ThRAD Special Issue on UTOPIA

A Present for Victor Margolin

Editor In-Chief, Eduardo Côrte-Real 
Co-Editor In-Chief, Helena Souto

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“It is fashionable today to scoff at the grand claims made by the artistic-social 
avant-garde earlier in this century (20th). After all, they wanted nothing less than 
to bring about utopia through the practice of art.”
Victor Margolin, Conclusion of “The Struggle for Utopia”, 1997

“This, which is the essence of his book, is the essence also of the struggle
in which we are engaged.”
William Morris, Foreword to Thomas More’s Utopia, 1893

 

A few notes on Utopia as it was

In 1516, the first edition of Utopia, by Thomas More, was printed in Latin. This year we celebrate five centuries of such influential book. Few have read it in full length  and fewer in Latin. However, the word and the underlying ideas of Utopia strove not so utopically until our days.

One of our masters and friend, Victor Margolin utopian adept, wrote, from his doctoral research, a celebrated book: The Struggle for Utopia: Rodchenko, Lissitzky, Moholy-Nagy, 1917-1946, that soon will celebrate 20 years of publication (in the year of the Russian Revolution centennial anniversary).  Also, his book of collected essays The Politics of the Artificial positioned the reader in a stance in which human social affairs should be considered primarily in Design Studies. Two years ago, in a preface for a book of essays published in Portuguese, Victor was called a “Paladin of Utopia”.

Utopia, as a book, a concept and an imaginary place in the world, have been highly influential for the past 500 years. By 1913, the words Utopian, Utopianism, Utopianist, Utopical and Utopist were in use and were listed in an American English Dictionary (Webster, 1913).

A reputed pioneer of modern design, William Morris wrote about More’s Utopia:

“In More, then, are met together the man instinctively sympathetic with the Communistic side of Medieval society; the protestor against the ugly brutality of the earliest period of Commercialism; the enthusiast of the Renaissance, ever looking toward his idealised ancient society as the type and example of all really intelligent human life; the man tinged with the asceticism at once of the classical philosopher and of the monk: an asceticism indeed which he puts forward not so much as a duty, but rather as a kind of stern adornment of life.”
(Morris, 1893)

A CALL TO RESCUE THE ANCIENT “UTOPIA OF BEAUTY”, TOGETHER WITH AN INVITATION TO MOVE BEYOND AESTHETIC ELITISM

Anna CALVERA 

University of Barcelona, Design Department; GRACMON Research Group 

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Abstract
ThRAD’s editors have set a challenge to write about “Utopia”, and with it utopian ways of thinking about reality. It makes little difference whether “Utopia” refers to an old book put in its historical context, or an everlasting concept that is still-relevant. The topic is grounded in a debate concerning elitism and the elitist nature of the majority of theoretical approaches within the eld of the Humanities. Meanwhile, in Alessandro Mendini’s recent visit to Barcelona, he referred to the “utopia della bellezza”, illuminating his inspiring point of view. To accept the ThRAD challenge it seemed necessary to review the aesthetic dimension of everyday life, the relation of beauty to ethics within design and the design factor as well. Les jeux sont faits!

This is the background of this article. Reviewing the history of design, this text analyses ideas and approaches to beauty as brought to the fore over various periods, proposing a dialogue between the understanding of ordinary life as proposed by certain philosophers, and, on the other hand, what has been said by designers themselves. The main aim of this essay is to capture the utopian elements embedded in aesthetic pleasures and delights even on their more elementary levels, here referring to the immediateness of the senses and sensual perception. Our inquiry also seeks to understand how aestheticism could become a sort of offense to be argued against, rather than something to be praised. It also seeks out the historical roots for the charge of elitism launched so often against aesthetic facts and aestheticist enactments. In this domain, the utopia of design is made suspect, as is the utopia of beauty. Hence, one underlying aim of this article is to reconsider the role played by the design industry in shaping the contemporary world. Finally, the text further serves as a call to enjoy and give cultural value to everyday life on the basis of its cultural depth and permanence, though being all the while humble and quite often simple. Thus, design practice also becomes a hopeful practice, culturally relevant while remaining ordinary all the same.

Tufan OREL

Consultant in Design Management, France

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Abstract
This paper is divided into two parts. In this first part I propose to re-contextualize some of the design policies of today in Utopian literature by the means of a fictional dialogue, in order to witness their genesis. In a sense, my fiction can be considered as a “reverse scenario”, especially when compared to other studies on Utopia, for example the study of Victor Margolin, (The Struggle for Utopia), which deals directly with Utopian elements used in design practice today. To illustrate my point I have chosen Utopia of Thomas More (1478-1535) and The New Atlantis of Francis Bacon (1561-1626). The fictional dialogue is constructed around the idea of three days of conversation between the protagonist of Utopia and the protagonist of The New Atlantis: i.e. Raphael Hythloday (a philosopher of Portuguese origin) and The Reverend Father (a scientific worker of “The House of Solomon”). For the sake of the scenario I symbolise the origins of social design policies within the arguments of Raphael, and the origins of the market policies are represented by the Reverend Father. In the second part of this paper I will try to present an idea of Utopian design, which is more in coherence with the design practice of today. To illustrate this point, I will consider the Utopian element in design not as a passage from an idealist discourse to practice, but as a crossing from one sphere or “universe of design” to another.

Keywords
Fiction, Utopia, The New Atlantis, Utopian Design, Design Policies, Dialogue on Design

Cameron TONKINWISE

School of Design, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA

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Abstract
The Anthropocene acknowledges that the volume of designed things is now harming the sustainability of the ecosystems on which current ways of living depend. As a result, there is an urgent need for us to do things differently. But how differently? The history of the idea of ecology has involved putting limits on tolerable diversity. For this reason, ecological politics can be compatible with anti-immigration politics. This article argues instead for a critical diversity, one that can counter the current Proactionary Imperative, which extols high risk but potentially high return, radical technological responses to our societies’ unsustainability. That critical diversity would embrace designing for migration between connected slow, local, communities.

Keywords
Sustainable Design, Anthropocene, Resilience, Proactionary, Precautionary, Cosmopolitanism

Asli YORULMAZEL, Gorkem ERDOGAN

Anadolu Isuzu A.Ş. Sekerpinari, Izmit

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Summary
For over a decade, Turkish designers are drawing a rising success rate in many fields of design disciplines from visual art to fashion, graphic design to product design. Despite of the quantity of many rip-roaring designs they succeeded and the quality of designer awards they were awarded, the fact that world giants like Mercedes and Ford entrusting the management of product design and designer groups to designers of Turkish origin, is the most important indicator that Turkish designers have proven themselves in the industrial design field. However, the success gained individually by Turkish designers is unfortunately not enough to establish a Turkish design identity. Examining the Turkish Designer’s work, it can be seen that these works do not meet at a common philosophy. Despite the individual success of Turkish designers, it is a paradox that it is not possible to create a Turkish designer identity when looking at the occurring work that is created, and creates polyphony, and this complex situation is a challenge for companies making production in Turkey during the branding transition. The aim of this study is to examine the points related to work that was done until today and the issues in terms for establishing a designer identity, and to offer exit points to lead Turkish manufacturers in the branding process or those which did not enter this process yet as well as designers working for these manufacturers. [...]

Anabela GALHARDO COUTO

UNIDCOM, IADE – Creative University, Lisbon, Portugal

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Abstract
This paper focus on ephemeral architecture and design constructions associated to the urban celebrations in Portugal, in the Baroque period. This is a field of knowledge where there are still many gaps. The paper seeks to contribute to deeper understanding of the Portuguese cultural heritage. From the research and collection of documents, some unpublished, we proceeded to its interpretation in the light of Baroque culture. We seek to trace the typology of these events and summarise the main characteristics of the major shows-parties of that period. Special attention is granted to triumphal arches and pyrotechnic machines and fireworks displays, which embellished the streets and squares of Lisbon to celebrate special occasions, such as the weddings of members of the royal family. The paper analyses some of such artifacts, reflecting on their aesthetic, conceptual and ideological sense. Bringing together ephemeral architecture, engineering, pyrotechnics with narrative fiction, dramatic performance, literature and mythological characters, symbols, and images, triumphal arches and fireworks apparatus draw over the city a fantastic geography where dream and wonder rule, configuring an aesthetic of enchantment scoped within the principles of the Baroque culture.

Keywords
Portuguese cultural heritage; Baroque period; ephemeral design; triumphal arches;
fireworks displays

Sandra Sofia P. ANTUNES, Maria Helena SOUTO

UNIDCOM, IADE — Creative University, Lisbon, Portugal

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Abstract
Focussing on the statements of a group of architects from Lisbon’s School of Fine Arts, founders of the Multiplano atelier, this lecture offers an insight into the development of a project-oriented-culture within those circles. Their quest, which involved abandoning all dogmatic form, standing against geniality and individual inspiration, contributed to the implementation of processes, imagistic ideologies and activity relating to what by the late 50s, quite silently given its inherent socialist connotations, was being inaugurated in Portugal under the aegis of the term Design. This study uses historiographical and applied research methodology, based on the discovery of Multiplano’s archives and a subsequent inventory of their work and collaborators. The discovery of a particular document by Carlos Roxo brought to the discussion specific concepts like Useful, Scientific Aesthetic, Architecture as Visual Art and the Organic Materialist Method. Stimulating interaction between art, science, emotion, technology and the common Man; claiming the architect to be an artist, whose metier is a form of arts-based research (which by means of Scientific Aesthetics instigates debate on architecture’s syntax, semantics, method and utility), our protagonists provide an ideological and professional testimony on the growing awareness of a science of design in Portugal.

Keywords
Portuguese Design History; Synthesis of the Arts; Project Methodology; Material Culture;
Design Studies

Tufan OREL

Consultant in Design Management

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Abstract
This paper proposes the study of a new design criterion which can be called “Eclat-Of-The-Designed- Objects”. It can be studied on its own merits with other important design criteria such as form, function or ergonomics. Research devoted to the conspicuous or luxury market has sometimes been associated with this criterion. But focusing mainly on the cultural aspects of Eclat it has not thoroughly questioned the ontological status of these Eclat objects (or bright objects) and the complexity of their perception by the user. In this study these objects are examined in a triangulation of Culture, Object and Perception.
In particular the section on perception will take into consideration some philosophical and neuroscientific views on the percepts of designed objects.

Keywords
Form; bright objects; ontology; perception; luxury consumption.

Marinella FERRARA, Chiara LECCE

Department of Design, Politecnico di Milano

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Abstract
Due to the increased complexity of materials and production processes, the responsibility of the development of a design is often left in the hands of technicians and production personnel. This lack of knowledge about materials thus effectively creates a barrier between the designer and the product. Bridging this gap represents a challenge to designers and especially to the design schools. Designers cannot know everything but they can open their minds and develop a more conscious understanding of this new field of design practice starting from a cultural point of view. This paper wants to present a research promoted by the Design Department of Politecnico di Milano and funded by FARB (University Funds for Basic Research), for the creation of a Research Centre named MADEC, with the ambition of recognizing peculiarities of Italian Material Design Culture, and tracking their evolution in the contemporary era of “tailor made materials” as technological paradigm. The paper is divided into three parts: the first part concerns reasons, motivations and research state of the art; the second part describes in detail the research activities developed during the first year of the project; and the third part is dedicated to conclusions with some critical considerations and future actions.

Keywords
MADEC; Material culture; Italian Material Design; Transdisciplinarity; Creativity-driven Material Innovation Methodology.