Author: Giulia Feleppa (Page 2 of 2)

Marinetti and the futurists believe in the future and in the new possibilities that the modern technology will bring. For this reason, Marinetti in his manifesto affirms that poets and the poetry need to abandon old myths, religious themes, and the tradition of the past, which are represented by the museums, defined the cemeteries of art and of the genius, to completely embrace modernity and reality. The world outside the museums is pulsing of new energy and producing constantly through new inventions of speed and the automobile. According to Marinetti, as the speed cancels time and space, the same must do the poetry. The new poetry will convey passion and violence to provoke and wake the instincts and the energies of the readers up.  

In Rodchenko manifesto the artist thanks to the new technologies becomes the engineer of the future. He doesn’t relax with the new inventions, but he uses them to change everyday life and produce something for the society. The artist is not a dreamer anymore and he doesn’t create in his imagination, he creates a mug, a catalogue, boots for himself and for everybody. “Technology becomes the mortal enemy of the art”, where the artists are no longer slave workers of the traditional art and its rules. They create something that can be used for everyday life and not just admired and observed in museums. 

El Lissitzky analyzing the evolution of the book in “Our book”, trusts the future inventions and technology evolutions which are pushed by the needs of the society, where the mass becomes the commissioner, bringing to the dematerialization. As we see the dematerialization of the communication from letters to telephones to the use of the radio, also the book was subject to the evolution of his forms according to the events, for example it becomes a poster in the years of the revolution and then through the photography and the collaboration with painters gave birth to the visual poetry realizing that the faster channel was the eye more than the ears (“the book’s facilities for expression take many more forms”). Moreover, he states that the shape and form of the book hasn’t been changed yet (probably because it didn’t reach yet that last state that is followed by the evolution) but he is quite satisfied with the fact that what it is inside the book, the design of the inside of the book reflects the evolution of his time. Furthermore, he underlines the importance of being in close contact with worldwide events and the progress of social development to be able to finally give a new effectiveness to the book.  

Even though Marinetti, Rodchenko and El Lissitzky, they all promote the revolution of the poetry and art eliminating the rules of the past and have full confidence in the evolution of the technologies, they have different purposes. Marinetti purpose of the poetry is to show the beauty of the new technologies, to express the excitement, the energy and the violence of the artists promoting a war to destroy the religious and traditional ideas but also promoting a violent change in the society, a revolution. He wanted to take advantage of the new technological achievements for revolutionary purpose, for examples he uses the printing press to print in different formats that better would express the fervor and energy of his messages, persuading the reader. In Rodchenko and El Lissitzky works we can sense the exuberance and the desire to create something new in opposite to the past but with a mild tone and with the purpose of contributing to the everyday life and to the society. In particular, they wanted to eliminate the past to create new space to new ideas and new fast and exciting forms of art. Their works expressed the dynamism of the modern life, solving the problems of the modern life analyzing the modern materials. Constructivist artists were not focused on the composition, but on the construction. 

As Marinetti, Rodchenko and Lissitzky embraced the modern technologies of their era, nowadays designers are constantly learning about new softwares and updating their skills to go hand in hand with the modern society and current technologies to express themselves. For this reason, I am curious about the evolution of the design in the next few years where computers are getting faster and computer screens probably will be substituted by 3d glasses and we will be able to see advertisement or probably read books not actually printed but virtually projected. In Rodchenko point of view, artists were not supposed to focus on expressing themselves but serve the society. Nowadays designers are socially responsible whenever they design something. The concept of using art and design to change the world is not new. 

Language could be generally be defined as a way of communication through writing, speech and gesture. As described in Saussure essays: language is the most complex and universal of all the systems of expressions, but also the most characteristic. Language is not something that we inherited and stayed the same all the time, but it is also such a complex system of signs that can’t be easily changed or substituted. As Lupton Miller explains language is a combination of photography and math, positivism and rationalism, observation and logic, experience and mathematical or geometrical studies. Language not only changes or better evolves because of social forces but also because of the arbitrary nature of the sign. The sign is composed by signified and signifier. What we can define as change in the language is actually a shift in the relationship between signifier and signified for example in the Modern German word Drittel derived from the old German Dritteil the signifier was grammatically changed omitting Teil (part) creating a shorter word Drittel, but the concept stayed the same (even though the signified was simplified). Language evolves and exists only if there is a community of speakers and in relationship with time. “Without the time we wouldn’t see the effect of the social forces that influence language” (Saussure). 

Symbols and icons are used to communicate graphically.  As shown in the three essays from Counting Sheep, Modern Hieroglyphs and Language of Dreams natural and on hand elements such as stones, sticks, clays, parts of the body were used since the Sumerian time to count and represent a quantity. Those elements were then represented with signs and then substituted by Romans with symbols. Symbols were needed to represent the absence of a quantity: such as the number zero. The body itself became a set of symbols for representing numbers (hands and feet). The symbol is also defined as linguistic sign or using Saussure term, the signifier. According to Neurath signs were natural imprints of material objects and they were free, clean, objective and logical in opposite of writing which he defines as a machine. The meaning of signs to be used need to be internationally established, only in this way signs can cross national boundaries. Since symbols are fundamental for visual communication, designer play an important role. As Neurath underlines consistency and reduction are two of the most important rules in minimalistic design or in nowadays branding. In the fast culture in which we live designers are always looking for effective symbols to use as logos to transmit the vibes and the concept behind the brand. Furthermore, they are responsible for the evolution of the visual communication since they are always creating new symbols that go viral in few minutes through the new medias. 

I meant I don’t have a lot of free time. I am sharing also my project not in progress right now but in the future. This is a screenshot of my photography Ig account.

Design is first of all communication. According to Amstrong, nowadays design doesn’t merely communicate the message of the client but also engages the society. It invites the society to think critically, and it should produce mutual benefits for the client, the designer and the society (environmentally for example). It means that the designer needs to take in consideration the multiple interpretations and the global impact of his work. Munari defines the design as a way to link art to the public where the designer creates something beautiful but also useful. Design is not limited to the decorative part, but involves the creativity of the designer, improves the living conditions of the audience (being useful) and encourages it to develop his taste of beauty.  

There are different kind of designers: visual, graphic, industrial designer but what distinguish a designer from a painter, for example, is that he solves different problems at the same time. He needs to find the appropriate form to make the object functional, to use the most appropriate material, he needs to find out and use the most up-to-date production techniques (for example how the printer works) to have a successful final product. He also needs to take in consideration the client’s budget and the aesthetical psychological factors linked to the final product. Furthermore, nowadays designer need to master different technologies and be constantly up to date into this no stop evolving field and changing career. 

Designers should read about other designers and focus on unsolved theoretical questions in order to stimulate their own growth and improve their own work. Designers trying to solve problems, come up with new ideas and new lines of questioning which opens new conversations between designers and other people bringing them all together, creating a culture and a movement.