To all
When I was still at the Port Elizabeth Technikon, we did a quick
national survey of the advertising agencies in South Africa, regarding
the feasibility of retaining the foundation year (a mix of design and
art subjects), and almost without exception they let us know NOT to drop
the art subjects, as these supplied valuable insights the students
(without such training) simply lacked.
And didn't Donald Schon urge design teachers to educate their students
with the ability to execute their designs with 'flair' - which only an
arty sensibility can give you ('afford').
Teyry, I would dispute your use of the 7% - this thread is about much
more than the surface and immediately applicable methods for concrete
design. Most of what goes on in the head (from the whispy moment we
first dare to 'think' about any object/system that could correspond to
the idea of 'design') is an 'artistic' dance more than it is 'design'
planning, hence the very idea of 'designerly thinking' divorced from the
constraints of everyday 'facts' and figures. The links to 'art' are much
more than tenuous, I would suggest: not the visible designs of artistic
effort (with much of which I disagree due to its solipsistic nature) but
the freedom and emergence that type of thinking allows the
student/designer to 'discover' - Heidegger called this 'uncovering' the
'truth' in the real life situation (system) within which the design has
to function ... and cold logic is the worst thing to design with.
Johann
Johann van der Merwe
HOD: Research, History & Theory of Design
Faculty of Informatics and Design
Cape Peninsula University of Technology
South Africa
>>> Terence Love <[log in to unmask]> 06/09/10 6:13 PM >>>
Dear Ben,
Thank you for your message.
You wrote: "Design and Art are related disciplines and always have
been."
The design professions cover a large conceptual territory.
Only 7% or so of Design disciplines are directly related to Art as in
the
UK's 'Art and Design' group. Design is connected to many other fields.
There
are historical reasons (as Eduardo points out) why some aspects of
Design
have had a long link with Art. Most other Design fields however have
only
tenuous links with Art.
My previous email was to suggest that there are some advantages in clear
simple thinking and noticing that there are differences between how
designers and artists use many skills such as those you listed
(sketching,
modeling, aesthetic acuity, and conceptual thinking).
I'm suggesting if you do this, you will start to see problems for
designers
when you interpret that designers do everything the same way as
artists.
I'm suggesting this shows up most clearly when you look carefully
(putting
aside the habits of overprivileging Art) in the lack of sound design
theory, research methods, and clarity about design activity.
It's a useful art skill to blur things together and make random
associations. Clearly viewing a situation requires a different skill -
that
of noticing the *differences* between the activities of designers and
artists. A similar approach shows the significant differences between
Physics and Maths.
Best regards,
Terry
-----Original Message-----
From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and
related
research in Design [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Benjamin
Pratt
Sent: Wednesday, 9 June 2010 11:43 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Design - the problem of Art
Terrence:
Design and Art are related disciplines and always have been. They tend
to
use similar abilities--such as sketching, modeling, aesthetic acuity,
and
conceptual thinking. There is also overlap. For example, if an artist is
asked to create a piece of public sculpture with some very specific
constraints--scale, budget, even content, the artist is doing a design
project? If a designer creates a one-of a-kind piece of furniture to
communicate a unique philosophy or perspective is this not an "Art"
project?
I would say that the relationship between Design and Art is analogous
to
the relationship between Physics and Math.
-Ben
--
Benjamin G. Pratt
Professor, Design
The University of Wisconsin-Stout
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer
This e-mail transmission contains confidential information,
which is the property of the sender.
The information in this e-mail or attachments thereto is
intended for the attention and use only of the addressee.
Should you have received this e-mail in error, please delete
and destroy it and any attachments thereto immediately.
Under no circumstances will the Cape Peninsula University of
Technology or the sender of this e-mail be liable to any party for
any direct, indirect, special or other consequential damages for any
use of this e-mail.
For the detailed e-mail disclaimer please refer to
http://www.cput.ac.za/email.php or call +27 (0)21 460 3911
|