, communicates to the audience implied situations and states of being. For the final visual form, I store the video on a CD and design the cover. As a synthesis of artistic expression, the sound diary gives the audience both an “abstract” and “direct” experience.

声音作为一种视觉载体，并没有视觉那么直观。视觉，听觉，触觉，常常是艺术家与设计师喜欢探索的领域。但人么依然会从一些符号化的声音里得出具象的印象，比如，开门声，海浪声等等。我尝试随机性的记录存在我周围的环境音，他们大多数是具有象征性的声音。同时，文字大多数时间给予人们一种直观的体验。但是其也可以变成抽象化的存在，例如诗歌等形式就是将文字抽象化的一个方式。在这部作品中，我旨在给予观众两种不同的体验，但他们之间又是有关联的。在视频中，观众会听到我所录制的可辨别的声音碎片；同时看到大多数由单个词语组成的短句。抽象的词语，配合所处时间段的声音，以及背景色彩的变换会使观众想象到一种情境，从而揣摩到我当时的状态。在最终的视觉表现形式上，我将视频存入CD中，并设计了 CD封面等。作为艺术表现形式的合题，声音日记给予观众“抽象的”与“直观的”体验。

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Sound Wave of the actual sound track 音轨的音波曲线

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Screenshot of Video 视频的截屏

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% *& (& @#

!! sound diary

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+# (*

@) @#

音波曲线视觉化配以文字

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Visulization of actual sound wave with texts

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0:13

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ne ss le mi

e th

n’

14 20 , 25 b. Fe

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CD Case design CD封面设计

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design content | In the academic circle, there is a saying: the twentieth century is of criticism. Two different concepts conflict, and in the course of a debate gradually come to a compromise, merge and eventually agree. Throughout the history of human civilization, the instinct to criticize has seemed an effective way to promote the development of culture and philosophical thought. Todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s art world is filled with disputes about modernism and postmodernism. Should art serve itself or the public? When selecting design content, this debate can seem endless. Modernist artists narrate their own story, create their own art, focus on their own freedom and self-sufficiency, and in the pursuit of a pure art form, gradually deviate from society.

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设计内容 | 在学术界有一种说法：二十世纪是批判的世纪。两种不同的概念相互撞击，在争论的过程中逐渐妥协、合并，最终成一致的结果。纵观人类文明史，批判这种人类本能行为似乎成为促进人类文明发展的一种有效方式。今天的艺术界似乎还弥漫着现代主义与后现代主义之争的硝烟。艺术究竟是应该服务于艺术本身，还是服务于公众社会？在设计内容的选择上，这种争论也似乎从未停止过。现代主义艺术家们尽情地叙述着自己的故事，创造自己的艺术，专注于他们自身的自由与自给自足，在追求纯粹的艺术形式与内涵的过程中逐渐与社会脱节。

Order & Disorder

Inside&Beyond the Wall

我眼中的有序与无序

墙里墙外

private + subjective motivated 个人＋主观

public + objective motivated

design content

公共＋客观

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Who Is Lance Zhang? 谁是Lance Zhang？ public + private 公共＋个人

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后现代主义则完全建立在批判现代主义的基础上而诞生的。他们完全与社会接轨，与商业、政治、生产丝丝相扣。

但后现代主义艺术家们则认为，艺术家与设计师应该对其所处的时代负责，应该对社会负责，应该引导世人的价值观。

康定斯基在追求纯粹艺术精神的过程中说，“有人说，艺术是时代的产儿。但是这种艺术，只能艺术地重复那些已被同时代人清楚认识了的东西。所以它没有生命力，它仅仅是时代的产儿，无法孕育未来。这是一种被阉割了的艺术。它是短命的，那个养育它的环境一旦改变，它也就立刻在精神上死亡。”1

中国当代艺术家徐冰说，“作为一个艺术家，也许你对政治不是那么有兴趣、比较专注于自己的艺术。但现实中，面对整个世界越来越多的问题，你很难不有一种态度和一种表达。”2

如果以康定斯基的语言来说，这些艺术都将随着时代改变而消逝。

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如果现代主义艺术家们所选择的题材来源于自身主观意识，那么后现代主义则取材于社会，再经艺术家之手使其成为艺术品。内容上的主观与客观之争也自此展开。根据辩证思维架构，我的正题作品的内容将是完全私人的、主观的。反题作品则是完全公共的、客观的。

design content

[anti-][syn-]thesis

Postmodernism is entirely based on critical modernism. Postmodern artists are fully in line with society’s ideals and closely interlock their work with trends in commerce, politics and production.

It is Kandinsky’s belief that this art will disappear with the times.

Kandinsky asserts, about his process of capturing the spirit of pure art, “It has been said above that art is the child of its age. Such an art can only create an artistic feeling which is already clearly felt. This art, which has no power for the future, which is only a child of the age and cannot become a mother of the future, is a barren art. She is transitory and to all intent dies the moment the atmosphere alters which nourished her.”1

Chinese contemporary Xu Bing states, “As an artist, you may not be interested in politics, you may want to focus on your own art. But in reality, it’s hard to be mute when you are watching the problems in the world increase.”2

But postmodern artists believe that artists and designers should be responsible for their era and should guide their society’s values.

If themes selected by modernist artists originate from their subjective sense, then the themes of postmodernism are based on society, which then becomes works of art in the hands of artists. The dispute about subjective and objective content has expanded in the past decades. According to the dialectical framework, the content of my thesis work will be completely private and subjective and my antithesis work will be completely public and objective.

1. Wassily Kandinsky, Concerning the Spiritual in Art; Published by Dover Publications, Inc. in 1979. Chinese simplified translation by Chu Chen Books. 2. Xu Bing, If we dont rely on tradition, then rely on what?; The New York Times Style Magazine, February 24, 2014, http://cn.tmagazine.com/culture/20140224/tc24xubing/

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order & disorder in my eyes 我眼中的有序与无序 thesis

private + subjective motivated

正题

个人 + 主观

This work is the first large project I completed in the Rhode Island School of Design. As I said in the preface, “the opposite” as a concept has aroused great interest of mime and become my creative theme. The three works in this chapter all take a pair of opposite words as the starting and expand. One day I worked in the studio late into the night, and I had randomly placed many documents on the computer desktop. I was about to go home when I looked at the disordered

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computer screen and suddenly felt a vague sense of restlessness. I began to notice that the disorder can have such a big impact on my mentality. At this point, order and disorder became the first pair of opposite concepts in my mind. From this concept, I began a series of researches. How do order and disorder affect reading system and exist in people’s lives? How are they embodied in nature?

design content

这部作品是我在罗德岛设计学院完成的第一部大型项目。正如我在前言中所说，“相反的“作为一个概念引起了我很大的兴趣，并成为我创作的主题。这个章节的三部作品都是以一对相反的关键词作为起始并扩展开来的。某一天我在工作室工作到很晚，很多文件都被我随意地放置到了电脑桌面上。在准备回家的时候，看着凌乱的电脑屏幕我突然感到一种莫名的烦躁感。我开始注意到原来 “无序”可以对我的心理产生如此大的影响。至此，“有序”与“无序”成为第一对映入我脑海中的相反概念。从此概念出发，我开始了一系列的调研。有序与无序如何影响阅读系统，如何存在于人们的生活中，以及在自然界中以何种方式体现。

order & disorder in my eyes

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oh, sorry, I’m off......

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在英文阅读体系中，哥伦比亚大学一项研究表明，无论一个英文单词中的字母如何组合，只要首字母和尾字母在正确的位置，人们就会完全明白单词的含义。因为人类不会读取每一个单个的字母，而是读取整个单词。这是一个有趣的现象，在中文中这个规律则体现在句子中。另一个有趣的现象则是我发现有序与无序，其本身并不是一个绝对概念（absolute concept），而是一个相对的概念（relative concept）。比如你在一个博物馆看到一幅画，你觉得这幅画很凌乱。但当你产生这种想法的时候，你的潜意识中已经将这幅画与一幅你认为相对规矩的画做了比较，从而得出这幅画很“凌乱”这个结论。同理，如果有另一幅相比这幅更凌乱的画出现时，相对而言，第一幅就会变成有序，第二幅则会变

成无序。也就是说，同一幅画中，既存在了“有序”的概念，也同时存在着“无序“的概念，他们之间的转换则完全取决于另一个物体对之的影响。同时，我采访了我的三位设计师朋友，询问有序与无序如何存在于他们的日常生活与工作中。得出的答案也都非常有趣。从设计内容上来看，这部作品的取材完全是基于我个人主观意识的。在辩证思维架构中，我选取“私人的”和“主观的”作为正题的关键词。下一部作为反题的作品则应该是“公众的”与“客观的”。

Happy with clean desktop 整洁的桌面让我神清气爽

Angry with messy desktop 乱七八糟的桌面让我很火大

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design content

order & disorder in my eyes

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Columbia University conducted a study which showed that regardless of the combination of letters in an English word, as long as the first letter and the last are in the correct position, people will fully understand the meaning of the word, because they do not read letters, they read whole words. This is an interesting phenomenon, and in Chinese this law is reflected in the sentence. It is also interesting to note that order and disorder are not absolute concepts, but relative concepts. For example, when one person sees a painting

in a museum and describes it as disordered, the only way he can come to that conclusion is by subconsciously comparing this painting with another he finds relatively ordered. Similarly, if there is another painting more disordered, then, relatively speaking, the first one will appear more orderly, and the second will be defined as disordered. In other words, a single picture can contain both the concept of “order” and “disorder”, and the conversion between them depends entirely on the impact one has on the other. I wanted to investigate these terms through the subjective perception of several individuals, so I chose to interview my three designer

friends, and ask them how order and disorder exist in their daily life and work. In connection with my design content, this work is entirely based on my own subjective consciousness. Within the framework of dialectical thinking, I select “private” and “subjective” as keywords of the thesis, so the keywords for the next work, or the antithesis, should be “public” and “objective”.

My classmates’ desks 同学的书桌

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CAN YUO RAED TIHS?

If yuo can raed tihs, you hvae a sgtrane mnid, too. I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotlv mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

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inside & beyond the wall 墙里墙外 antithesis

public + objective motivated

反题

公共 + 客观

The contemporary designer influenced by postmodernism gradually tends to shift their perspective towards society and politics. From political posters to art satirizing social phenomena, artists are active in this arena, and often use art as a communication medium to illustrate objective facts to the public or express their views. I am often concerned about current events, and have published some of my own views on a blog. But do artists really have such great power? I’m skeptical. Artist who express too many political views in their work are likely to put themselves in the center of the storm and become ingrained with controversy.

For example, the well-known Chinese contemporary artist Ai Weiwei frequently expresses his political views in his work, which itself has become a controversy, because people can not judge whether his views are right or wrong, and it is likely that even history will not be fully objective. As a designer concerned about current events, I attempt to list objective facts, put aside my own subjective views, and let others evaluate them, because I believe it is not my role to judge whether the truth I know is really auniversal truth.

在后现代主义思维影响下的当代

判断他所诉求的观点是否是正确

设计师逐渐把目光投向了社会和

的还是错误的，即便是历史也不

政治。大到政治宣传海报，小到

能做到百分之一百的客观。作为

一些讽刺社会现象的艺术，艺术

一个关注时事的设计者，我更倾

家们在积极地扮演者一种公知的

向于尽量罗列一些完全客观的事

角色，将艺术作为一种传播媒介

实，抛开自己对这件事的主观看

向大众陈述一些客观事实，或者

法，让世人去自己去评价这个事

表达自己的观点。我个人也经常

件。因为很多时候我无法判断我

关注时事，并在博客上发表一些

知道的真相是否就是真的真相。

自己对某些事情的看法等。但艺术家真的会有这么大的力量么？我对此持怀疑态度。太过于在作品中表达政治观点的艺术家往往会将自身置于风暴的中心，成为争议的话题。当然，这也必然与所处的文化、政治环境有关。比如众所周知的中国当代艺术家艾未未，无时无刻不在作品中表达着他个人的政治观点。其本身就成为了一种争议，因为人们无法

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design content

inside & beyond the wall

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中国的网络封锁政策一直是西方主流社会批判的议题。出于一些政治因素，很多西方主流网站、媒体，如Facebook, Youtube, Twitter等都无法在中国大陆登陆。其原因无非是不希望中国人看到西方媒体对一些中国历史上的敏感政治事件的观点，影响中国社会的“和谐”。近年来，中国政府对网络的管制丝毫没有放松。

在这部作品中，我搜索了一些中国网络上被封锁的敏感词汇，然后分别客观地调查了中国主流媒体与西方主流媒体对相同事件的报道，并将其作为内容设计成一本书。

体对事件的报道。在阅读体验上读者会感到一种“中国媒体也许在隐藏什么”的感觉。选择相信哪一方则是由读者自己去决定的事情。作为上一部作品的反题，在辩证思维框架中我选取“公共的”与“客观的”作为关键词。

在这些事件上，就我个人来讲我无法选择去相信某一方，因为事实上两边都是有着其明确的政治目的来报道这些事件。所以在这本书中我完全没有写入我个人的意见，完全以一个整理者的角度去设计。我将“隐藏”与“ 显现”这个概念融入到书籍本身的设计中。读者打开第一个对页会看到中国官方媒体对事件的报道，翻过后打开折页则是西方媒

Artist, Ai Weiwei 艺术家艾未未

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China’s policy on Internet censorship has been criticized by Western mainstream society. For largely political reasons, access to many Western mainstream websites and media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc. are blocked in mainland China. The government believes that the Chinese people should not see Western media’s views on some sensitive political events in Chinese history because it may affect the “harmony” of modern Chinese society. In recent years, the Chinese government’s control

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of the network has not been loosened to any extent. In this work, I searched for a selection of sensitive words blocked by Chinese websites and objectively investigated the Chinese and the Western mainstream media’s coverage of the same event, and integrated it into a book’s content. When investigating these events, I chose not to believe any party, because both sides have a clear political purpose that motivates the way they report most occurrences. So in this book I do not dictate my personal opinion, I simply lay out my findings. I combine the concepts of “hiding” and “appearing” into the design of the book. The first spread depicts the coverage by the Chinese official media and

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the next page, which has a layout that allows the reader to unfold the left page, contains the coverage by the Western media. Upon reading, a reader may feel that the Chinese media is perhaps hiding something. However, the reader must decide which side to believe. As the antithesis of this work, I select “public” and “objective” as keywords within the framework of dialectical thinking.

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keyword: 6.4, Tiananmen Square Massacre 关键词：六四、天安门大屠杀

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keyword: tankman 关键词：坦克男

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keyword: Ai Weiwei 关键词：艾未未

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keyword: Jasmine Revolution 关键词：茉莉花革命

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keyword: facebook, twitter, etc 关键词：脸书，推特等等。

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who is Lance Zhang? 谁是Lance Zhang？ synthesis

private + public

合题

个人 + 公共

As the synthesis in this series, I try to reflect on a social problem from the perspective of a private event. My inspiration for the work comes from a dialogue I had with Professor Lucy Hitchcock in class about the Internet and reality. She said, “Take your name for example, Lance is inherently a handsome blond young man, but Zhang is a traditional Chinese last name. So the differences between Eastern and Western cultures unwittingly reflect you.” This caused me to think about the problem of multi-identity. In China, I am called Zhang Lehu, while in the U.S., I am called Lance Zhang. Meanwhile, on different social media platforms

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on the Internet I seem to play different roles, depending on the forum to which I am responding. On Weibo (the Chinese version of Twitter), I am a graphic designer and I rarely talk about my own life, while on WeChat (the Chinese version of LINE), I am an ordinary young man enjoying life. On Facebook, I am more often a taciturn spectator. In the real and virtual space, I create a variety of images of myself. It seems that it is common for people to flip through a variety of identities in a virtual space, which forms a kind of social phenomenon of “multi-identity”.

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作为这个系列中的合题，我尝试如何从一个私人的自身事件的角度来映射一个社会性问题。作品的灵感来自于我和教授露西·希区柯克在课堂上的涉及网络与现实关系的对话，她：“拿你的名字来举例，Lance 给人的固有印象是金发碧眼的英俊青年，Zhang却是一个传统的中国姓氏。东西方文化的差异不知不觉已经在你自己身上反映出来了。”由此我思考到了一个多重身份的问题。在中国，我叫张乐乎；在美国，我叫Lance Zhang。同时，在网络上不同的社交媒体中我都似乎在扮演着不同的角色。在微博上，我扮演着一个平面设计师的角色，很少讲述自己的

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生活。但是在微信上，我则扮演着一个享受生活的普通青年。在脸书上，我则沉默寡言，更多的时候是个看客。在现实中，虚拟空间中，我建立了许多个“我”。在网络这个虚拟空间中人们更容易从多种不同身份中切换，形成一种“多重身份”的社会现象。

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My inspiration for the expression of this work comes from American artist Chuck Close’s pixel art. I selected ten portraits of people named Lance and ten portraits of individuals with the surname Zhang from the Internet. I cut all of them, including my own portrait, into 81 equal portions, and then used Processing to write a program that randomly generated mixed portraits. All of these bizarre portraits seem to encompass the name “Lance Zhang”, but, in fact, none of them truly represent Lance Zhang at all. This paradox intends to show how the projection of one’s self, especially because of the influence of the Internet, never fully captures the complexity of one’s existence.

As a synthesis, I combined private information with public information in order to reflect a phenomenon that affects both the individual and society at the same time. In production, I subjectively chose a picture as a database, but the result is randomly generated by the program. This is another combination of the subjective and the objective.

Self-portrait, Chuck Close, 1997 自画像，查克·克洛斯，1997

traditional impression of Lance? 人们印象中的Lance？

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在作品表现手法上我的灵感来自于美国艺术家查克·克洛斯的像素画。我从网络上选取了10张名叫 Lance和10张姓张zhang的人的头像，结合我自己的头像把每一张照片平均切成81等份。然后，利用 Processing 编写了一个程序随机生成混合头像。所有的这些古怪的拼合头像都是名为Lance Zhang 的个体，但又不是Lance Zhang。作为合题，在内容上我用私人的信息与公共信息结合，反映了一个同时关于个人与社会的现象。在制作过程中，我主观的选择了作为素材的照片作为数据库，但结果都是由程序随机生成，我对此并没有加以控制。这又成为了一个主观与客观的结合。

Part of the Processing code, Processing 部分代码

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All Lance

All Zhang

所有的 Lance

所有的 Zhang

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200 Portraits in the book 200张头像集成的书

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design philosohpy | The development of technology causes our world to appear smaller and smaller. The concepts of diversity and globalization are commonplace in many of today’s internationalized cities. In the process of cultural exchange, conflict is inevitable. Different cultures may first interact with each other suspiciously, but slowly they extend mutual understanding and integrate. Because of my personal experience with cultural differences, when I arrived in the United States I became very interested in the difference between Eastern and Western art. In 2008 I attended a seminar in Beijing that was initiated by two young designers, Zhang Zijian and Mi Shijie, who were interested in combining Eastern and Western aesthetics and translating these concepts into the practical application of graphic design. They extracted composition concepts from classical paintings and utilized these in tandem with Eastern and Western philosophies to create the “ChiYun Composition”, which has greatly inspired my creative work.

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设计哲学 | 科技的发展使我们的世界越来越小。多元化、世界大同的概念在当今许多国际化都市里已经是司空见惯。在这个过程中，冲突是在所难免的。不同的文化在怀疑中相互接触，相互排斥，但不可避免的慢慢相互理解，相互融合。因为切身体验到文化差异，在来到美国之初，我就对东西方艺术上的差异十分感兴趣。在2008年我有幸在北京参加了两名年轻设计师，张子建，米世杰发起的研讨会，主题就是将东西方审美的概念结合到平面设计的实际应用中。他们从东西方古典绘画中提取了很多构图理念，并结合东西方哲学文化创造了“气韵构图法”给予了我很大的启发。

Golden Section Grid

Chi Diagram

黄金分割网格

气格

Western + mathematical 西方 + 数

Eastern + spirtual resonance

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东方 + 韵

设计哲学

mathematical + spirtual resonance 数 + 韵

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The East and the West vary dramatically in their artistic aesthetics. According to traditional Western aesthetic conceptions, beauty comes from precise, vivid and representational actualization. This is why the classic Western arts, such as sculpture and painting, tend to authentically and vividly portray the subject through techniques like focus perspective, proportion and shadow. In accordance with common Western thought, the golden section, which is based on a mathematical ratio, represents the most aesthetically pleasing proportion and has served as a crucial theory in both science and art. It is widely reproduced in Western painting, architecture

and even modern design. Consequently, Western art aesthetically embodies the beauty of mathematical proportion, which requires a stable and stationary structure. In contrast to the West, aesthetic appreciation in ancient China originates from Taoism, which advocates unworldly spiritual freedom, and aesthetic creation has also been closely linked to the pursuit of this freedom.After Buddhism entered China in the Tang Dynasty, another spirituality came into existence, and the expression, “artistic conception” appeared. Since then, “Bushi”, i.e. the study of location, became the standard for Chinese aesthetics. China’s Fengshui was, in the beginning, generated through the study of several paintings. Feng Shui, which means the flow of wind and water literally, is embodied in Chinese painting as “Chi” and focuses on coherence and

fluidity as methods to bring out the lingering charm and rhythm in paintings.Consequently, unlike the beauty of mathematical proportion present in Western art, Eastern art stresses the beauty of Chi, or spiritual resonance, which requires a flexible, and dynamic composition in paintings.

Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci, 1503-1517 蒙娜丽莎，达芬奇，1503-1517

Notre Dame de Paris, Paris, France, 1163 巴黎圣母院，巴黎，法国，1163

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东西方在艺术审美上的出发点是不一样的。西方传统的审美观点认为，能准确生动、并具象地表现，就是美。于是西方古典的雕塑、绘画等艺术样式追求的就是逼真、强烈地反映事物真实，并运用众多科学性的理念例如焦点透视、比例、投影等技术手段。其中黄金分割理论是科学以及艺术史上一个很重要的理论，其具有严格的比例性、艺术性、和谐型，蕴藏着丰富的审美价值。在西方绘画、建筑，乃至现代众多产品中，有着非常多的黄金分割范例。从艺术审美哲学角度来讲，西方艺术体现了“数”

之美，要求结构稳固，静止。与之相对的古代中国的最初审美起源是庄子道家理念，是对超越物外的精神自由追求，并把对自由的探索与审美创造活动联系起来。唐代佛教进入中国后，产生了另一种对精神的追求。在艺术表现上则相应地出现了“意境”。自此，“布势”，即对于位置的研究，成为东方审美的标准。中国的风水学说最早也是由一些书画中的规律总结形成的。风水，即风和水的流向，在中国画中以“气”的形式体现，并讲究气的连贯性、流动性，以此体现画的韵味与节奏。与西方艺术的“数”之美，东方艺术体现了“气”之美，要求构图灵活，动态。

Homeward Oxherds in Wind and Rain, Li Di, Song Dynasty 风雨牧归图，李迪，宋朝

Magpies and Hare, Cui Bai, Song Dynasty 双喜图，崔白，北宋

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golden section grid 黄金分割网格 thesis

Western + mathematical

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As a graphic designer, a grid is an essential design tool that I utilize as a reference for structuring my layouts and designs’ framework. Many students and designers who are just starting to practice graphic design may not have a very accurate understanding of the grid. There are books that explain the grid system, but each grid has its limitations, and ultimately different designers have different design situations that require them to develop their own unique grids. Swiss graphic designer Josef Muller-Brockmann is known for his constructional use of grids, and his scientific analyses of the page’s structure. His book Grid System in Graphic Design is an essential resource for graphic designers.

Truthfully, I am a lazy person. Therefore, I try to produce as many designs as I can in the shortest time possible. During my stints of production, I have often asked myself, is there any universal grid that can cope with a wide variety of design situations? Because of this idea, and because I am somewhat lazy, I began to extract concepts from Western paintings. The golden section then became the object of my study.

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作为平面设计师，网格是我们再熟悉不过的必需设计工具。它提供了一个参考结构，引导元素的布局，组成设计的骨架。但对很多刚刚开始接触平面设计的学生以及设计师，对网格并没有一个非常准确的理解。市面上讲解网格系统的书籍很多，但每种网格都有其局限性，最终设计师还是要依据不同的设计情况来制定不同的网格。瑞士平面设计大师乔瑟夫·穆勒·布鲁克曼是最具有代表性的网格使用者，其对页面结构的分析非常具有科学性及准确性。他的著作《Grid System in Graphic Design 》成为平面设计必读著作之一。现实中，其实我是一个很懒的人。如何用最短的时间做出更多的设计是我一贯的工作方式。有没有一种万能的网格可以应对多种不同的设计情况？基于这个有些偷懒的想法，我开始从西方绘画中提取理念。黄金分割理论毫无疑问的成为我研究的对象。

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As early as the sixth century, Pythagoras in ancient Greece deduced the rules of the golden section from nature, which was to become a standard organizational method within the academic community after the middle ages. He focused on mathematical relationships in order to explore the rules of beauty, and came to believe that beauty is a harmonious ratio, which could be implemented in various arts, including sculpture, architecture, painting, and pattern-making. In today’s design world, the golden ratio, 1:1.62,

1.62

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is used in web design, as well as for the dimensions of tangible objects like a piece of paper, a cigarette box, or an ipod. In this work, I strictly follow the golden ratio as a method for grid construction. This grid splits the page longitudinally and transversely several times and includes additional elements, such as a margin and a gutter, so that it can function as a ready-touse grid. During the design process, the title, image, text and other elements are arranged in accordance with the position of the grid, and the length and width follows the rules of the golden section.

For the next level of design expression, I turned this grid into a product and created a virtual brand promotion program. I designed a dynamic logo and used the grid in different media -- common brand applications included business cards, posters, brochures, etc. This projects acts as the thesis, and Western aesthetic philosophy is embodied by the word “digit”. The keywords I extract from this process are “mathematical” and “Western.”

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早在公元6世纪古希腊的必达格斯学派就已经从大自然中接触并掌握了黄金分割的一些规则，中世纪后推广至整个学术界。他侧重于从数学关系去探讨美的规律，并认为美就是和谐的比例，并将此比例关系应用在艺术中，包括雕塑、建筑、绘画、图案等。在现今的设计界，1:1.62这个黄金比例也被应用在无数的设计中，比如纸张的大小、香烟盒、ipod、网站设计中等。

在设计表现的层面上，我将这种网格转化成一种产品，并创造了一个虚拟品牌推广计划。我设计了动态的logo，并将网格应用在不同的媒介上 – 名片、海报、宣传册等常见的品牌应用。作为正题，西方的审美哲学体现在 “数”之上。我提取的关键词为“数” 和“西方”。

在这部作品中，我严格地遵照 1:1.62的黄金比例将页面纵向、横向地进行数次分割，并加上了栏距、页边距等元素使其成为一种立即可用的网格。设计的过程中，标题、图片、文字等元素按照网格的位置排列，长、宽均会符合黄金分割比例。 Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci, 1503-1517 蒙娜丽莎，达芬奇，1503-1517

Joseph Müller-Brockmann’s posters 乔瑟夫·穆勒·布鲁克曼的海报

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Using golden section proportion to divide the page horizontally and vertically. Add gutter and margin, to make grid workable. 利用黄金分割比例横向、纵向分割页面。增加栏边距以及页边距使网格即时可用。

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Redesign Joseph Müller-Brockmann’s book layout 重设计乔瑟夫·穆勒·布鲁克曼书籍排版

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Title, Images, paragraphes’ width, height follow 1:1.62 proportion 标题、图片、自然段的长、宽符合1：1.62黄金比例

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Print out samples 打印出的稿样

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GOLDEN SECTION GRID

Turn the grid into a branding campaign 将网格转变为一个品牌策划

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Business Card ĺ??ç&#x2030;&#x2021;

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chi diagram 气格 antithesis

Eastern + spirtual resonance

反题

东方 + 韵

In my conversation with Mr. Xu Bing, he mentioned, “As an Asian, you need not integrate into Western art, and this attitude is a problem... Only when you can suggest something they do not have, or your suggestion is greater than the range of their thinking, or you have something that inspires them, then you are needed and a relationship of dialogue can be established.”

different from the West, and the final difference is embodied through its methods. For example, graphic design work contains no ancient elements, only text and pictures, but, despite this, its layout and color scheme are able to reflect the Chinese taste. I think it is impossible to, through elements, express this taste which is reflected by temperament”, said designer Zhang Zijian.

Chinese people who want their own designs achieve a so-called “Asian” feeling often do-so by adding a variety of Chinese classical elements, but this not a necessary approach. “Real Chinese design should be reflected first in thought, its way of thinking, and its way of emotional expression, which is

在我与徐冰先生交谈的过程中，他提到：“作为一个东方人，西方艺术界也许不需要你的融入，这个态度是有问题的。只有当你能提示他们没有的东西，大于他们思考范围的时候，那个地方才需要你。这样才能构成一个对话的关系。” 中国人如果想做出自己的设计，往往通过添加各种中国古典元素来达到所谓“东方的”感觉，其实这也是一个误区。设计师张子建说： “真正的中国设计首先体现的应该是思想观念、思维方式、情感的表达方式，这些与西方都是不同的，最后才是方法的不同。比如说一幅平面设计作品上面没有一个古代的元素，只有商业所需要的文字和图片信息，但是它的布局和配色方式却能体现出中国的味道，我觉得这种从气质上体现的味道是没有办法通过元素去表达出来的。”1

1. Zhang Zijian, 设计信仰 The Faith of Design; 商务印书馆，2012，Beijing，China

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Designers Zhang Zijian and Mi Shijie define, by studying Chinese classical paintings, the way of “Chi Yun composition” which becomes a major tool in my work. Xie He, a critic of Chinese ancient art, puts forward the famous “Six Methods” as the evaluation criteria for Chinese classical paintings. They are “Spirit Resonance, Bone Method, Correspondence to the Object, Suitability to Type, Division and Planning, Transmission by Copying”. 1 The ancient Chinese believed that “Chi” reflects the origin of beauty, and

emphasized the importance of vividness and smoothness in art. In Chinese paintings, rhythm, charm and composition require fastidious circulation within the elements of the work , so the position of objects is very important. Chi hovers in the painting, at the bottom right corner, the “Hai point”, which is called the “Spirit Resonance”. Hai is from 21:00 to 23:00, and was described by the ancient Chinese as the key moment to link the past and the future, when yin is about to recede and yang is about to rise. Therefore, the bottom right corner acts as an exporter of “chi” in the composition, while the other two to three corners are closed in so that the “chi” can flow throughout the painting. In addition, a triangular-shaped balance is also reflected in many classical

Chinese paintings, in order to guarantee the flow of “chi”. This tradition serves as the basis for a series of triangular composition models. Similarly, I turn these models into products and use them for a variety of brand marketing applications. In opposition to Western concepts, which value the “beauty of the mathematical”, Eastern art embodies the “beauty of Chi”. Even without the use of Chinese elements, the triangular composition can also give the design layout an Asian charm. This grid becomes the antithesis of the last, and the keywords from this project are “chi” and “Eastern”.

Triangle Composition in Chinese painting 中国画中的三角构图法

“Hai” Point

1. Xie He, The Record of the Classification of Old Panters; 5th century, Liu Song and Southern Qi dynasties.

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设计师张子建与米世杰从中国古典绘画中总结出“气韵”的构图方式成为我这部作品主要的工具。中国古代艺术评论家谢赫提出了著名的谢赫六法，“气韵生动、骨法用笔、应物象形、随类赋彩、经营位置、传移模写”1 作为中国古典

间段，正是承前启后的关键时刻，阴气旺盛即将退去，阳气即将升起的时刻。所以，右下角成为构图中的“气”的出口，同时封闭其他2-3个角落以便给气一个完整的出路使气动起来。另外，三角形的杠杆平衡关系也在中国古典绘画中诸多体现，充分保证了“气” 的流通。以此为基础，一系列三角形的构图模型诞生了。

Movement of wind

绘画的评价标准。中国古人认为用“气”来体现事物美的本源，强调艺术要表现生动与流畅。在中国画中，节奏、韵律、构图都讲究流通与连贯，因此“位置”是非同样的，我将这个模型变成一个产常重要的。气在画中盘旋，最终从品，并创造一个品牌推销，将之应右下角，“亥”点走出，这就是所用在不同的应用上。与与西方的谓的“气韵生动”。亥是中国古代 “数之美”的概念相对，东方的艺时间表中大概晚上9点到11点的时术体现了一种“气之美”。通过试验，即便不使用中国元素，这种三角形的构图关系也能使构图拥有一种东方的韵味。这套网格成为前一个网格的反题，关键词为“东方” 与“气”。

Chi goes out from the right-bottom corner 气从右下角流出

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Chi

Level 1

Level 2

Hai Level 3

ChiYun Diagram, Zijian Zhang, Shijie Mi, Beijing,China

气韵构图，张子建，米世杰，北京，中国

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Variants of ChiYun Diagram

气韵构图变形

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Using Chi Diagram to redesign Joseph Müller-Brockmann’s book layout 运用气韵构图重设计乔瑟夫·穆勒·布鲁克曼书籍排版

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about the synthesis 关于合题 synthesis

mathematical + spirtual resonance

合题

数 + 韵

In order to synthesize these two grids’ styles, I had to combine them, which in practice, was quite simple. The golden section determines the size of each element, a Chi diagram determines its position, and there appears to be no conflict between them. In relation to the larger theme, these two works are just an example that illustrates how to combine Asian and Western aesthetic philosophies on a small scale. When Western aesthetics and art entered Asia, they had a great impact on the Asian world. Today,

a majority of fields, including technology, art, and industry, adapt according to Western achievements, values and aesthetics. Japan is at the forefront of many industries, which means that they are still able to combine Western and Asian traditions to some extent, but in the process, Japan has also given up many aspects of their own culture.

单单以这两个网格来说，结合他们其实很简单。黄金分割网格决定了元素的大小，气格决定了元素的位置，他们之间并没有冲突。但返回到大的主题，这两部作品仅仅是一个例子，从一个微小的层面来解释如何将东西方审美哲学结合。当西方的审美与艺术进入东方时，对整个东方世界产生了巨大的影响。今天，大部分科技、艺术、工业等领域都是借鉴西方的成果和价值观、审美观。日本走在亚洲文化的前列，从某些程度上完成了东西结合，但在其过程中也失去了很多自身引以为豪的文化。中国人也需要思考如何在能保存自己优秀文化传统的同时，吸取西方文化的精华。

日本作家谷崎润一郎在他的著作《阴翳礼赞》里写到，“愚痴虽是愚痴，总之与西方人相比较，我们是遭受了一定程度的损失。一言以蔽之，西方循着顾利的方向运转直至今日，而我们则由于不得不吸取优秀文明，却与过去数千年来的发展方向背道而驰，由此产生了各种障碍与烦恼。当然，我们如果不效仿西方，则五百年前直至今日，物质文明也许无多大进展。如果现在到印度、中国的乡村去看看，他们还过着释迦牟尼和孔子时代相仿的无多大变化的生活吧。但是他们选取了适合于自己性格的方向在发展，虽然进程缓慢，但总是在持续向前迈步，有朝一日，他们可能不用他人之物，发明创造真正适合自己文明的利器，取代今日的电车、飞机、收音机等。”1 中国人也需要思考如何在能保存自己优秀文化传统的同时，吸取西方文化的精华。

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design philosophy

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Jun’ichirō Tanizaki states in In Praise of Shadows, “If my complaints are taken for what they are, however, there can be no harm in considering how unlucky we have been, what losses we have suffered, in comparison with the Westerner. The Westerner has been able to move forward in ordered steps, while we have met superior civilization and have had to surrender to it, and we have had to leave a road we have followed for thousands of years. The missteps and inconveniences this has caused have, I think, been many. If we had been left alone we might not be much further now in a material way than we were five hundred years ago. Even now in the Indian and Chinese countryside life no doubt

goes on much as it did when Buddha and Confucius were alive. But we would have gone only in a direction that suited us. We would have gone ahead very slowly, and yet it is not impossible that we would one day have discovered our own substitute for the trolley, the radio, the airplane of today. They would have been no borrowed gadgets, they would have been the tools of our own culture, suited to us.”1 The Chinese also need to think about how to save their fine cultural traditions in addition to learning the essence of Western culture.

1. Jun’ichirō Tanizaki, In Praise of Shadows, Leete’S Island Books; December 1, 1977,

[正][反][合]题

设计哲学

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Using both grids to redesign Joseph Müller-Brockmann’s book layout 运用两种网格重设计乔瑟夫·穆勒·布鲁克曼书籍排版

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design philosophy

[anti-][syn-]thesis

[正][反][合]题

设计哲学

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design philosophy

[anti-][syn-]thesis

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设计哲学

210

interview with Zhang Zijian

Interviewer: Lehu Zhang Respondents : Zhang Zijian

Ok, let’s start, thanks a lot. You’re welcome. Me: Great. Basically my thesis topic is about how to inter-relate and establish some sort of universality among opposite concepts. It could be a cultural, artistic, social, political or personal concept. However, I found the ChiiYun composition method you established with Shijie Mi three years ago perfectly matched this topic, so I want to get some updates about your process since our last meeting in 2012. Ok, firstly, I have to say that this study is now stagnant, because in the last two years I started a couple of new topics of research, such as the methodology of design management, design consulting etc. Zhang Zijian, Researcher of IDEAWORKS studio, visual resercher, Eastern philosophy design theory advocate, inventor of “Chiyun Composition” diagram.

And what was the very initial reason or what drove you to research the Western / Eastern composition theory?

It relates to what my standards are for choosing topics. think the core purpose for me is to discover what I’m lacking, what will help me to improve my career, and what I’m interested in. But, honestly, the reason was a little bit self-serving, I wanted to increase my income as a designer. And based on the environment at the time, I was thinking about what I should study to change my situation. And it is a very common question or situation for designers in modern China. However, it was a very personal choice, and it doesn’t relate to any social or moral reason. I totally understand that. I’m struggling too, all the time. During 2010, I was questioning my design skills. By researching this layout design methodology, I thought I could improve my design skills. To the root of your question, that’s my initial reasoning. I was also surprised by the current influence of our studio in China today.

Beijing, China.

张子建, 创研综合设计研究所研究员，视觉研究者，东方哲学设计理论倡导者，“气韵构图”发明者。北京，中国。

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interview with Zhang Zijian

[anti-][syn-]thesis

张子建访谈

采访者：张乐乎

被访者：张子建

好的，我们开始吧，太感谢了。乐乎兄，太客气了。好的。基本上我的论文论题是围绕在如何融合相反的概念，以及从中找到一些共性。可以是文化的，艺术的，社会的，政治的或者个人的。我联想到了你和米世杰研究的“气韵构图”很符合文化上东西方结合的理念。我想问问这个课题自2012年我们见面后有没有什么进展呢？好的，首先说一下这个研究方向目前没有什么进展。这两年我们开了很多其他的研究方向，例如设计咨询方法论，设计管理，职业规划等等。最初是什么原因驱使你去研究东西方构图的理论呢？

[正][反][合]题

这就说到了起研究题目的标准是什么。他最核心的标准就是我自己当下缺少什么知识，什么研究能提高自己生存价值、设计费等等。主要还是以一个“自私的”，“自己受益”的一个目的来开始研究题目。另外一个就是比较感兴趣，着两个标准。这跟外界没什么关系，社会的需求度其实并不是我所关注和感兴趣的。我非常理解，我也时常挣扎于此。在2010年左右，我对自己构图方面有很多疑惑。研究这个课题对自己的设计能力也有很大的提高。说到根上就是这个原因。过程中有遇到过什么瓶颈或者挫折么？那就太多了。因为作为研究本身，一开始我根本不知道怎么去做研究。我认为研究是创造全新的东西，但是在过程中发现，创造新的知识和东西是非常非常困难的，基本不太可能。因为就算是学别人的的东西都学不过来。我发现研究的本质不是创造东西，而是去重新制定一个分类标准，把现有的知识进行重新分类，然后再用一个结构把他梳理出来。也就是说知识和现有的东西，技术，方法，都是已经存在的。所谓科学，就是分科之学。否则面对那么多的知识，我们也无从学起啊，这也是我在研究的过程中得到的最大的收获。

张子建访谈

Did you meet any difficulties or a choking point during your process? Wow, sure, a lot. At the very beginning, I totally didn’t know how to study or research. I thought I could create or invent a whole new theory by doing research. But during the process, I found that it was impossible to create new knowledge. Finally I found that the core of doing research is not to create new things; it is to find a way to re-manage or re-organize the existing knowledge. Because I think, knowledge, methodology, technology already exists, doing research allows us to categorize the existing thing, it lets us learn it more efficiently. Otherwise, I wouldn’t even know what to read, what to learn about within a sea of knowledge.

And also, sometimes the result is not what you expect from the beginning. For example, you start a topic, and after half a year you find that the result is so frustrating because during the process, you have read a lot and gained a lot of new knowledge, so you begin to feel that the old topic is too worthless to keep researching. Now is still a choke point to me. Another thing to consider is how to share my research with the public. Right now the only thing we have been using is Weibo (the Chinese version of Twitter), but it is still limited. And sometimes other people don’t respect your work, I think my study will be helpful but other people just treat it as a normal reading resource. That also frustrated me.

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I agree with that. I have changed my thesis a couple of times already in the past six months. But I have to say your studio is already well-known in Chinese design circles. Ha, thanks. OK, last question, I tried to use “opposite” to describe the difference between Western and Eastern culture. How do you feel about this descriptor? Hmmmm, this is a very big question. Actually we have kept talking about this since 2012, but in the past two years we kind of switched our focus to more specific design methodology or to solving real problems. So to me, this question is a little bit floating in the sky. And I have to state that to use a very extreme word to explain the differences between two cultures is definitely wrong, although you may be able to find some examples of these extremes in certain areas.

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I feel that the origins of the two cultures are similar; we just chose a different means to express them. Maybe 1000 years ago, there was a huge disparity between Western and Eastern cultures. But today, our earth has become a small village through the development of technology, such as the Internet and faster transportation. Today I can see the Western culture’s spirit in Eastern culture, and vice versa. During my research, I found that lots of concepts and characteristics in Western design are very close in origin to Eastern philosophy. This development is not self aware; I don’t mean that Western people intended to learn from Laozi or Confucius, their culture simply developed that way. Yes, I also feel there are lots of gray areas between the two concepts.

Zhang Zijian, Sojourn Field Identity

张子建, Sojourn Field 视觉系统

interview with Zhang Zijian

[anti-][syn-]thesis

到目前为止这仍然是一个瓶颈。因为对于知识的分类是很困难的，读哪些书，一直没有人给我来做引导，只能根据自己的兴趣去判断。所以这也导致了自己无法判断某个题目最后的结果，有的时候你可能做了半年了，但最后的结果跟你之前想的不一样。因为这半年中你读了很多书，吸收了很多知识。另外一个瓶颈，我认为是传播上的瓶颈。因为你需要把研究的成果发布、传播给大家。现在唯一的一个渠道就是新浪微博，但显然他的面还是很窄的，因为我们的影响力是有限的。所以有时候我觉得这个东西对自己特别重要，觉得其他的设计师也特别需要。但发布出去之后，很多人不把他当回事儿，有些人下载了也只是把他当成一般的读物。有时候觉得有些沮丧。所以我很难判断我研究的东西到底对别人有多大的帮助。我很同意。在过去的6个月里，我在做我的论题的过程中也题目也变更过很多次。但我想说，你的创研所已经在中国设计界有一定知名度与影响力了。哈哈，谢谢。

Zhang Zijian, White Night dance performance, Beijing, 2013

张子建, 白夜舞蹈表演，北京，2013

[正][反][合]题

张子建访谈

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恩，我最后一个问题是，你认为用“相反“来形容东西方文化的不同合适么？恩，这个问题有点儿大啊。这个问题我们在2012年的时候经常聊，但今年聊的比较少，今天我们在交流的时候经常聊的是方法和技巧。现在我们无论日本、欧洲、美国，只要有好的理念就会借鉴过来，不会存在偏见。这个问题有点儿偏虚。对这个问题，首先得做个声明。如果你用一个非常极端的词去形容两种文化的是可以找到的，但是这种形容肯定是不对的。因为东西方文化，是你中有我，我中有你的。可能在一千年前，东西方文化没有沟通的时候，可能差别很大。但现在差别越来越小了。这三千年来，人类文明先有东方起，然后转一圈到西方文明，然后西方引领全世界的文明。然后发展到后现代，又回到东方。西方现在的思想发展，尤其是后现代的特征，是有很多原始东方思想的特征的。这种发展是不自觉的，并不是他特意去学习老子、孔子。发展到这，必然要回归。尤其现在地球村的状态，和原来中国封闭的状态很像，所以思想模式也必然会很接近。

我也觉得在这两种概念中有很多的灰色地带值得探索和思考。说到他们的不同，我觉得西方的的思想不管怎么发展，永远是把 “人”放在一个很重要的位置上，永远以“人”最为主体来发展。而东方有一半是以人，而另一半是以他所在的环境，古代叫“天”。两个结合在一起，做一种权衡。我们原先讨论过一个，芬兰的现代设计和日本的产品设计的差别是什么。因为我发现这两个国家的产品都非常简洁，也都很实用。但是他们是由两种文明发展诞生出的现代设计产品，但总觉得有一股劲儿是不一样的。最后的结论是，日本的产品设计以审美为源头。他永远第一考虑的是生活情趣和美感，第二位是实用。而北欧，芬兰的设计以实用为第一位，美感为第二位，整个设计原则是倒过来的。但最后的结果却比较相像，但开发的原动力是不一样的，所以这个味道也不一样。那审美，实际上来源于人类和环境的一种关系，将人置身于环境之中，才会产生情境之美。而北欧的实用，只要考虑人就好了。这就又回到了那个文化的源头。但这个问题很难说的绝对了，正如我所说现在很多西方设计师也开始考虑环境和人的关系。东西方已经在开始一个融合的阶段了。从不同中寻找共性是很需要技巧的，但我觉得很值得去探索。非常感谢，你说的这些对我有很大帮助和启发。

Zhang Zijian, Typography posters

张子建, 字体海报设计

希望下次在北京能面对面交流。

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interview with Zhang Zijian

[anti-][syn-]thesis

From a philosophy perspective, I feel that Western culture was focusing on people. People have the most important position in relation to any other thing. I called it “people oriented”, or “people-centered”. Ancient Eastern culture, to me, was half focusing on people, and half focusing on the “sky”. Using the modern term, “sky” means environment. Humans must follow the rules of nature, additionally, humanity is an integral part of nature. We have discussed the difference between modern Finnish and Japanese product design. Because I feel in some ways, they are similar, they are very clean and useful. But they are modern designs, which developed from very different cultures. Although they are similar, there are certain points where I can still feel the difference. After discussion and research, the conclusion we got was, Japanese design focused on a sense of beauty,

the aesthetic perception is the first concern, and functionality is secondary. But Finland design works oppositely. Function first, then beauty. But the final result is similar, I think it recalls that Western and Eastern origins are actually similar, one day we will be same, maybe after another 5000 years. Finding similarities within differences is tricky, but its worth researching. Thanks bro this is really helpful. I want to have a chance to chat face to face. Tell me when you come to Beijing next time.

Zhang Zijian, Typography poster

张子建, 字体海报设计

[正][反][合]题

张子建访谈

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conclusion

Any theory must undergo countless tests before its feasibility and scope of application can be verified. Hegel’s dialectic theory is opposed by many people and philosophers. Hegel is an idealism philosopher, who applies dialectical thinking when describing nature, history and the spiritual world as a way to prove that things evolve through constant self-conflict. Later materialist philosophers criticize Hegel’s philosophy, but I find that the dialectic is a methodology worth learning. Japanese architect Kengo Kuma in his book, Defeated Architecture, describes the promotion of digital construction technology and post-structuralism thought in the late 20th century, saying, “Academism uses a dialectical research idea in which it first sets an antagonistic relationship between form and freedom and then uses new methods (digital construction technology and post-structuralism thought) to cleverly solve this relationship”. 1 It is clear from his statement that dialectical thinking has been quietly applied in various fields for a long time.

1. Kengo Kuma, 负建筑 Defeated Architecture, 山东人民出版社, 2008

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[anti-][syn-]thesis

结论

At the beginning of the creation of this project, I considered my own doubts about art and graphic design. My problem is not necessarily caused by the field of graphic design. I am deeply confused by the incongruity caused by cultural conflict, and I suspect that it is these conflicts that serve as the origin of my own combative thoughts. Of course, I think everyone has, at some point, had this problem. But it is this struggle that promotes me to read philosophy, and ultimately the dialectical mode helps me understand the conflict happening within me, which allows me to scientifically and rationally dissect it.

When applied to the design thought process as a methodology, the dialectic generates new reactions and results. This paper describes how I used the dialectical framework as a system to guide my experiments and how I utilized dialectic thought in the creation of ideas, content and final forms. As a method for inspiring the creation of new content, and as an invisible constraint, I chose to try implementing oppositional ideas in my work. I wanted to discover how this process caused unforeseen ideas to spark throughout my creative process. It is hard to measure how this technique can impact my results, but I am happy to explore the possibilities.

If my Eastern education is taken as the synthesis, then my Western education is the antithesis. Both exist in my consciousness, and I am the synthesis, integrating both cultures through my application of their ideologies.

任何一套理论的形成必须经过无数的实践才能验证其可行性以及所能覆盖的范围。黑格尔所提出的辩证思维也存在着诸多反对之声。黑格尔是一位唯心主义哲学家，他将辩证主义思维应用在描述自然、历史、与精神世界的过程中，旨在证明事物都是在不断的自我冲突中进化的。后期的唯物主义哲学家批判黑格尔的哲学，但我始终认为辩证法是一个非常值得借鉴的方法论。日本建筑大师隈研吾在他的《负建筑》中见到20世纪后期的数字建筑技术和后结构主义思潮相互推进的过程中说，“学院派采用的是一条辩证的研究思路。它首先设定形式与自由的对立关系，然后利用新的方法（数字建筑技术或后结构主义思想）巧妙地化解开这种队里关系。”1 可见，辩证思维早已悄悄的出现在各种领域中。

在创作作品之初，我思考自己对艺术，平面设计到底有一个什么样的疑问。我的问题并非来自平面设计这个领域。在我深深困惑于因文化冲突所造成的不协调感时，我怀疑在如此多的冲突中我为何还能生存这个思维本源的问题。当然，我想每个人或多或少都曾有过这种疑问。但正是这个疑问促使我去阅读哲学，最终从辨证思维帮助我了解了发生在我身上的冲突，使我对之有了一种科学与理性的概念。如果把接受东方教育的我看作是一个合题，那么接受了西方教育的我就是一个反题。这两个“我”同时存在于我身上，我就是一个融合了两种文化的合题。但我在学习东西方文化过程中抛弃了什么，留下了什么，就成为这个过程的魅力所在。这个过程会无休止的纵向发展下去，直到我生命终结的那一天。

During my studies of Eastern and Western cultures, what I abandon and what I accept from both shapes my own process. This process will be continually in development until the day my life ends.

[正][反][合]题

结论

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当将之作为方法论应用到设计思维中时，就又产生了另一种化学反应。这本论文记载了了我如何使用辩证思维作为架构和系统来引导我的创作的一些实验。如何在辩证中得到创作的概念、内容，以及最终的形式。当你决定一个设计构思的时候，何不去尝试用一个完全相反的思路再去思考一遍，是否会得到什么新的启发？如果将两个思维结合，是否会迸发出更耀眼的火花？结果可能是更好的，也可能是更差的。这都是未知之数，但我乐于去探索其中的可能性。

无论在任何领域中都没有一个理论能应用到所有的情况。每一个理论就如同一条路，我权且将自己称作一名小小的开拓者。其独特的角度去达到既定的终点。所有的这些路汇集交错在一起，诠释了形成我们这个大千世界的法则。我能所做的，就是慢慢开拓一条新的道路。无论我所构建的这条路会有多宽，多长，他都会成为千万条路中的一条，等待着下一个构建者继续将其加长加宽，让更多的人能在这条路上走的更远。

艺术表现、哲学以及内容几个主题仅仅是艺术这个庞大的领域中的几个微小的层面，而我的作品也仅仅从一个更微小的层面来解释了这几个主题。我的论题本身也完全可以作为一个正题，也肯定会有一个反题出现。这也符合了我在本书之初所说的，“事物都在争论与讨论中进化成长。”我也非常期待未来能有反对这本书中理论的声音出现。

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conclusion

[anti-][syn-]thesis

The topics of artistic expression, philosophy and content are only several small factors within the field of art, but my work seeks to explain these topics from one small perspective. My topic itself can be used as a thesis and there will certainly be an antithesis. This is also in line with what I said at the beginning of this book: “...things all evolve and grow through debate and discussion”. I look forward to discovering the voice that opposes my theories in this book.

[正][反][合]题

In any field, there isn’t a theory that can be applied to all situations.Every theory is like a road and depending on the unique perspective of the pioneer, new paths may need to be forged in order to reach the intended destination. All of these roads are intertwined, and interpret the formation of the world. All I can do is slowly pioneer my own road. No matter how long and how wide this path will run, it will become only one of hundreds of roads. When I finish my work, this road will wait for the next pioneer to lengthen and widen it so that more people can go farther and discover the monuments that have yet to be reached.

结论

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biblography

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, The Science of Logic, Translated by A.V. Miller; Prometheus Books, New York City, 1991. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Aesthetics: A Critical Exposition; Forgotten Books, June 15, 2012. Lev Manovich, Database as Symbolic Form, 1998, http://manovich.net/DOCS/DATABASE.RTF Clement Greenberg, Avant-Garde and Kitsch; Partisan Review, 1939. Jonathan Harris, Writing Back to Modern Art: After Greenberg, Fried, and Clark; Routledge, New York, 2005. Wassily Kandinsky, Point and Line to Plane, Published by Dover Publications, Inc. in 1979; Chinese simplified translation by Chu Chen Books. Wassily Kandinsky, Concerning the Spiritual in Art, Published by Dover Publications, Inc. in 1979; Chinese simplified translation by Chu Chen Books. Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction; Penguin Books Limited, Aug 7, 2008. Martin Heidegger, “The Origin of the Work of Art”, Poetry, Language, Thought; Perennial Classics, December 3, 2013. Xu Bing, Book of the ground: from point to point; The MIT Press, February 7, 2014. Xu Bing, If we dont rely on tradition, then rely on what?; The New York Times Style Magazine, February 24, 2014, http://cn.tmagazine.com/culture/20140224/tc24xubing/ Zhang Zijian, Mi Shijie, Jiang Qiping, 设计信仰 The Faith of Design; 商务印书馆，2012, Beijing, China. Xie He, The Record of the Classification of Old Panters; 5th century, Liu Song and Southern Qi dynasties. Jun’ichirō Tanizaki, In Praise of Shadows; Leete’s Island Books, December 1, 1977, Kengo Kuma, 负建筑 Defeated Architecture; 山东人民出版社, 2008.

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参考目录

Kenya Hara, Designing Design; English translation and published by Lars Muller; July 23, 2007. Kenya Hara, White; English translation and published by Lars Muller; November 25, 2009. Christopher Alexander, Notes on the Synthesis of Form; Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, and London, England, 1964. Josef Müller-Brockmann, Grid Systems; Niggli Verlag, Sulgen, 1981; English version by D. Q. Stephenson, Basle, Printed by Druckerei Kösel GmbH, Altusried, Germany. Helmut Schmid, Design is Attitude; concept and design by Fjodor Gejko, Published by Birkhäuser, Basel, Switzerland, 2007. Helmut Schmid, Typography Today; Seibundo Shinkosha Publishing Co., Ltd., Tokyo, 2007 Carolina de bartolo with Erik Spiekermann, Explorations in Typograpy/Mastering the Art of Fine Typesetting : A Visual Textbook for Intermediate to Advanced Typography; 101 Editions, San Francisco, CA, 2011. On This Day: February 20; New York Times, http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/on-this-day/ february-20/ Nancy Skolos and Thomas Wedell, Graphic Design Process: From Problem to Solution 20 Case Studies; Laurence King Publishing Ltd, London, 2012. Paul Klee, Pedagogical Sketchbook; Faber & Faber, June 1968. Kohei Sugiura, Life and Modelling 造型的诞生; Chinese Simplifed translated by Li Jianhua and Yang Jing, 中国人民大学出版社, Beijing, China. Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, and Steven Izenour, Learning From Las Vegas; The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA and London, England, 1977, 1972.

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colophon

concept, photography, design, text : Lehu Zhang

school: Rhode Island School of Design, Department of Graphic Design

MFA thesis examination committee : Thomas Ockerse, Nancy Skolos, Anther Kiley, Jon Sueda, Bethany Johns.

translation : Youdao Translate, www.youdao.com

editor : Elizabeth Bearden

print and binding : LuLu.com

type : Glosa, Roman, Medium, Medium Italic Glosa Headline, Roman, Bold Univers LT Std, 45, 55, 65 FZ LanTingHei, L, R, B, Regular FZ XiaoBaoSong, Regular

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版权记录

概念、摄影、设计、文字：张乐乎

学校：罗德岛设计学院，平面设计系

研究生论文评审委员： Thomas Ockerse, Nancy Skolos, Anther Kiley, Jon Sueda, Bethany Johns.

翻译：有道翻译，www.youdao.com 编辑： Elizabeth Bearden

印刷装订： LuLu.com

字体 : Glosa, Roman, Medium, Medium Italic Glosa Headline, Roman, Bold Univers LT Std, 45, 55, 65 方正兰亭黑, L, R, B, Regular 方正小报宋, Regular

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224

and indirect. I also provide ptions of reading my works dience. I put my entire code ext diary on a small brochure; e could use it as the key to de them. Otherwise, if they want to interpret them by aring to the charts, they could hem subjectively by reading iaries and graphics. dialectic perspective, this becomes the anti-thesis of evious one, 0:00 – 23:59. The us one is representational rect, and this one, abstract is abstract and indirect. And is also a thesis and anti-theecifically in this project, is graphic expression and xpression.

日记 | 先来谈谈我自己对抽象有理解。抽象反映了人类描绘和世界的一个新的角度，突破了必须具有可以辨认形象的局限最初作为抽象艺术的基本理论学中的形而上学理论，即透过表面现象看到事物的本质。早抽象艺术家将自然界中的事物分析，归结到最简单的几何形比如，圣诞树变成数个三角形等等。之后，由俄罗斯画家与家瓦西里·康定斯基著写的《中的精神》，首次提出了抽象与精神和概念的联系。康定斯出，所有的纯几何形状、颜以及位置构图都具有其自身固感情和声音。然后，这种声音们开始互动的时候，会产生第因观众自身主观意识和文化理产生的互动声音。同时，在《面》一书中，康定斯基详细阐在各种基本元素中的感情变 “所有的事物始于一个 ”“色彩是直接影响灵魂的力 ”也正如美国艺术批评家克莱 ·格林伯格所述，之所以毕加康定斯基、保罗·克利等人的精彩，就在于他们关注对空表面和色彩等的创新和处理，除了所有与这些因素相关的东照片是记录生活非常好的载在前一部作品中我运用了很多

验，但他们之间又是有关联的。在视频中，观众会听到我所录制的可辨别的声音碎片；同时看到大多数由单个词语组成的短句。抽象的词语，配合所处时间段的声音，以及背景色彩的变换会使观众想象到一种情境，从而揣摩到我当时的状态。在最终的视觉表现形式上，我将视频存入CD中，并设计了CD封面等。作为艺术表现形式的合题，声音日记给予观众“抽象的”与“ 直观的”体验。 design content | In the academic circle, there is a saying: the twentieth century is of criticism. Two different concepts conflict, and in the course of a debate gradually come to a compromise, merge and eventually agree. Throughout the history of human civilization, the instinct to criticize has seemed an effective way to promote the development of culture and philosophical thought. Today’s art world is filled with disputes about modernism and postmodernism. Should art serve itself or the public? When selecting design content, this debate can seem endless. Modernist artists narrate their own story, create their own art, focus on their own freedom and self-sufficiency, and in the pursuit of a pure art form, gradually deviate from society. Postmodernism is entirelybased on critical modernism. Postmodern artists are fully in line with society’s ideals and closely interlock their work with trends in commerce, politicsand production. Kandinsky asserts, about his process of capturing the spirit of pure art, “It has been said above that art is the child of its age. Such an art can only create an artistic feeling which is already clearly felt. This art, which has no power for the future, which is only a child of the age and cannot become a mother of the future, is a barren art. She is transitory and to all intent dies the moment the atmosphere alters which nourished her.”1 It is Kandinsky’s belief that this art will disappear with the times.

entirely based on my own subjective consciousness. Within the framework of dialectical thinking, I select “private” and “subjective” as keywords of the thesis, so the keywords for the next work, or the antithesis, should be “public” and “objective”. 我眼中的有序与无序 | 这部作品是我在罗德岛设计学院完成的第一部大型项目。正如我在前言中所说，“相反的“作为一个概念引起了我很大的兴趣，并成为我创作的主题。这个章节的三部作品都是以一对相反的关键词作为起始并扩展开来的。某一天我在工作室工作到很晚，很多文件都被我

设计哲学 | 科技的发展使我们的越来越小。多元化、世界大同念在当今许多国际化都市里已司空见惯。在这个过程中，冲在所难免的。不同的文化在怀相互接触，相互排斥，但不可的慢慢相互理解，相互融合。切身体验到文化差异，在来到之初，我就对东西方艺术上的十分感兴趣。在2008年我有幸京参加了两名年轻设计师，张建，米世杰发起的研讨会，主是将东西方审美的概念结合到设计的实际应用中。他们从东古典绘画中提取了很多构图理并结合东西方哲学文化创造了韵构图法”给予了我很大的启东西方在艺术审美上的出发点一样的。西方传统的审美观点为，能准确生动、并具象地表就是美。于是西方古典的雕塑画等艺术样式追求的就是逼真烈地反映事物真实，并运用众学性的理念例如焦点透视、比投影等技术手段。其中黄金分论是科学以及艺术史上一个很的理论，其具有严格的比例性术性、和谐型，蕴藏着丰富的价值。在西方绘画、建筑，乃代众多产品中，有着非常多的分割范例。从艺术审美哲学角

在这些事件上，就我个人来讲我无法 came into existence, and the 选择去相信某一方，因为事实上两边 expression, “artistic concepti 都是有着其明确的政治目的来报道这 appeared. Since then, “Bushi 些事件。所以在这本书中我完全没有 the study of location, became 写入我个人的意见，完全以一个整理 standard for Chinese aesthet 者的角度去设计。我将“隐藏”与“ China’s Fengshui was, in the 显现”这个概念融入到书籍本身的设 beginning, generated through 计中。读者打开第一个对页会看到中 study of several paintings. Fe Shui, which means the flow o 国官方媒体对事件的报道，翻过后打 wind and water literally, is 开折页则是西方媒体对事件的报道。 embodied in Chinese painting 在阅读体验上读者会感到一种“中国 “Chi” and focuses on cohere 媒体也许在隐藏什么”的感觉。选择 and fluidity as methods to bri 相信哪一方则是由读者自己去决定的 out the lingering charm and r 事情。作为上一部作品的反题，在辩 in paintings.Consequently, un 证思维框架中我选取“公共的”与“ the beauty of mathematical proportion present in Western 客观的”作为关键词。 Eastern art stresses the beau Chi, or spiritual resonance, w requires a flexible, and dynam composition in paintings.

随意地放置到了电脑桌面上。在准备 who is Lance Zhang? | As the 回家的时候，看着凌乱的电脑屏幕我 synthesis in this series, I try to 突然感到一种莫名的烦躁感。我开始 reflect on a social problem from 注意到原来“无序”可以对我的心理 the perspective of a private event. 产生如此大的影响。至此，“有序” My inspiration for the work comes 与“无序”成为第一对映入我脑海中 from a dialogue I had with Professor Lucy Hitchcock in class 的相反概念。从此概念出发，我开始 about the Internet and reality. She 了一系列的调研。有序与无序如何影 said, “Take your name for example, 响阅读系统，如何存在于人们的生活 Lance is inherently a handsome 中，以及在自然界中以何种方式体 blond young man, but Zhang is a 现。在英文阅读体系中，哥伦比亚大 traditional Chinese last name. So 学一项研究表明，无论一个英文单词 the differences between Eastern 中的字母如何组合，只要首字母和尾 and Western cultures unwittingly 字母在正确的位置，人们就会完全明 reflect you.” This caused me to 白单词的含义。因为人类不会读取每 think about the problem of 一个单个的字母，而是读取整个单 multi-identity. In China, I am called 词。这是一个有趣的现象，在中文中 Zhang Lehu, while in the U.S., I am called Lance Zhang. Meanwhile, on 这个规律则体现在句子中。另一个有 different social media platforms on 趣的现象则是我发现有序与无序，其 the Internet I seem to play 本身并不是一个绝对概念（absolute different roles, depending on the concept），而是一个相对的概念 forum to which I am responding. （relative concept）。比如你在一 On Weibo (the Chinese version of 个博物馆看到一幅画，你觉得这幅画 Twitter), I am a graphic designer 很凌乱。但当你产生这种想法的时 and I rarely talk about my own life, 候，你的潜意识中已经将这幅画与一 while on WeChat (the Chinese 幅你认为相对规矩的画做了比较，从 version of LINE), I am an ordinary 而得出这幅画很“凌乱”这个结论。 young man enjoying life. On 同理，如果有另一幅相比这幅更凌乱 Facebook, I am more often a taciturn spectator. In the real and 的画出现时，相对而言，第一幅就会 virtual space, I create a variety of 变成有序，第二幅则会变成无序。也 images of myself. It seems that it 就是说，同一幅画中，既存在了“有 is common for people to flip 序”的概念，也同时存在着“无序“ through a variety of identities in a 的概念，他们之间的转换则完全取决 virtual space, which forms a kind of 于另一个物体对之的影响。同时，我 social phenomenon of “multi-iden采访了我的三位设计师朋友，询问有 tity”. My inspiration for the