Reading Response 2 – SC

Design Manifestos

F.T. Marinetti, “Manifesto of Futurism”; Aleksandr Rodchenko, “Who We Are: Manifesto of the Constructivist Group”; and El Lissitzky, “Our Book”, Graphic Design Theory: Readings From the Field by Helen Armstrong, pages 19-31

• What political events were happening during the time and place that these manifestos were written? How did those events influence the authors’ beliefs?
• Consider if and how these manifestos addressed the concepts of authorship/ownership, universal systems of communication, and social/political engagement.
• Which elements of these texts remain relevant for the present, and which elements are problematic? 
• How has the communication process changed since the early 20th Century, specifically regarding technology?

The Manifesto of Futurism was written right before the first World War. Tensions were already high in Europe and the Manifesto is more of a call to arms than anything to me. They reference being aggressive, outlaws, and basically disagree with any progressive ideas of the time and apparently, women too. Authorship was forgotten in favor of a “voice for the people” idea. They mention being at the precipice of a new era and use it to emphasize the urgency of acting in the moment and with force, without necessarily minding the rules.  

The Constructivist Manifesto was written after WWI. In contrast to the Futurists, they are more concerned with the art itself and not necessarily the social engagement. The manifesto insists that artists/constructors need to go back to the “laboratory” and inspect and maybe come up with new elements of design to develop and experiment with them.

El Lissitski’s “Our Book” is like The Terminator in that it essentially predicts the future. It basically compares books at the time with what the internet is today; it also goes a step further to predict new ways of communications that will eventually arise. One of the main points it makes is that designers need to be readily able to translate their concepts into these new spaces or “languages” that become the universal systems of communications.