Savādās vīzijas. Kritisko teoriju un prakšu evolūcija dizainā
Strange Visions. Evolution of Critical Theories and Practices in Design

Summary/Abstract: During the last couple of decades, a practice called “Critical design” has been increasingly gaining attention within academic and research circles. Its representatives develop strange visions of a future of alternative realities, which they materialise using design predominantly as a medium for transferring information. These designers aim to provoke people and make them critically reconsider their current lifestyles, values and behaviour. However, this phenomenon is not something entirely new. In the history of design there have always been designers who have clearly shown a critical attitude towards this discipline as well as their own position within it. Some of them have applied radically different approaches that have led them to revolutionary discoveries, while others – in reaction against the consumerist culture – have refused to design commercial products at all, and instead have sought to use the language of design to express critique. This article is intended as an overview of various critical practices throughout the history of design. It also frames the processes on the Latvian design scene within the critical design movement in the world.The first opponentsAlong with the birth of industrial production and the development of the closely connected design discipline the first critics also appeared. One of them was William Morris, a key figure in the Arts and Crafts movement, and perhaps “the first to create critical design objects in the way we understand them today, that is, embodying ideals and values intentionally at odds with those of his own time”.Richard Buckminster Fuller's approach was equally critical. He was one of the most progressive thinkers of the 20th century known for his remarkable achievements in architecture, design and many other disciplines. However, like the critical designers of today, Fuller also dared to be naïvely curious in exploring various fields of science and culture without being professionally trained in them and hence risking not being taken seriously or even being ridiculed by his peers. In his lectures he used to confidently discuss the future as if it were already present, causing confusion in the audiences that were not accustomed to this kind of discourse.Italian radical designA critical attitude, however, has not always manifested itself only in the form of real inventions and efforts to directly improve the quality of life. The rapid technological development and the advent of new media motivated designers of the second half of the 20th century to express their critical opinions through utopian and dystopian visions, and strange objects that challenged the mainstream idea of fashion, good taste, and the notion of design in general. During the 60’s and 70’s several collectives were formed in Italy thus giving birth to the Radical movement in design. This was a reaction against “design ‘in service’ to any imposed ideology, whether political, technological, or cultural, determined in advance and from outside”.One of them was Superstudio – a group of young and rebellious architects founded in 1966 in Florence. They used various media such as collage, film, text and exhibition, in order to criticise the modernist doctrines with their totalitarian approach and consumerist culture in which design is only seen as a styling tool. Their project “Monumento Continuo” – a dystopian vision of un-designed world – suggests architecture as a critical medium and employs paradox as a means of expression. In the same period and using very similar tools, another radical collective – Archizoom – in their project “No-Stop City” speculate on expanding urbanisation where elements are clustered according to functions in a grid, which covers the whole world making the concentrated cities of today obsolete.Alongside the visions of architectural megastructures product design too was adopted as a medium for critique; the radical architects were c¬onvinced that “the city no longer expressed a place, but a behavioural model, a condition, and that the latter was transmitted by merchandise.” Diverse authors and collectives, such as Strum, UFO, 9999, Studio Alchimia, Memphis, Ettore Sottsass, Ugo La Pietra and Alessandro Mendini, created furniture and other objects in which the functionality became secondary, allowing them to speak visually.Conceptual Dutch designAs a reaction to the star designer cult of the 1980's as well as the urgent need to think of more sustainable lifestyles, a critical regional design school emerges in the 1990's in the Netherlands. Tejo Remy creates the “Chest of Drawers”, a composition of used, old drawers held together with a strap, and Pie Hein Eek makes furniture from reclaimed wooden planks combined in picturesque collages. They, along with other Dutch designers, find use and value in anything forgotten and disregarded by consumerist society and their interest is not limited to material things. Moreover, processes and activities, memories and habits that were once a relevant part of our lives are now reinterpreted using objects as media for transferring concepts and ideas. Their approach is sensitive, often ironic, sometimes even romantic or sentimental. However, there is always room for critical reflection and opportunity to rediscover the everyday as in the case of Jurgen Bey's “Tree-trunk Bench” or the “Multi-Vase” lamps by Tejo Remy and René Veenhuizen. Designer Christien Meindertsma interprets the matter of provenance in her project “One Sheep Cardigan”. Each of the knitted sweaters is made of wool from one particular sheep, allowing the user to become more aware of natural resources.The Dutch design approach is also known for not regarding a design product as something completed and static. Objects are made to stimulate interaction and sometimes they even require active involvement in order to produce the final design as in the case of the Droog’s “Do Create” series. As part of this project designers Frank Tjepkema and Peter van der Jagt conceived a vase that not only acquires a unique appearance as a result of user interaction but also accepts destructive behaviour as normal. Another design from this series, Thomas Bernstrand’s “Do Swing” lamp, also invites the user to react unconventionally and reconsider the exaggerated seriousness of being an adult.Critical design in the United KingdomThe critical design that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1990’s is a form of conceptual design. It is conceived as being opposite to mainstream design, which can be described as “affirmative” because it propagates prevailing ideologies and reinforces the status-quo. Critical design uses speculative design proposals to challenge assumptions and preconceptions, to provoke debate and to explore the critical potential of the design discipline. It acts as a commentary on the current situation without attempting to improve it directly but rather to change people’s perception, their values and consequently their behaviour. According to one of the key figures of critical design, Anthony Dunne, these designers acknowledge that “The current global crisis is much deeper than a technical one – we cannot just redesign the planet to suit how we live today. We need to rethink how we live, and that means we have to seriously rethink our values.”Some critical designers like James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau, use the method of fiction to speculate about the future of science and technology. Their project “Audio Tooth Implant” proposes a tiny device that could be implanted in a tooth allowing the person to receive and hear phone calls or other types of transmissions directly in their head. It would be a very discreet form of communication with an array of possible use scenarios but the question posed by the authors is whether we would accept an implant in order to 'improve' the natural functionality of our bodies. Other designers focus on the current design tradition and tackle the issue of values in relation to the designed world. In his “Toaster project” designer Thomas Thwaites commits himself to building a toaster from scratch in order to show that even behind the cheapest household device there are very complicated technological processes that we – both as designers and users – have become alienated from and uncritically rely on.The “Designs for fragile personalities in anxious times” by Anthony Dunne, Fiona Raby and Michael Anastassiades also critically target the mainstream design approach. These designers create a series of products that embody an understanding of users as complex existential beings rather than stereotypical consumers. They focus on anxieties and irrational fears that are commonly ignored by product design and treat them as perfectly normal by designing objects that answer to these specific needs.Latvia. Materialised sensationsOne can not speak about a substantial alternative design tradition within the context of Latvian design as the whole design discipline is relatively immature there. The industrial design school that developed during the Soviet period ‘collapsed’ along with the communist state and the industry itself. Now, more than 20 years later, manufacturing is again re-established but there is still a lack of understanding as to the role and importance of design within it. Given these circumstances, it is clear that without a stable mainstream there can also be no significant alternative movements. Nevertheless, it is possible to identify examples of Latvian design that resonate with trends abroad. Like their conceptual Dutch counterparts, Latvian designers often show sentimental interest in the past and origins. In the search for national identity, they explore the country’s nature and vast forests; wood frequently appears in design not only as a material or form but also acquires even a symbolic meaning. In her coat stand “Kocis” designer Zane Homka combines a simple metal base with almost random pieces of tree trunks with branches that serve for hanging clothes. Conceptually related to Bey’s “Tree-trunk Bench”, this product juxtaposes the perfection of industrial manufacturing and the uncertainty of natural wood, which makes each of these objects unique. With this design Homka also reveals the poetic aesthetics of nature and reminds us of its inherent functionality.Sarmīte Poļakova’s design “PineSkins” also involves wood but her approach is completely different. Instead of creating one particular thing with a specific function as a solution to a predefined problem, she engages in research about the human relationship with natural resources in Latvia where “there are 500 times more pine trees than there are people.” As a result, she discovers that within the context of industrial production, the pine tree itself is barely recognisable as part of nature with its own peculiarities but is rather being consumed as an anonymous commodity. She also observes that underneath the rough pine bark there is a soft leather-like layer which is currently completely disregarded by the industry. Carefully harvested and treated, this 'pine skin' preserves and reveals much more information about the tree as part of nature than conventional timber production and invites us to appreciate this valuable resource. Retaining the emphasis on the poetic and emotional dimension, Poļakova creates a series of imaginative, ambiguous things in this material that shift the viewer’s attention from their function and utility to the story they tell.Designer Baiba Linga-Bērziņa in her work “Heritage / Bread Happening” tackles the matter of values and investigates the role of physical things in keeping rituals and memories alive. She creates an object that serves as a bread bin if positioned vertically but can be used as a cutting board when rolled out on the table. However, making a new functional product is not the main goal of this design. Rather it aims at envisaging a ritual, one that would be contemporary but at the same time also rooted in history. The designer refers to the values of the olden days – homemade bread as a symbol of prosperity – and attempts to evoke similar sensations in present-day conditions. For older people the aroma of freshly baked bread and wood concentrated in this vessel might remind them of this childhood experience, whereas younger generations can sustain this bread ritual in a new form while still feeling a sense of succession from their ancestors.The author of this article, designer Liene Jākobsone, in her project “Farming” makes use of design tools and approaches in order to explore the role and meaning of an object and to question usefulness and pleasing appearance as the most valuable qualities in design. Although these aspects always come to the fore when speaking in general terms, it becomes clear that the relationship between people and their material environment is far more complex when specific things and use conditions are taken into account. The choices people make and the experiences that follow are determined not only by practical reasoning but also by various emotional and irrational considerations. Therefore, in this project, the designer intentionally adds strange and non-functional but visually and semantically dominant elements to a familiar piece of furniture, thus emphasising the poetic component of design and its importance in building an emotional link between an object and its user.

• Details
• Contents