Revisiting the Avant-Garde

Armstrong, Helen. Graphic Design Theory: Readings From the Field, Princeton Architectural Press, 2009. Pages 9-15

Questions / Prompts

While reading “Revisiting the Avant-Garde” do you notice similarities between avant-garde movements of the past and the design field (or the world) of today?

Let’s look at a few terms you will find in the reading. Define these terms and consider in what ways do today’s designers participate in, facilitate, or reject them.

  1. Authorship
  2. Universality
  3. Social Responsibility

Provide specific examples (ie: specific designers, social media tools, design trends, advertising campaigns, etc). Check out AIGA’s Eye on Design to find out what contemporary designers are working on.

What idea(s) or concerns do you think will drive the Avant-Garde of the near future?

Response

According to the reading “Graphic Design Theory: Readings from the Field by Helen Armstrong, How these manifestos address the concept of Authorship/ownership is that it originally was seen not in the highest light, as it has a close tie and effect with the producer-consumer relationship. It was stated that “Early models of graphic design were built on ideals of anonymity, not authorship.” (Armstrong 9) as early 1900s avant-garde artists viewed ownership of work to be shamefully elitist and ego-driven. Though as graphic design shifted more into a professional lens, the idea of objectivity replaced subjectivity, and the artist/designer shifted to impartial communication. At the same time, the more technology has empowered new collectivity, it also redefined universality. Artists during that time realized that in order to “express this truth artists had to detach emotionally from their work in favor of a more rational and universal approach (Armstong 11). As they had to distance themselves from their work in order for the piece for it to become a universal approach. While the evolution of artists with their artwork has evolved into different variations, there are things that seem to unite and split artists in conversations to this day. An artist’s work can extend to many places and cultures that sought to create a single,

utopian visual language that could unite human culture. (Armstrong 13) Artists are able to push issues like sustainability and social justice more to the front table. Unfortunately, The issues of authorship continue to be a conflict in modern art, now with stealing artwork or claiming others’ artwork as your own keeps on evolving with crypto, or people whole don’t care about the hard work the artist put behind their piece.

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