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Niklas Luhmann's book: "Art as a social system" (transl. by Eva M.Knodt) Stanford University Press, 2000, in Hamacher, W and D.E.Wellby (eds): Cossing Aesthetics, has recently been drawn to my attention. Although Luhmann writes of art, I see clear parallels to the field of Design. Quote from the cover of the book: "Luhmann begins with the idea that all art, including literature, is rooted in perception. He insists on the radical incommensurability between psychic systems (perception) and social systems (communication). Art is a special kind of communication that uses perceptions instead of language. It operates at the boundary between the social system and consciousness in ways that profoundly irritate communication while remaining strictly internal to the social." Does anyone in this list have any comments on Luhmann's book, or the structuralist view in understanding art / design in general? If I get any answers to this request, I will of course post a summary of the responses back to the list. Marte Gulliksen PhD Student, working on a PhD concerning the intertwined connections between contemporaneous design and cultural identity in Arts and Design-education in Norwegian schools. My perspective is a socio-constructivist one, relying mostly on the theories of Bourdieu, Latour and Foucault. I am my self actually quite sceptical to the structuralism of N.Luhmann, but have found myself somewhat intrigued by this particular book. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Marte Gulliksen, | PhD Student | Oslo School of Architecture | Nihil est in Research Fellow in Design | intellecte Telemark University College | quod prius fuerit in + 47 35 02 63 97 / | sensu. + 47 95 06 32 83 / | Thomas Aquinas + 47 51 83 34 77 (Stavanger) | ----------------------------------------------------------------