Gerrit Rietveld Academie workshop:
Casting details.
2nd-7th september 2009
Ivana borovnjak - giovanni innella
Represent
“Design and its double”
1. The effects of representation in society
Doc Brown: Then tell me, Future Boy. Who’s President of the United States in 1985? Marty: Ronald Reagan. Doc Brown: Ronald Reagan? The actor!? [chuckles in disbelief] Then who’s vice-president, Jerry Lewis? I I suppose Jane Wyman is the First Lady? And John Wayne is Secretary of defence! Robert Zemeckis, “Back to the future”, 1985
“Modern politics is made of characters rather than politicians”
Zygmunt Bauman
To the question: “who is this person?”...
...over 50% of American people answers:
“Terminator!”
Other candidates were mostly mediatic characters:
Larry Flynt porn editor
Gary Coleman a.k.a. Arnold
Jack Grisham rock/punk singer
Angelyne a.k.a. LA billboard queen
Mary Carey pornstar
This is what you buy
You end up eating something like this
2. representation of design / design of representation
Thonet was one of the first designers who used catalogues and illustrations in a very effective way Meubles en bois courbĂŠ - Thonet catalogue, 1904 -
Italian design had its “official� photographer:
Aldo Ballo
Enzo Mari, Cardboard Library
“If you wanted a beautiful photograph, a really beautiful, up-to-date photograph of objects in those 50’s you really had to go to Aldo Ballo” Ettore Sottsass, 16/07/1996
Nanda Vico, Blocco seat
Marcello Nizzoli, Olivetti Lexicon 80
Vico Magistretti, Selene chair
Ettore Sottsass, Super Loto table
Marcel Wander’s Knotted chair was initially produced in 12 pieces. Reproduced on media thousands of times contributed in placing Wander’s name on the international world map of design
What happens if the medium is the museum then?
Monumental size Studio Job - Totem
Monumental materials
What if the context is an exclusive event?
Maarten Baas, Wind
Boyms, Buildings of disaster
Surface becomes the subject?
During an exhibition the interaction is limited to the sense of sight, still it’s important to communicate the value of an object Maarten Baas, Wind
Boyms, Buildings of disaster
Different events
different surfaces
A cheap chair made of EPS produced in large numbers is given for free at Trafalgar Square (public space) in 2006.
The same chair made of EPS and covered with nanocrystalline copper in limited edition is sold for extremly high prices at Miami Design 2007
When concept is the subject
Objects go in the background
Front design, Rat Wallpaper
Objects that most of the times don’t make it to design magazines
Designer
Project
Manufacturing
Product
Users
industrial design system Image
Designer
Project
Manufacturing
Product
Users
• quality of the execution
Image Internet
Spotlights
P
Objects that are rare in the “real world�, but extremely popular on media and exhibitions
Designer
Project
Manufacturing
Product
Users
industrial design system Image
Media Internet
Galleries
TV
Visitors
Spotlights
Fairs
Publications
Viewer/Readers
Exhibitions
Image
Viewer/Readers
Media Internet
Publications
TV
mediatic design system
Manufacturing
Product
Users
Image
Media
Image Internet
• decisions of the photographer
Galleries
TV
Visitors
Spotlights
Fairs
Publications
Viewer/Readers
Exhibitions
Image
Viewer/Readers
Media Internet
Publications
TV
Manufacturing Designer
Project
Product Manufacturing
Users Product
Users
Image
Image
Media
Image
Internet
Internet
• decisions of the photographer
Galleries
Galleries
Publications
TV
• aesthetics of the medium • authority Visitors
Exhibitions
Visitors
Spotlights
Fairs
Viewer/Readers
MediumTV
Publications
Spotlights
Fairs
Viewer/Readers
Media
Exhibitions
Image
Viewer/Readers
Media Internet
Publications
Image
TV
Viewer/Readers
Media Internet
Publications
TV
Designer
Project
Manufacturing
Product
Users
Image
Media Internet
Manufacturing Designer
Project
Product Manufacturing
Users Product
Publications
Viewer/Readers TV
Users
Image
Image
Media
Image
Internet
Internet
• decisions of the photographer
Galleries
Viewer/Readers Spotlights Context
MediumTV TV
• aesthetics of the medium • authority
Exhibitions • Fairs values,Galleries meanings and prestige of the context • external elements
Visitors
Exhibitions
Image
Visitors
Spotlights
Visitors
Publications
Publications
Spotlights
Fairs
Viewer/Readers
Media
Media Internet
Fairs
Galleries
Exhibitions
Image
Viewer/Readers
Media Internet
Publications
Image
TV
Viewer/Readers
Media Internet
Publications
TV
Publications
TV
These interferences are the subject of representation
Image object
User
object
Image
User
Visual Consumerism: It’s the climax of consumerism in which the product has
tangibility=0 and
reproducibility=∞
On design magazines
+30% of images 1970-2008
Amount of images published by design websites per day
Mocoloco.com
923612 px2
Dezeen.com
607500 px2
The Economist
221700 px2
Mocoloco.com
Dezeen.com
The Economist
Survey executed on an avarage of 3 days
design websites publish
+400%
of images compared to The Economist.com
This is one of the most popular chairs in media
I mean this one
but that you know better as this
the chair as you see it in these images you won’t see it often in your life, unless you are 1m tall or you like sitting on the floor and look at a chair
You think you are looking at a chair, instead you look at the vision of the photographer. Representation is the subject.
Conventional representation leaves out parts that are as designed as the other ones, sometimes they even provide more information.
Representation is a product of its own right
Making a representation
Object
Camera
{
Position Lights Context Lens Focus White balance Exposure Aperture ISO
Image Print
Medium
Projection Screen
{ { {
Representation
Size/resolution Paper Ink Size/resolution Light/contrast/colour adjustment Surface Size/resolution Light/contrast Colour adjustment
My technique:
Object
Silicon
{
Thickness Colour
Representation
The technique I honed is meant to be representation, medium and object at the same time. It shows every part of the object and it provides objective information. It is tangible and it’s not reproducible without the object itself. In this process the object vanishes, while the representation gains physical presence.