"Alain de Botton gives his top five reasons why art is such a vital force for humanity. Are we wrong to like pretty pictures? Why is some art painful to look at? Can art heal your feelings of urban alienation? Relax, watch and find out."
"An artist and comedian [Miriam Elia] has been told by the publisher Penguin that her new satirical art book breaches its copyright, and if she continues to sell copies it could use the courts to seize the books and have them pulped. ...
Elia's version sees them visiting an exhibition at a modern art gallery and grappling with existential questions about the nature of Tracey Emin–style conceptualist work, much of it peppered with distinctly adult imagery."
(Gareth Rubin, 2 March 2014, The Guardian)
"In 'What is an author?' [4], Michel Foucault says we are 'accustomed to presenting the author as a genius.' We see the author as the 'genial creator' of work in which he gives us, 'with infinite wealth and generosity,' an inexhaustible world of meanings. (Being 'creative' always has a positive ring, whatever is produced!) Foucault says that the author does not 'precede' the work: ideas and meanings are already there and the author's role is to 'choose,' to filter and synthesise to create output. (Foucault also emphasises 'limiting' and 'excluding'). The author's role is to limit the proliferation of meanings and present a personal view of the world. Yet the 'genius author' is represented as a continual source of invention–the opposite of his genuine function."
(Monika Parrinder, 2000, Eye Magazine)
"ARCADE is a Seattle–based nonprofit that creates opportunities – in print, in the community and online – for sharing ideas about design, culture and the built environment. We publish a magazine; host events and provide a curated calendar of Northwest design and art happenings. Aiming to strengthen connections between various creative groups and design disciplines, we invite all to participate and collectively add to the greater whole.
Founded in 1981 by a group of recent architecture–school graduates, ARCADE now includes two staff people, a dedicated board of trustees, and a cadre of generous and enthusiastic committee members and volunteers."
(Kelly Rodriguez, Erin Kendig)
"Our creative journey first began 170 years ago in 1843, with the opening of the Nottingham Government School of Design in the city. Driven by a growing need for design skills in regional industries, most predominantly in textiles and lace, 20 years of rapid evolution in art and design education followed."
(Nottingham Trent University)
"FutureEverybody consists of short essays by participants in the FutureEverything 2012 festival and an overview of the festival and conference programme by the curators. These offer reflections on the FutureEverybody theme, the art and design projects in the festival, and the issues and initiatives presented within the conference.
A new participatory culture is changing our world. New forms of creativity and community occur through individuals coming together in arbitrary ways online. FutureEverybody looks anew at the ways in which people participate and co–operate are changing in a massively networked world. FutureEverybody was prompted by 2012's celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Mass Observation Movement and the UN International Year of Co–operatives."
(Drew Hemment and Charlie Gere)
"This is a lecture given to MA students at the University of Hertfordshire. It explores how contemporary kinetic typography relies on historical developments such as 3D woodblock print, Romain du Roi, and Modernist modular lettering. Students are encouraged to let their design work respond to historical research. This does not mean creating something that looks old or retro, rather creating something innovative and new by re–imagining historical ideas in light of new technologies and contexts."
(Barbara Brownie)
"A great deal of art or design or technology activity entails some research, or orthodox or unorthodox kinds, in support of the main activity. It is not quite so certain that the activity itself is the same as research activity per se. One has to ask, was the art or design or technological activity an enquiry whose goal was knowledge? Was it systematically conducted? Were the data explicit? Was the record of the conduct of the activity 'transparent', in the sense that a later investigator could uncover the same information, replicate the procedures adopted, rehearse the argument conducted, and produce the same result? Were the data employed, and the outcome arrived at, validated in appropriate ways? Most academic institutions with higher level art, design or technology departments can point to at least a few cases of practical activity where an effort has been made, successfully, to meet these criteria. So can a few research institutes and professional design offices. In these cases the activity can properly be equated with research, and should be recognised and rewarded accordingly. Where any activity, whether it claims to be 'research' or not, fails to meet the criteria which define research activity as 'a systematic enquiry whose goal is communicable knowledge', it cannot properly be classed as research or equivalent to research. Where an activity does meet the criteria, it can be classed as research."
(Bruce Archer, 2004, p.28, The Design and Technology Association)
Archer, B. (2004). "Designerly Activity and Higher Degrees", The Design and Technology Association.
"Cultivating new media creators in a variety of fields IAMAS was opened in 2001 both as a hub for training new creators in an information society, and as an educational institution that fuses together advanced technology and artistic creativity to produce new culture. Since then IAMAS has graduated a large number of information technology specialists who are active in the broad field of media culture and industry, garnering high praise not just in Japan, but internationally as well. The school's activities cover many disciplines and offer new possibilities to industry. These activities include interaction design and media products that lead to collaboration with industry, media art that constantly explores new methods of expression, social research and design, as well as new publishing ideas. All of these endeavors exemplify the spirit of pioneering into new fields. The Department of Media Creation at IAMAS is a place where people with the desire to create something new are able to meet, collaborate, and challenge each other."
"plans to remove creative subjects from the UK curriculum are 'short–sighted insanity', according to incoming D&AD president Neville Brody (+ interview).
Speaking to Dezeen, Brody described government plans to overhaul the curriculum as 'one of the biggest mistakes in British government' and added: 'The UK government is trying to demolish and smash all ideas about creative education.'
In September, education secretary Michael Gove announced plans to replace GCSE examinations for students up to the age of 16 with a new English baccalaureate (EBacc) system. Creative subjects such as art and design will not count towards the EBacc qualifications, which instead are graded on performance in academic 'stem' subjects. These stem subjects are English, mathematics, history or geography, the sciences and a language. ...
'The creative industries need high–quality creative graduates. If we're not getting the graduates, we're not going to sustain the industry,' said Brody. 'Creative services as a percentage of GDP is higher here than any other country, so why would you not want to support, promote and build that?'"
(Dezeen, 26 November 2012)
"This Monday, [Andrew] Marr hosted a special edition of Start the Week on BBC Radio 4 to celebrate the RCA's 175th anniversary with guests including former RCA rector and Arts Council chair Sir Christopher Frayling.
In the show, Frayling pointed out that the creative industries provided twice as many UK jobs as financial services, but that this contribution went unnoticed.
'What I never understand is, there are so many column inches about financial services all the time,' Frayling told Marr. 'Financial services contributes about 1% more than the creative industries, which employ two million people whereas financial services employ one million people. So in terms of contribution to the economy generally, the creative industries actually have it over financial services in almost every way. And how many column inches about it? Very little. So there's this huge impact but people don't seem to be noticing.'
In his article, Marr argues that because the economic value of art schools is difficult to measure, politicians fail to appreciate their importance to the economy.
'And there's where I think the trouble lies,' Marr concludes. 'To invest in art and design means putting public money into areas whose value cannot be captured on a spreadsheet, where concepts like productivity, value–for–money, inputs and outputs–which so reassure the political world–simply collapse. That means faith. It means risk.
'But, without it, hard times surely stretch out rather bleakly. Other countries understand this, including China where more than a thousand art and design colleges are operating and whose students greatly benefit from colleges here too."
(Dezeen, 21 November 2012)
Fig.1 Jim Rokos "22° 36° 48°", fruit bowl [http://rokos.co.uk/].
"On Start the Week, Andrew Marr explores how Britain trains the artists and designers of the future. Christopher Frayling and Sarah Teasley celebrate the 175th anniversary of the Royal College of Art, the world's oldest art and design school. But one of its former teachers, the industrial designer Ron Arad argues for a broader arts education which doesn't split sculpture from painting, architecture from design. And the artist Antony Gormley redefines the limits of sculpture and building."
(Start the Week, 2012, BBC Radio 4)
BBC Radio 4: Start the Week, duration: 43 minutes, first broadcast: Monday 19 November 2012.
"ARTS THREAD media has been created as a social enterprise: an online educational tool designed to connect students, graduates, universities and industry, exclusively within the field of design."
(Alex Brownless)
"KBU Interior Architecture and Design (KBUIAD) club is a platform for all KBU IAD students to showcase projects, get updated with the upcoming events in the school and share information and thoughts related to Interior Architecture & Design."
(Chiang Siew Leng, Malaysia)
"The International Mobile Innovation Screening 2012 will showcase an international screening programme of mobile short films. Simultaniously the MINA [Mobile Innovation Network Aotearoa] Mobile Creativity and Innovation Symposium opening reception will take place at the New Zealand Film Archive in Wellington, Te Anakura Whitiahua, on the 23rd November 2012.
MINA reception (6.30pm) and mobile film screening (7pm–8pm)
The 2nd International Mobile Creativity and Mobile Innovation symposium hosted at Massey University Wellington, on 24th/25th November, will provide a platform for filmmakers, artists, researchers and industry professionals to debate the prospect of wireless, mobile and ubiquitous technologies in a changing art and design environment and the transforming creative industries."
(MINA, Aotearoa New Zealand)
Date: 24 Apr 2013; Location/venue: University for the Creative Arts Epsom Ashley Road, Epsom, Surrey , England, KT18 5BE
"The Group for Learning in Art and Design (GLAD) will be holding their 2013 annual conference on 24 April 2013 and is calling for case studies and research papers that explore three areas that are likely to change the future of English art and design higher education.
1. Starting. Changes to the school art and design curriculum and how the new English Baccalaureate and the demands it places on school timetables might crowd out of the curriculum offer in the arts. How we might engage to redress this? Speaker/s from the school sector.
2. Sustaining. How we should evolve our working with students to support their learning and to address the data–led climate for student choice? Speaker/s from institutions that have improved their student experience data and are engaging with students in innovative ways.
3. Succeeding. What are institutions doing to support employability? Case studies from graduates highlighting what was useful to them in securing employment, plus speaker/s from creative careers professionals.
We are looking for responses to these questions and themes, with contributors offering the conference presentations/papers/discussions typically of 20 minutes duration."
(UK Higher Education Academy)
"Creative Tools was co–authored by Alex Fung, Alice Lo and Mamata N. Rao based on their teaching and students' learning experiences in the Design Thinking subject. Foreword by Dr. Edward de Bono, this handbook is a comprehensive guide to 15 creative tools that help develop students' creative thinking, not only for design by other disciplines. Each tool has an introduction followed by a demonstration of its use with reflection."
(香港理工大學/Hong Kong Polytechnic University)
Alex Fung, Alice Lo, Mamata N. Rao (2005). "Creative Tools", School of Design, Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
"College for Creative Studies's (CCS's) 'PSA' campaign, launched in September, has recently gone viral with more than 1,000,000 hits and shares on various social networking and blogging sites including Facebook and Twitter. Created by advertising agency, Team Detroit (Dearborn, MI), the campaign loosely parodies popular anti–drug campaigns from the 1980s and 90s. This light–hearted approach is intended to help recruit potential students to CCS...
'We understand that applying to an art and design College requires a serious commitment on the part of students and families. There is a competitive entry process and we offer students a rigorous education while providing graduates with a solid career trajectory,' says CCS President Richard L. Rogers. 'With this campaign we are able to convey a serious message in an amusing manner. We are grateful to Team Detroit for spearheading this great effort with their stellar pro–bono work. It is particularly impactful that CCS alumni Vic Quattrin, Brandi Keeler and Michael Burdick helped to develop the campaign.'
The entire campaign is supported by a fully–integrated marketing effort including print, broadcast, outdoor, cinema and online advertisements with the tagline, 'Talk to your kids about art school: a message from the College for Creative Studies.' It went viral due to a post from the Tulsa Oklahoma based Philbrook Museum of Art's Facebook page.
'As an institution that strongly embraces social media and its growing potential, we are always looking for compelling content to share with our online communities. This campaign certainly struck a chord with us on a humorous level, but it is the underlying sentiment and advocacy for the arts as a viable career path that made this campaign special. It was such a pleasure to play a part in this viral phenomenon,' says Online Communities Manager Jeff Martin, Philbrook Museum of Art."
(College for Creative Studies, Detroit)
[The 'PSA' campaign exploits the visual vernacular of public information campaigns such as the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.)]
"This blog has been set up in association with Networks magazine to maintain a network of colleagues, and support teaching and learning, in art, design and media higher education in the UK. We welcome items that relate to teaching and learning in art, design or media higher education: the launch of a publication or sector network, the development of a special interest group, a call for participation, a forthcoming event, etc."
(Jenny Embleton, 2012)
"The IRC brought together researchers from eight different institutions and a variety of disciplines which address the technical, social and design issues in the development of new inter–relationships between the physical and digital.
A series of experience projects engaged with different user communities to develop new combinations of physical and digital worlds and explore how these may be exploited and how these may enhance the quality of everyday life.
A series of research challenges explored (a) new classes of device which link the physical and the digital, (b) adaptive software architectures and (c) new design and evaluation methods, which draw together approaches from social science, cognitive science and art and design. Equator involved over 60 researchers, with a range of expertise encompassing computer science, psychology, sociology, design and the arts.
Equator aimed to forge a clearer understanding of what it means to live in an age when digital and physical activities not only coexist but cooperate. This is the age we are now entering, and it promises radical change in how we communicate, interact, work and play–that is, how we live. But to fulfil that promise requires more than new technology. We need equally new ways of thinking about technology, and thus also about ourselves.
Everyone recognises that the computer is moving beyond the workplace. As digital systems (like the Web) converge with computer networks and cellular phone communications, new devices and services proliferate–many of them mobile, or embedded in the environment. Yet few people fully grasp the potential impact of such technological fluidity and ubiquity. Most current research is still rooted in the workaday world of the desk–bound PC. But look at the possibilities–for our home life, our schooling, community care, even our city streets.
These are just some of the areas which Equator explored, through the development of coherent new systems and devices. Ultimately, however, we were less concerned with solutions to specific design problems than with the bigger picture these solutions entail. This is what united so diverse a community of researchers. For it is only by sketching the bigger picture that we can begin to fulfil the promise offered by our new age, and so improve the quality of everyday life in years to come."
(Equator)
"To date, there is no definitive published single source on research methods for artists and designers. The following methods are drawn from a range of sources, most importantly from validated completed formal research in Art and Design (main sources: ARIAD–www.ariad.co.uk; British Library's Index to Theses–www.theses.com, Higher Education institutes' published information), as well as useful examples of research projects in non–formal frameworks (for example, industry, commerce, education, and so on) as reported in various journals and professional publications. An examination of some of these examples would no doubt lead to 'classic' references to various 'design methods' publications by, for example, Archer (1965), Jones (1980), Cross (1984), and so on; and important research by Cornock (1978, 1983, 1984) on Fine Art methodology. During recent years, many more examples of practice–based research have become accessible. Many have already been cited in previous chapters and more are cited in this one.
These methods are particularly useful if your own practice forms part of the research methodology.
Other methods described come from Social Science research, for example www.sosig.ac.uk (accessed 15 August 2003); Denzin and Lincoln (1994); and some specifically from educational research, for example Cohen and Manion (1994), McKernan (1998). These are particularly relevant for human inquiry related to Art and Design, for example the study of an individual's practice, and user feedback for designed products. In some circumstances, particular areas of design, for example industrial design, a more scientific approach may be appropriate, in which case 'design methods' may be useful. Documented examples of projects using design methods can be found in the journal Design Studies–www.elsevier.nl/locate/destud (accessed 16 June 2003). The range of methods outlined is by no means definitive or completely comprehensive, and they cannot be described here in any great detail. If you think that a particular method described in this book would be useful in your project then you should discuss it with your supervisor. You should always follow up the references and examples given in order to appreciate the context in which the method was used. As you become more familiar with various methods you will realize the kind of tasks involved in applying them. Once you have identified these tasks, build them into your plan of work. Research methods development relies on researchers (including you!) adding further detail and modifying as a method is tried and evaluated."
(Carole Gray and Julian Malins, 2004, pp.104– 120)
[Gray and Malins outline the selection and use of common practice–led/practice–based research methods including: Practice; Photography, Video, 3D Models/maquettes, Reflective journal/Research diary, Audio reflection, 'Sweatbox', Case study, Interview, Questionnaire, Personal constructs.]
1). Carole Gray and Julian Malins (2004). "Visualizing Research ", Ashgate.
"Art and Design, History of Art, Architecture and Design, Drama, Dance and Performing Arts, Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, Music"
(University of Hertfordshire, School of Creative Arts)
"Wow, here's something I'd never seen before: Monty Python animator Terry Gilliam discussing his animation techniques on Bob Godfrey's Do–It–Yourself Animation Show in 1974. Godfrey's show, which made animation accessible to the masses by taking the mystery out of the production process, was vastly influential and inspired an entire generation of kids in England, including Nick Park, who created Wallace & Gromit, Jan Pinkava, who directed the Pixar short Geri's Game, and Richard Bazley, an animator on Pocahontas, Hercules, and The Iron Giant.
In a day and age when more kids are interested in animating than ever before, it's a shame that TV shows (or Web series) that are fun and informative like this don't exist. The DIY advice that Gilliam gives in this episode is not only brilliant, but still as relevant today as back then: 'The whole point of animation to me is to tell a story, make a joke, express an idea. The technique itself doesn't really matter. Whatever works is the thing to use.'"
(Amid, 4 August 2011)
"Undergraduate Art and Design degree shows: Thursday 2 –– Sunday 12 June 2011. Our annual degree shows are a highlight in the School's calendar and the culmination of much hard work and commitment from our students. They give the University a chance to showcase the original, innovative and inspiring work that is being produced within the School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment, and School of Art & Design at undergraduate level."
(source)
Fig.1 Uploaded by NottinghamTrentUni on 3 Jun 2011, YouTube.
"From the differences we have described, it might be assumed that the distinction between effective and evocative research is between the analytical and intuitive. However, it is important to note that, while analysis of the problem and context tends to come first in effective research, as in all research, it is intuition that leads to innovation. And, on the other hand, while evocative research may evolve intuitively through the interests, concerns and cultural preoccupations of the creative practitioner, it is rounded out and resolved by analytical insights.
Because of this combination of the intuitive and analytical, both ends of the spectrum may draw on bodies of theory such as Donald Schön's (1983) theories of reflective practice and principles of tacit knowledge and reflection–in–action, to frame an iterative development process. However, differences can be identified between the form and outcomes of the iterative cycles and the type of feedback that informs the reflective process.
In effective research, an iterative design process may involve an action research model and prototyping (paper prototype, rapid prototype, functional prototype and so on). Each iterative stage is evaluated through user testing by a representative group of end users (through quantitative or qualitative surveys or observations of use, for example). The purpose of this testing is to gauge the artifact's functionality, usability and efficacy. The gathered data informs changes and refinements in each cycle.
On the other hand, an artist might stage a number of preliminary exhibitions, but these are not staged to gather 'data', or to obtain successively closer approximations of a solution to a problem. Instead, they are part of an exploration of unfolding possibilities. Feedback might be sought from respected colleagues, and gathered in an informal setting (in the manner of a peer 'critique'). The purpose of gathering such insights is to allow the artist to reflect upon the project and its evocation and affect and to see their work through the insights of others, which may shed new light on the practice and its possibilities."
(Jillian Hamilton and Luke Jaaniste, 2009)
2). Hamilton, J. and L. Jaaniste (2009). "The Effective and the Evocative: Practice–led Research Approaches Across Art and Design". ACUADS: The Australian Council of University Art & Design Schools, Brisbane, Queensland, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University.
"Multimedia techniques change very quickly in Korea. All of the universities have made new departments for interactive media and have had more instructors who are involved in high technology such as Web design, game character design, motion graphics, and moving image design. After the development of the Internet and multimedia games and products, many companies have needed designers with new skills. Today, some schools are combining all of their art departments into one college. For example, one university usually has three colleges of art: one devoted solely to music, one devoted to art and design, and another devoted to human movement and performance. With the development of multimedia technologies, the distinctions between these various field are disappearing. Now, it's common to use motion graphics with dance. Many universities want to expand the art fields while at the same time trying to unite them. It's a good change. If the different arts are all in one college, collaboration is easier. Students can learn new skills from each other and think about their works in other creative ways. There are problems that remain to be addressed ... Most education is based on practical business. Many instructors are second–generation designers, meaning that they learned design from the first generation of Korean designers, who didn't have a sufficient basis for study. Many instructors teach design founded on their direct experiences in the design field rather than on theory, methodology, or intensive creative thinking and experiment. Some design programs focus on multimedia classes instead of teaching basic principals of design–technology is more important than ideas."
(HyunSoo Lim, 13 December 2006)
Fig.1 Minsun Eo (2008). 'Typography and the Rules'; 210 x 297 mm (folded), 594 x 841 mm (unfolded), Inkjet Printing Booklet/Poster; Exhibition at Hongdesign Gallery in Seoul, South Korea
"The Industrial Revolution had established the United Kingdom as a world leader in manufacturing technology which had allowed British products to gain sizeable markets both at home and abroad. The early nineteenth century was to see those markets starting to be threatened by the establishment of free trade agreements between the UK and mainland Europe which allowed tariff concessions on the exchange of goods. European products began to compete alongside British products with increasing success which was attributed to their superiority in 'design' a feature it was felt that British products lacked.
The age of the 'foreign competitor' had arrived and British manufacturers seeing their livelihoods threatened became a powerful political lobby with the matter soon receiving Parliamentary attention. In 1835 Parliament called for a Select Committee to, 'Enquire into the best means of extending a knowledge of the Arts and the principles of Design among the people, especially the manufacturing population of the country.'(1835–6 Select Committee title)
The Committee investigated the situation taking evidence over a two year period 1835–6 with witnesses representing Art, Design, Industry and Education from both the UK and abroad. In 1836 it was to conclude that the successful continental countries were funding Design Education for their manufacturing industries while the UK was not. The Committee were to recommend that Parliament vote £10,000 to establish a Government School of Design in London with further annual funding to establish a network of provincial Schools in the major industrial centres of the country. It was hoped that as the Schools of Design as they became established would encourage the Applied Arts and Design and improve the aesthetic quality of British products thus influencing trade."
(Edward Bird, 2000)
Bird, E. (2000). "Research in Art and Design: the first decade", Working Papers in Art and Design Vol 1 Retrieved 15/02/2011 from http://sitem.herts.ac.uk/artdes_research/papers/wpades/vol1/bird2full.html ISSN 1466–4917
Fig.1 Roberts' Self–Acting Mule: sixty years later, the machine achieves the triumph of the factory system.
"The V&A has been collecting computer–generated art and design since the 1960s. More recently, the Museum acquired two significant collections of computer–generated art and design, and together these form the basis of the UK's emerging national collection of Computer Art.
The Museum's holdings range from early experiments with analogue computers and mechanical devices, to examples of contemporary software–based practices that produce digital prints and computer–generated drawings. The earliest work in the collection dates from 1952 and is a long exposure photograph of electronic beams on an analogue computer, by artist Ben Laposky.
More recently, the V&A has acquired a large digital inkjet print from 2008, which is nearly two metres long and was created using pixel mapping software designed by American artist Mark Wilson.
The collection consists predominately of two–dimensional works on paper, such as plotter drawings, screenprints, inkjet prints, laser prints and photographs, as well as artists' books, from around the world. Early practitioners of computer art were working in Britain, France, Germany, and Spain, as well as the United States, Japan and South America."
(Victoria and Albert Museum)
Fig.1 Herbert W. Franke 'Oscillogramm' (1956)
"This week is an important one for the future of graphic design in the UK, writes Michael Johnson. The Royal College of Art, the world's only post grad art and design school, interviews the shortlist of candidates to run its Communication Art and Design course. But with CA&D a decade old, has Art proved too much of a distraction from Design? ...
Communications graduates have been at pains to present their work within the context of white walled galleries, not grubby old commerce. Work has often been presented as 'work in progress', never finished. The 'process' has become the king, not the problem to be solved. ...
The roots of this was the self–immersion/self expression phase of British design prevalent in the nineties, fuelled by then–zeitgeist collective Tomato. This found an eager audience in South Kensington. Rightly or wrongly, a collection of part–time tutors were gathered to support the course with performance, video art, experimental film and art specialisms. Coupled with the merger of the traditional disciplines, the ground was laid for a new generation of crossover graphic artists to bloom.
But they haven't. By all accounts the department is just as silo–ridden as it ever was. If you don't believe there's an art bias, just a brief interrogation of the department's website reveals that of the dozen or so current MPhil and PhD students, the vast majority describe themselves as artists (and only two as graphic designers).
In the meantime, the better undergraduate courses like Glasgow, Kingston and St Martins* (in the UK) have successfully incorporated these 'conceptual' leanings into their courses, whilst still producing graduates capable of the basics of craft and typography. Students from these courses may not glean much more from two more years at college, apart from more room to experiment, and have often chosen simply to start work and get on with their lives. ...
Meanwhile, post–grad courses are the only growth area left in education and are springing up on a monthly basis – soon the 'MA in design' might be as ubiquitous as an 'A star at A–level'. In short, there's a lot of competition and the RCA needs to clarify exactly why a student should spend two more years there. At present it's pretty blurry, apart from avoiding a recession–hit industry just a little longer and the undoubted kudos of those letters after your name."
(Michael Johnson, Creative Review, 8 March 2010)
"Fifzine has changed it's stripes... fifzine was never the easiest to spell or say after all! So, as of right now, welcome to www.jotta.com a true online community for arts, design and communication.
Jotta is a place for creative people and artists across every discipline.
We're not trying to define what creativity is but we have tried to create a space for the best of it.
Explore and Browse arts across every discipline through the magazine, using powerful search criteria and our fun Lightbox feature.
Create a Portfolio of your own work from which you can network, collaborate and access a whole host of tools and features.
Post or Respond to commercial briefs, employment openings and opportunities for collaboration in Marketplace.
Jump into the Community to access advice, forums, blogs and events."
(University of the Arts London)
Fig.1 Itamar Ferrer
"This display provides an overview of the first decades of the computer's history in art and design. It includes some of the earliest computer–generated works in the V&A's collections, many of which have never been exhibited in the UK before. From the 1960s until the early 1980s, digital pioneers worked directly with computer hardware and software to produce graphic images unlike anything that had gone before. Some artists went on to use increasingly sophisticated software packages, while others continued to work directly with the hardware itself.
The display includes plotter drawings, screenprints, digital inkjet prints, photographs and animations, as well as important documentary material from the time. It features pioneers working in science and industry during the 1950s and 60s, such as Frieder Nake, Georg Nees and Herbert W. Franke. Artists who worked with the computer in the 1970s and 80s include Paul Brown, Harold Cohen, Manfred Mohr and Vera Molnar. The show also encompasses more recent works by James Faure Walker, Jean Pierre–Hébert, Roman Verostko and Mark Wilson
Digital Pioneers offers a historical context for contemporary digital practice, and is scheduled to coincide with the V&A exhibition Decode: Digital Design Sensations."
(The Victoria and Albert Museum, UK)
Fig.1 Herbert W. Franke, Squares (Quadrate), screenprint, 1969/70. Given by the Computer Arts Society, supported by System Simulation Ltd, London. Museum no. E.113–2008
"Rendering the tacit explicit is a crucial act of communication that shapes research and the research cultures we build in any field. Only by articulating what we know in some way do we enable others to take it in and adapt or adopt it as their own knowledge. The complaint of novice scholars in design research that we are 'privileging the text' in a way that somehow devalues design has it all wrong. Only through explicit communication do we help others to access our knowledge so that they may themselves transform what would otherwise be the raw data of artefact or experience into information on which they may act to create knowledge. (This involves a series of issues and distinctions I don't propose to elaborate here. I have discussed the nature of knowledge and the distinctions among data, information, and knowledge elsewhere, f.ex., in Friedman [1998] or Friedman and Olaisen [1999])."
(Ken Friedman 21 September 2008)
"Practice–led research in the field of art and design usually involves a study of the interplay between a researcher–practitioner and her artistic work in process. This article seeks to illustrate that documentation of art practice can be a means to record that interplay and it can be used as relevant material in practice–led research. The article will present an account of documentation in practice–led research highlighting two principal aspects: phases of documentation and the role of documentation within the overall research process. The account will capture reflections of the author's own practice–led research in fiber art, which investigates the relationship between materials and artistic expression, in the context of contemporary art."
(Nithikul Nimkulrat, 2007)
1). The Role of Documentation in Practice–Led Research, Journal of Research Practice Volume 3, Issue 1, Article M6, 2007
"A common problem in art and design is that creative practice is often presented as research under the label of practice–based or practice–led research. This problem arises on the one hand from the wish of practitioners to use their creative practice in research, and on the other from a persistent uncertainty about the role of creative practice in relation to the requirement for making a contribution to knowledge within research."
(Kristina Niedderer and Seymour Roworth–Stokes, 14 November 2007)
"The AHRC definition of research, which is primarily concerned with research processes, rather than outputs, specifies four common issues which can be summarised as:
>the research problem to be addressed;
>context and field of inquiry;
>methods employed;
>and dissemination of results
(AHRC, 2003)."
(Kristina Niedderer and Seymour Roworth–Stokes, p.13)
Niedderer, K. and S. Roworth–Stokes. (2007). "The Role and Use of Creative Practice in Research and its Contribution to Knowledge". IASDR International Conference 2007. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
AHRC (2003), The RAE and Research in the Creative & Performing Arts; response to the funding councils review of research assessment, AHRC, Bristol.
"Sir Christopher Frayling bows out this week after five years as chairman of Arts Council England – and one thing he certainly won't miss is the 'relentless venom'.
Speaking before a valedictory lecture tonight, he advised his successor to sort out cultural events that will surround the 2012 Olympic games and called for a deeper debate about the value of the arts, describing the current level of discourse as 'a bit beer and skittles'.
But it was the matter of dealing with the council's detractors that he highlighted when reflecting on his own time in charge. 'I had no idea the extent of the venom that could be directed against ACE,' he said. 'I had to develop a much thicker skin. It was relentless.'
The most fearsome dose of it came, he said, when ACE, the body that administers state subsidy for culture, announced funding agreements with arts organisations last January – and pulled the grants from 185 of them. The arts world rose up against ACE.
'It was horrible. I was getting calls at home at 2am from people furious about the letters they had just received. There was a moment in an elevator of the Algonquin Hotel in New York in January. I was there to give some lectures and I hadn't quite realised the extent of fury. Mike Leigh happened to get into the lift and said: 'What are you doing to National Student Drama festival, you shit?'
The fury culminated in a meeting at the Young Vic in London. 'When Nick Hytner [director of the National Theatre] said ACE talks bollocks and is bollocks, and launched a tirade, that upset me. It's one thing to be bad–mouthed by someone who has given you bad news but we had just uplifted the National's grant.
'I won't miss the venom, people chucking things at you. I hoped someone would give me a tin hat for Christmas sometimes. But I enjoyed the meetings – though sometimes it was like wading through treacle.'
It is time, he said, to 'stop kicking ACE ... no one ever mentions its achievements, they just simply mention its problems'.
'When the National Theatre opened its doors on Sundays, everyone thought it was a good idea but no one mentioned the £150,000 from the Arts Council. Sometimes people just don't know what we do ... it's partly because of our rather unfortunate logo, which could be mistaken for a stain from a coffee cup,' he said.
He believes the priorities for his successor, Dame Liz Forgan (who is also the chair of the Scott Trust, which owns the Guardian and Observer), should be threefold.
'Sort out the Cultural Olympiad,' he urged. 'It's not that it's a shambles, but there are too many committees jostling for position and no ringmaster. When the opening ceremony at Beijing took place you could tell it was the product of a single intelligence; the same is true when Sir Hugh Casson masterminded the Festival of Britain in 1951 ... the clock is ticking away and I am not getting a feeling of what it is going to feel like. Someone has got to lead it. And it should be handed over the Arts Council to administer.'
Forgan should also focus on 'making the case for arts funding in forceful ways during a recession'.
'Remind the Treasury that the arts cost tuppence ha'penny, and it's 'good' spending, because you get so much value from it ... a recession is the last moment you want to tamper with the arts, not the first.
'Franklin D Roosevelt realised this, and put millions into the Works Progress Administration [which involved many cultural projects]. It's an interesting example and Obama may be thinking the same way.'
He believes Forgan should focus on the relationship between the BBC and ACE. 'We are two public bodies producing an amazing amount of talent and yet we don't mesh. It needs a generosity of spirit to make it work.'
In tonight's lecture at the Royal Institute for British Architects he will express concern at the 'low level' of debate about the value of the arts.
'People tend to talk in terms of art for art's sake on the one hand, or art as a form of social engineering on the other. In fact the debate about the arts should be much more sophisticated than this; it has been going on since Plato's Republic, through Kant, the Enlightenment, Orwell, Leavis, Eliot and Williams,' he will say. 'But it's all a bit beer and skittles at the moment.'
Frayling will also talk in depth about the original principles of the Arts Council as conceived by John Maynard Keynes, its founder. Keynes believed the funding of the arts should be at 'arm's length' from the government in order to protect culture from politicisation. Although in Wales and Scotland the arts are now funded directly by government, Frayling believes it is 'essential that arts funding is kept away from civil servants and politicians'.
He said: 'When I took over that had been nibbled away at. The agreement between the government and ACE had once been a single–page document; it had become an eight–page document. I was outspoken about that and everyone sulked for six months.'
As he leaves ACE – and his rectorship of the Royal College of Art, from which he retires in July – he plans to write and broadcast; and spend more time with his wife, who lives in Bath.
Does a peerage beckon? 'I don't think I am the type,' he said – although he added: 'It would be nice to have more arts firepower in the Lords.'"
(Charlotte Higgins, chief arts writer, Guardian)
[He demonstrates an amazing lack of self awareness...]
"Research where the end product is an artefact–where the thinking is, so to speak, embodied in the artefact, where the goal is not primarily communicable knowledge in the sense of verbal communication, but in the sense of visual or iconic or imagistic communication."
(Christopher Frayling, 1994)
[Frayling's research categories (Frayling 1993/4) provide a useful interpretation of design research issues. He identifies research into art and design as one that is 'straightforward, because there are countless models – and archives – from which to derive its rules and procedures' (ibid.). He describes research through art and design is useful for understanding the value of developmental enquiry as a valid research strategy. And perhaps the more interesting approach to research that he identifies is one that he describes as research for art and design.]
Frayling, C. (1994) Research Papers, "Research in Art and Design", Royal College of Art, Vol. 1 no. 1, pp. 1–5.
"Designing through the computer interface leaves little evidence of discovery. The evidence of the evolution of the design solution: the modifications, reconsideration and redesigns that constitute the tacit dimension of the students' learning trajectories are hidden from the tutors. It is as if the students' design is a palimpsest with each design decision being erased to make room for the next."
(Christine Percy)
Percy, C. (2003). "Critical absence versus critical engagement. problematics of the crit in design learning and teaching." Art, Design & Communication in Higher Education 2 (3): 143 – 154.
Fig.1 "Springloaded I", Posted on September 3, 2008 [http://brandnewmedia.wordpress.com/2008/09/03/springloaded–i/]