Title
-Thesis Description
-This is where your thesis goes
+⊞
+empty title
+Stephen Kerr
+⊞
+Thesis submitted to the Department of Experimental Publishing, Piet +Zwart Institute, Willem de Kooning Academy, in partial fulfilment of the +requirements for the final examination for the degree of Master of Arts +in Fine Art & ⊞: Experimental Publishing.
+Adviser: Marloes de Valk
+Second Reader: Joseph Knierzinger
+Word count: 7828 words
To de-sign design, I +will assign a sign: ⊞
+This symbol represents design in this writing in an attempt to avoid +the assumed meaning of the word and examine it as something unknown, to +mystify it, to examine its structure. The label ⊞ is a functional part +of a belief system involving order, structure, and rationality and I +want to break it. Removing the label is part of loosening the object, +making it avilable to transition (Berlant, 2022).
+ + + + + + + + +empty title
+Introduction
+This document is a collection of fragments exploring beliefs about +labour in the creative industries, in particular graphic ⊞. Each +fragment focusses on the social, cultural, political, spiritual or +religious aspects of these beliefs through an ethnographic lens. They +record, celebrate and question the meaning that ⊞ers give to their +actions and how those meanings affect the world they live in. And it’s +about how ⊞ers feel when we live with these beliefs: we feel a bit funny +and I want to talk about it.
+I use various modes of address and different lenses to further +fragment the definition of ⊞. The origin of the word thesis is to set or +to put, but I am trying to show you something liquid that can’t be +placed but shimmers and disappears through the sand. I document some ⊞ +activities, in my own work and the work and writings of others who +identify with the label of ⊞er. The writing dissolves and reintegrates +definitions of ⊞ from different voices to show the multiplicity of +beliefs from practitioners, and to explore what it means to acknowledge +these beliefs beside eachother: the tensions and harmonies, some +lineages and some breaks. What is going on here in this thing we call +⊞?
+This is a collection of stories about living life with particular +working conditions, located at certain points in social, economic and +cultural webs. In my practice-based research I gather and tell these +stories through (auto)ethnographic methods: documenting how ⊞er’s work, +conducting interviews, improvising communal performances and exploratory +tool-making. This document collates and reflects on this research.
+What is a ⊞er?
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+
- A ⊞er is a person who wakes up at 5am but refuses to open their +eyes. There are birds talking outside, it’s probably getting bright +already. Something is wrong, not sure what. They finally open their eyes +and there’s the ceiling again. When the light comes in sideways over the +curtains this early you can see all the little ripples and imperfections +in it. Nothing. Ribcage. Stomach. The front of the ⊞er’s legs ache. It +would be better to sleep again. Have to pay taxes again next week. A ⊞er +is someone who wonders if that invoice will come through I need to +follow up on it. The birds are so loud. +
- The role of the ⊞er is to count back from five to two and +realise that was only three hours same as yesterday. They use ⊞ thinking +to never get back to sleep. They need excellent time management skills +to make this short moment feel like an eternity, several times a week. +⊞ers have an acute spatial awareness and an eye for detail: although the +ceiling seems miles away they focus on each tiny ripple for hours. A ⊞er +is someone who will work the whole waking day today, but it’s better +than last week when there was no work. ⊞ers look at their phone and see +their alarm is going to go off in ten minutes, so they switch it off and +get up. +
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+The precarity of working in the creative industries, in particular as +a freelancer or within a small studio, induces anxiety. There is a +belief that the ⊞er as freelancer is empowered by their autonomy, but in +fact the ⊞er as worker is trapped by it. ⊞ is work and this work is +believed to be inherently good. Work in our society is understood as “an +individual moral practice and collective ethical obligation” which +shapes the worker’s identity in positive ways (Weeks, 2011). The ⊞er +believes they are a skilled or talented worker, someone who possesses +spatial awareness, time management skills, and the capacity to carry out +work effectively and efficiently.
+⊞ers are entangled in the Protestant religious underpinnings of the +European work ethic (Pater, 2022). ⊞ is seen as a vocation which +expresses and creates the ⊞er’s identity, and the process or its results +make a valuable contribution to society. People understand the world and +interact with it smoothly, thanks to the work of ⊞ers. ⊞ers pick the +right materials to save the planet and increase efficiency and whatever +else it is people find important. But the ⊞er becomes anxious despite +meeting these goals and becoming this person. In reality, the ⊞er is a +bot, the ⊞er is software. Value is extracted from their time, creativity +and expertise which makes them stressed. ⊞ers are a creative cloud, a +service to be tapped into, a cpu being run too hot. There is something +to be learnt from the revelation that being replaced by machines proves +we were being treated as machines all along.
+Geestelijk
+There was a belief that ⊞ could be a crystal goblet (Warde, 1913), +something unbiased, clear and, in more recent versions of the theory, +serving the context it fits within. But the foundations of this belief +in functionality and rationality dont seem to come themselves from +something functional or rational.
+De Stijl members, such as Piet Mondriaan and Theo van Doesburg +(Figure 6), in their 1917 manifesto described a “new consciousness of +the age […] directed towards the universal”. There was a drive towards +universal standardisation or pureness of culture from the rich white +men. Purity is a concept that turns up a lot in Mondriaan’s writings, eg +Neo-Plasticism in Pictorial Art (1917). They claimed a shared +spirit was driving this universalisation. A later paragraph of the +manifesto is translated into english as:
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- “The artists of to-day have been driven the whole world over by the +same consciousness and therefore have taken part from an intellectual +point of view in this war against the domination of individual +despotism. They therefore sympathize with all who work for the formation +of an international unity in Life, Art, Culture, either intellectually +or materially.” +
In this translation it appears the authors believed in an emerging +consciousness of the age, something collective which would bring an +international unity. The members of De Stijl were neither aligning +themselves with the capitalists or socialists but believed in an inner +connection between those who were joined in the spiritual body of the +new world (De Stijl, Manifesto III, 1921). The word intellectual, or +geestelijk in the original Dutch, can also be translated as “spiritual, +mental, ecclesiastical, clerical, sacred, ghostly, pneumatic”. The +choice to translate as intellectual seems to be the most rational +interpretation of this sentence, an effort to make the theories of De +Stijl appear more materialist without the spiritual element. Compare +with this translation:
+-
+
- “The artists of today, all over the world, impelled by one and the +same consciousness, have taken part on the spiritual plane in the world +war against the domination of individualism, of arbitrariness. They +therefore sympathise with all who are fighting spiritually or materially +for the formation of an international unity in life, art and +culture.” +
In this translation it is clearer that the members of De Stijl saw a +link between the effects of what they made materially and their attempts +to be fighting spiritually against the domination of individualism. I +care about this story because of how it contextualises contemporary ⊞ +practice. Is contemporary ⊞ practice still involved in this spiritual +battle? Did the new consciousness of 1917 survive the past century, did +it procreate? Can aesthetics have generational trauma? William Morris, +Constructivism, De Stijl, Bauhaus, International Style, International +Typographic Style, Swiss Style, then what happened. Modernist artists +had spiritual beliefs, and again I care about these people from a +hundred years ago because of the effect they have on the present.
+Imagine I could trace this thought from Mondriaan all the way to +myself, wow, cool thesis. Swiss style became corporate identity ⊞ and +encouraged minimalism in ⊞. 21st century Flat ⊞, such as Metro ⊞ +language from Microsoft and Material ⊞ (Google, 2014), claim direct +descendance from the International Typographic Style and that pretty +much brings us up to date. I wonder about the use of the word Material +in Google’s ⊞ strategy, I wonder about the ghostly absence of the +geestelijk fight of De Stijl. Is Google’s choice of name another +example, as with the subtle change in the translation above, that the +spiritual element is no longer as important a part of the ⊞er’s +worldview as it was a hundred years ago?
+Excerpt +from an interview with Conor Clarke, 1st December 2023
+Conor Clarke is a Director of ⊞ Factory, independent Irish ⊞ +agency based in Dublin. His work has featured in international +publications such as Who’s Who in Graphic ⊞, Graphis, Novum +Gebrauchsgrafik, and the New York Art Directors Club Annual. He was the +recipient of the Catherine Donnelly Lifetime Achievement Award for his +contribution to ⊞ in Ireland and is the Course Director of ⊞ West, an +international summer ⊞ school located in the beautiful village of +Letterfrack on the West Coast of Ireland. (⊞west.eu, 2023)
+empty title
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+
- SK: What do you think is the best shape? +
- CC: Oh yeah, good god. square. +
- SK: Square? how come? +
- CC: Dunno, it just, it just seems resolved. I don’t like spheres. +Circles I sometimes like. +
- SK: Yeah, squares, do you use grids? +
- CC: Sometimes. Not always. +
- SK: Once you have grids squares make sense. But you like squares +maybe because you like logos? +
- CC: If I’m in an art gallery and I see, you know Joseph Albers +(Figure 5) or something I just kind of feel, I just like, or Malevich i +just like that stuff. If I see a Kandinsky and all those squiggles and +circles it just, that just kind of upsets me a little bit. +
- SK: That’s a bit chaotic? +
- CC: Yeah. And even if I’m looking at Vermeer I can see some kind of +square structure and logic, for some reason that always appeals to +me. +
- SK: Things are a bit organised when there’s squares around? +
- CC: Yeah. And really great artists who don’t work that way I look at +their stuff and think well that’s just beyond me. +
- SK: Its something else? +
- CC: Yeah. so yeah. +
- SK: At least you didn’t say triangle. +
- CC: Oh good god. Good god no. +
Maths and grids
+Why not choose a spiral or a circle if you dream of ⊞ers as shamans?
+Why the grid of squares? There are strong links beween ⊞ and
+mathematics, Josef Muller-Brockmann’s Grid Systems (Figure 2)
+for example or Karl Gerstner’s ⊞ing Programmes (1964). I read
+these ⊞ theorists as you might comparatively read religious texts. What
+were or are the beliefs of the authors and their audiences?
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- “To describe the problem is part of the solution. This implies: not +to make creative decisions as prompted by feeling but by intellectual +criteria. The more exact and complete these criteria are, the more +creative the work becomes.” +
- (Gerstner, 1964) +
- “This is the expression of a professional ethos: the ⊞er’s work +should have the clearly intelligible, objective, functional and +aesthetic quality of mathematical thinking.” +
- (Muller-Brockman, 1981) +
These texts present a worldview where ⊞ can be mathematical, +objective or problem-solving. In Muller-Brockman’s text the focus is on +the formal qualities of the ⊞ in particular the use of grids and +typographic systems. Gerstner’s focus is more on the effect of the ⊞, +and the ability of ⊞ to solve a problem. Rationality and creativity are +presented as proportional to eachother. He makes space for the +intellectual by pushing aside feelings.
+The graphic ⊞er is presented as a functional actor in society who +makes the world better. Gerstner seems to be implying that creative ⊞ +comes from following the intellect and some rational cause and effect +process. I find it interesting that ⊞ claims this rational basis in the +same historical period when science and mathematics, its supposed +foundations, became much less rational and predictable, for example in +chaos theory. It makes me think that the rationality serves some other +purpose.
+The ⊞ grid and the written +word
+Why do ⊞ers believe in using a grid to present the written word, and +where did this belief come from and how did it develop? It can be +materially traced back to Guthenberg and metal type but that’s boring. +Magic squares have been used in astrology books and grimoires throughout +history (Figure 3). French poet Stéphane Mallarmé is sometimes quoted as +a precursor to modernist typography (Muller-Brockmann, 1981). Why did +Steve McCaffrey include the manifesto of De Stijl with CARNIVAL +(1973)? De Stijl is best known for its painters and architects, and +theories from both of these fields affected later ⊞ theories. But they +also were poets and had literary theories similar to the german +expressionists. Man’s attempt to find oneness with the whole of creation +through a cosmic hybris.
+-
+
- “An artists’ book featuring a series of typewriter concrete poems +printed on perforated pages meant to be torn out and arranged into a +square of four. Complete with instructions, a reproduction of a de Stijl +manifesto from 1920, an errata slip, and publisher’s promotional +postcard.” +
- Description of Steve McCaffrey’s CARNIVAL
+(The Idea of the Book, 2024)
+
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+The developments of the written word and its relationship to form in +the 20th century is very much a part of the history of ⊞. I care about +this story because it affects contemporary practitioners. I believe +there is something magical in graphic composition and the layout of +typography, something that can’t be grasped in the words alone. They’re +non-canonical for ⊞ers but how have people who put words on pages like +Mallarmé and McCaffrey influenced my beliefs about the written word? +What makes one thing fit in the category of art, another ⊞ and yet +another concrete poetry?
+Mystically +assigning or finding meanings in ⊞
+This autoethnographic annotation attempts to really miss as many +cultural and technical cues as possible. It’s watching the ⊞er, me, and +being totally mystified by their behaviour.
+empty title
+-
+
- A rhythm exists and I wonder why. There is music and there are +voices, and my fingers press the keys and the colours of the screen +flicker and morph. There appears to be a life or energy flowing +somewhere between these things and I am curious about it. +
- The screen shimmers between different symbols, letters, images. +The colours are symbolic. White means the ground, although sometimes it +switches to white symbols on a dark ground. They are full of meaning and +relationship. I press two buttons to the left of the keyboard and the +screen answers with a flicker. +
- I count out loud to 40. It symbolises both the number of pages +to be made and the enormity of the task. It represents a period in the +desert, long but with an end in sight. What is the relationship of the +desert to the stars? If the screen can flicker from a dark to a light +ground, is it possible for the sky to also switch from day to +night? +
- I have taken three of the forty steps. +
- I have taken seven of the forty steps. +
- ⊞ is a series of movements and reconfigurations. It is a +creative act and one of elision. I use the keyboard to communicate my +will to the machine with commands such as “Ctrl+C” and “Ctrl+V”. I +firstly inform the computer that I wish to control it. Each letter has a +deep and layered meaning. CVCVCVCVCVCVCVCVCV. “Alt+Tab” asks the screen +to flicker. The computer must match my multithreading. It must be +prepared to follow my changing demands in our shared focus. FAVCV. F is +to seek, but it is optimistically labelled to find. I enter the +incorrect combination of symbols (“samle”) the incantation is useless +and I will not find what I seek. I try again “sample” and the computer +gives me what I desire. Why does the machine demand perfection? Why does +it value perfection in me, what is it trying to teach me? Why wont it +leave me alone? +
- I have taken eleven of the forty steps. I will rest. +
What +does ⊞ do? What is the ⊞er trying to do by pressing all these buttons +and making the screen vibrate?
+-
+
- “⊞ only generates longing” +
- (Van Der Velden, 2006) +
I wasn’t trying to generate longing, I was trying to make an annual +report. It was a corporate job I was working on, a nice one to have +because it’s fairly well paid and not too complicated. A bit boring and +kinda repetitive, but you can just put your headphones on and get stuck +into it. I was pretty happy with the results in the end, but for sure +not the type of work you’re supposed to be proud of as a ⊞er.
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- “I found myself way over my head with, believe it or not, a +catalogue and price list for bathroom equipment. Nothing I’ve done since +has seemed as difficult.” +
- Michael Bierut (creativechair.org, 2018) +
And of course Piet Zwart’s (Figure 8) famous electrical cable +catalogues. ⊞ is just work, chill. Is a ⊞er a user or a server? Maybe ⊞ +is an example of our general belief in this dichotomy not quite making +sense or fitting reality. The ⊞er is working for whom? Themselves? Their +clients?
+empty title
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+
- “attempts to undo the privileged position of the agentive +subject can help us understand the strange status of repetitive and +quasi-robotic labour in today’s digital age.” +
- (Hu, 2022) +
This quote relates to freelancing generally in some way, and +deconstructing the work or worker. Are workers things? Yeah, kinda. ⊞ers +don’t have super powers, contrary to some beliefs within the industry. +For example on what⊞cando.com it is suggested that we should “re⊞ +everything!”. Let’s actually not do that. ⊞ers are mostly just humans +working on computers like so many other bots. ⊞ers try to create +clarity, to assign meaning and understand: “Confusion and clutter are +failures of ⊞, not attributes of information” (Tufte, 1990, p.53). What +if the sounds of my fingers and my keyboard are not noise but music: we +are quasi-robots and maybe its good to listen to our little Taylorist +finger tappings and see what else is being said.
+Excerpt +from an interview with the members of Distinctive Repetition on 1st +December 2023.
+Distinctive Repetition is an award-winning graphic ⊞ studio based in +Dublin, Ireland. Principal ⊞er and Institute of Creative Advertising and +⊞ past-president, Rossi McAuley, is joined in this interview by ⊞ers +Jenny Leahy and Ben Nagle. This interview was carried out around a table +with the interviewer in the bottom right corner (◲) and the three +members of the studio in the other three seats.
+-
+
- ◲: whats your favourite colour? +
- ◰: red. +
- ◲: red. +
- ◱: really? thats it? are you fucking kidding me? +
- ◰: do i fill it in? +
- ◳: they’re warm up questions obviously they’re to get you +comfortable answering questions. +
- ◳: yellow +
- ◲: if the seat of your consciousness was in your hands, like all of +your feelings and your thoughts and your desires and your emotions come +through your hands, can you describe to me the day that you’ve had so +far please? +
- ◳: jelly that’s not quite solid +
- ◳: not quite solidified in the fridge yet +
- ◳: and its just oozing through my fingers +
- (redacted sentence) +
- ◳: that’s what today has been like but its my brain thats oozing out +of me +
- ◲: yes. that’s a good answer. ok will we keep going in a +circle? +
- ◱: whatever you like bro. +
- ◲: do you ever dream about work? +
- ◱: all the time. +
- ◲: would you care to share one of those dreams? +
- ◱: they’re always angst-ridden, never, they’re never eh, they’re +never positive solution-solved things, we’ve always like lists and lists +and lists of things to do they’re never resolved they’re always like +shit we’ve, its, its always problematic, and its all the time. +
- ◳: weren’t you taking grids out of drawers in a dream recently? +
- ◱: yeah yeah. +
- (obscured) +
- ◲: why were you taking grids out of drawers? +
- ◱: emm recently I had a dream where I was giving out to ◳ about not +having things done, this ◳, participant two, about not having things +done, and i was opening up drawers in my office and I was like, just use +this grid and the drawers were full of grids and I was giving them to +her and saying just fucking use those grids for fucks sake why don’t we +use those grids. +
- (section redacted by request of interviewees) +
About the interview
+Before meeting them in person, I mailed a small booklet to the
+interviewees entitled Enthusiasm to give context to the
+conversation. The word enthusiasm originally meant inspiration or
+possession by a god. The booklet recounted three mystical dreams René
+Descartes had which he credited as a moment of inspiration or enthusiasm
+that influenced his later work on rationalism, and related to his work
+on geometry and grids (Figure 4). As well as the content of the dreams,
+the booklet described their relevance:
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- “404 years ago on the night of the 10th November 1619, three dreams +were dreamt. A 23-year old man is “filled with enthusiasm” and enters a +feverish sleep in Ulm, Germany. In this process of enthusiasm and +dreamwork, he discovers the foundations of a wonderful science. The +Method of Properly Guiding the Reason in the Search of Truth in the +Sciences will be suppressed by the churches, both Calvinist and +Catholic. They are a threat to the world view, and a threat to religion. +The cartesian grid uses measurements to estabish relationships. +Cartesian geometry has let us fly spaceships and zone and divide land. +Some things have happened. Some good things, some bad things. The link +is broken or breaking or should be broken. It’s rotting. Maybe there’s a +better way we can interpret these dreams now.” +
Descartes felt that interpreting his dreams was an appropriate method +to develop a rational theory of skepticism, which led to some of the +philosophical foundations of modern scientific and mathematical +theories. The booklet also drew parallels with Martin Luther’s +scrupulous doubt, “Only God and certain madmen have no doubts!”. Like +Descartes, Luther’s new theories helped to give the basis for the +structure of thought for the following centuries. These stories were +presented together to direct the focus of the conversation towards +belief, rationalism and grids. The fact that rationalism is a belief +system, as pervasive as it may be, and suggestively hinting through its +relationship with grids that there +is a relationship with ⊞.
+-
+
- ◳: jelly that’s not quite solid, not quite solidified in the fridge +yet and its just oozing through my fingers +
They seem so sad it hurts to hear them talk about the oozing. Are you +supposed to put jelly in the fridge, it just needs time to settle right? +My nana used to put the jelly in the freezer. There’s an instability in +how they talk in the interview for sure, or more a desire for stability. +Was it ever stable? Do you really want it to be? Its gooey and not the +way it should be but its still jelly and thats fun and its probably +delicious. Their hands are there as something that is for grasping and +jelly is there as something that can’t be grasped. Is it terrifying, are +they resigned to it?
+-
+
- ◱: they’re always angst-ridden, never, they’re never eh, they’re +never positive solution-solved things, we’ve always like lists and lists +and lists of things to do they’re never resolved they’re always like +shit we’ve, its, its always problematic, and its all the time. +
I can’t explain the angst they are feeling but I can describe it +because I’ve felt it too. It feels like I’m having a heart attack. It +feels like I’m about to black out. It got to a stage where I couldn’t +talk to other people without being completely frozen jelly. It is the +feeling of lists and lists and lists. It’s the feeling of never +resolved, all the time. We believe we are busy and under pressure and +struggling to survive. That makes us anxious and stressed.
+-
+
- ◱: just fucking use those grids +
The grids are not being used, the grids are useless. Drawers full of +them, all useless. Whats the point of sitting here in this studio. They +dont fit, they dont make sense, they’re trying to order something that +can’t be ordered. Or possibly shouldnt be ordered, the ordering is +misplaced and there is a human urge to stop, just stop.
+Modern work
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- “A cause becomes unmodern at the moment when our feelings revolt, +and as soon as we feel ourselves becoming ridiculous” +
- Adolf Loos, On Thrift, 1924 (Loos, 2019) +
empty title
+Adolf Loos was a modernist architect whose writings such as +Ornament and Crime in 1910 influenced modernist ideals of +functionalism and minimalism. He rejected ornament and favoured the use +of good materials which showed “God’s own wonder”. I wonder what is the +relation of Loos’ ideas to Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the +Spirit of Capitalism (Weber, 1905) that was published five years +earlier. Work as a duty which benefits the individual and society as a +whole, do ⊞ers still believe this today? I like taking Loos’ quote out +of context here, instead in the context of the feelings of the +interviewees, revolting the supposedly modern cause they are working +with.
+But also Loos was found guilty of pedophelia and it feels kind of +aggressive to include his voice here at all. This is part of the point +of what I’m getting at: there’s this tradition of ⊞ and so many parts of +it make me uncomfortable or really disgusted and I don’t know what to do +with all that. I just wanted to go to art school and draw circles and +maybe thats the problem and sure simple materials are pretty, but yeah +jelly is exactly what it feels like, you’re right.
+Graphic ⊞ is often performed by paid professionals in what is known +as the creative industry: as a profession and an activity, ⊞ is +considered to be creative. There are some positive preconceptions about +the creative industry and what it does, but I see it as an assimilation +of cultural activity into a neoliberal economic framework. Creativity in +this context is used to reproduce the status quo and and grow capital +(Mould, 2018). But maybe we can profit from examining the margins +created by this terminology: ⊞ is less functional than it seems. People +in creative jobs are stressed and this is reflected in their dreams. +Workers have rights and those rights are systemically undermined. Being +self employed or part of an independent studio brings anxiety and +challenges. Some ⊞ers try to structure the world around them and like +things to be neat and tidy, which makes us uncomfortable existing in +precarious work conditions.
+The Roman grid
+The Roman grid was a land measurement method used in the Roman +colonies for example in the Po Valley (Figure 7). With a surveying tool +called the groma, the colonisers would divide the land from north to +south and east to west, resulting in a square grid of roads and land. At +Orange, France, a cadaster has been found which shows the division of +land in a geometric way, helping the colonisers to privatise the land +and allocate it to roman veterans (Figure 1). The name groma, as well as +referring to the surveying tool, describes the central point of the +grid, the origin. Is making grids just a way to control and colonise? Do +all grids have origins? In Descartes’ use of the grid there was also an +attempt to order and structure chaos:
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- “the grid allowed an embrace of complexity: curved lines that could +be described by mathematical formulas, and thereby were not a sign of +chaos but an expression of the divine mathematical order assumed to be +underlying nature.” +
- Descartes was Here, Clemens Driessen, 2020 +
A part of the belief systems of ⊞ers is that the world is chaotic and +their role is to order it or even simplify it. This belief may be +inherited from a wider cultural belief of the same general drive: to +order and simplify. Humans try to make sense of the world. ⊞ers make +sense of ⊞ briefs and structure them into something understandable to an +audience or target market.
+empty title
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- ◱: for fucks sake why don’t we use those grids +
Is there an answer to this question, do they know the answer to this +question? I get the impression they have a gut feeling about the answer +but are afraid of it.
+An +analysis of a joke about ⊞ in the early 21st century
+When reviewing the AIGA Next conference in Denver Colorado, 2008, ⊞ +critic Adrian Shaughnessy tells a joke:
+-
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- “The venue was shared with a beer festival, but it was easy to tell +the ⊞ers from the beer fans. The beer fans were more serious.” +
- (Shaughnessy, 2013) +
This joke is funny because in the setup where it is easy to tell them +apart, the reader should assume the beer fans are drunk and therefore +raucous, misbehaving or maybe just having a lot of fun. But then he +unexpectedly suggests that they were in fact more serious than the ⊞ers. +This gives the reader a problem to address: is he claiming the ⊞ers were +even more outrageous than what we assumed of the beer fans, or the beer +fans were in fact taking their own conference seriously? As both seem +unbelievable the true funniness of the joke hits home in it’s implied +meaning: ⊞ers are boring as fuck.
+empty title
+An +annotation of my practices as a graphic ⊞er on a typical working day, +23rd October 2023
+-
+
- I read an email +
- and +
- I type +
- Alt tab alt tab alt tab alt tab alt tab alt tab alt tab ctrl c +ctrl v ctrl c ctrl v ctrl c ctrl v ctrl c ctrl v ctrl v ctrl v ctrl v +ctrl v ctrl v ctrl v +
empty title
+⊞ers interact with the computer through keyboard and mouse usage. +Compared to other computer users, my interaction involves lots of +pressing of function keys, something common with other technical +computer users and not so much with other creative workers. What is +creative in the repetitive and low level operation of a computer? Is a +pianist creative? What’s the difference, I think they are being creative +in different ways. ⊞ers and other specialists like video editors or +photo colourists are using a computer as a tool, the musician is +performing on an instrument. Maybe this distinction doesn’t have to be +so clear though. I am questioning this here because I think there is +some fairly complicated belief system about artists and their tools that +has had an effect on ⊞ers. ⊞ gives itself a history of conflict and +harmony between artisans and industrialisation, for example in Bauhaus +founder Walter Gropius claiming William Morris as a precursor (Bayer, +1975).
+I think it is important to show that ⊞ers are workers with tools, +their repetitive tasks are a form of labour as are their creative +processes. In the annotation opposite my aim is to mystify the manual +and digital labour, rather than demystify the creative ideation +part.
+Following this annotation I made a digital tool to record all +keystrokes on my computer. Then I printed them out with a pen plotter to +celebrate the labour that had taken place. It took several hours to plot +the keylogging data from just a few minutes of the ⊞er’s labour.
+LibreOffice
+-
+
- I have no idea what any of this structuring does. And I don’t +care. But I would like to remove the page title from the export. It is +in another tab called User Interface. I also select only page 1 to save +to PDF. Now I run into a software issue in this workflow: the best +software for the next part of the job is Adobe Acrobat Pro. How +aggressively do I want to remove this software from my workflow? Not +aggressively enough I guess because here I am still using it. I don’t +know any other software that really gives me details of how a document +will print or lets me edit PDFs on such a useful level. +
- For example the title still exported (it always does, is this a +LibreOffice bug or just I don’t know what to do with the new software +yet?). It takes two seconds to remove in edit mode in Acrobat. I also +delete the page number, I don’t even know how to turn that off from +LibreOffice. The print dialogue in Acrobat is also so powerful, its so +easy to print actual size which is important to me. It is structured and +reliable. +
Like many other ⊞ers, I was trained to only use Adobe products. I try +to switch to open source alternatives because I believe in using +software developed and maintained by a community rather than a private +company, and as a worker believe I should be in control of my tools. In +this annotation, I was trying to ⊞ and export a single page document in +LibreOffice, an open source desktop publishing software. The +documentation reflects on my frustrations and struggles to switch to a +workflow that relies less on proprietary software for print ⊞.
+Proprietary software from big mean tech corporations is based on a +model of society and economy where a few people own things and everybody +else has a hard time. I believe the internet gives an opportunity for +knowledge (including software code) to be shared. I like the idea of +modifying my tools, this is easier technically and legally with open +source software. I would prefer my tools to be developed by me and my +peers. These are some of my beliefs as a ⊞er about my work and my tools. +They’re a bit idealistic but also optimistic in a good way.
+-
+
- my god im trying to use scribus to prepare a booklet
+im going crazy
+im going crazy
+ - Correspondance with kamo, 2024 +
Transitioning to open source software sucks. I spent years learning +other tools and its like starting all over again. There is a dual +commitment in my beliefs about how my tools should be built and my +desire to get things done in a reasonable amount of time. My action of +fumbling with open source programs reflects my belief that they are +worthwhile, and my action of still using Adobe Acrobat Pro reflects my +belief that there are better things to do with my time than restarting +software when it crashes again. Some parts of graphic ⊞ have become so +entangled in capitalist ways of working, it can be immobilising to try +to act without engaging with the icky parts. Our dependencies on +ecosystems of tools and workflows are not enforced, but it can be +difficult to exist outside them, or more specifically, beside them.
+-
+
- “And I don’t care.” +
It’s so obviously not true. The conflict of wanting to change my
+workflow with wanting to complete my work tasks efficiently doesn’t keep
+me up at night, but it is important to me and other ⊞ers. Open source ⊞
+software is unreliable and unstandardised, it takes longer to do things
+and then when they are nearly done the program crashes and I’ve lost all
+my work. The standards of open source software have not been widely
+embraced by the ⊞ community. To fit into a workflow with peers you have
+to use Adobe products. Even web ⊞ers who engage with open standards can
+find the need to work with proprietary software, because these tools are
+deeply integrated into the workflows of their peers. Can you send me
+that in a normal file format please, I can’t open it.
+
Work Sans
+-
+
- The font is Work Sans SemiBold and it is set in 10pt, colour +“automatic”. I think even if it wasn’t automatic I would make it black, +because I want to print it clearly and cheaply. I use Work Sans because +I am trying to switch to using Open Font Licence and open source fonts +more generally. Previously I would have used Helvetica Now or some other +proprietary font. There is a visual difference between these fonts too +which is also relevant buuuuut this description is getting very detailed +maybe not right now. +
empty title
+Similarly to the software changes, this documentation of my practice +sees me choosing open source fonts. I’m really ambivalent about this. I +do like the idea of being able to modify a font when needed, but I have +done so regardless of whether the font licence allows it. I’m more +comfortable ethically with a font being open source. Buying fonts is +expensive for freelancers and small studios, and open source fonts are +more commonly free of charge. Many ⊞ers pirate fonts rather than buy +them, or are locked into a font subscription. In Adobe software, Adobe +subscription fonts don’t load unless a connection to the creative cloud +is verified.
+For my work, fonts are also a tool, one that I need to practice with
+and one that needs to be suitable for the job. So changing font is a
+little like a ceramicist changing clay. Work Sans is good for online use
+because Google Fonts serves it as a web font for free, the open source
+font I want to use is served most reliably by a large corporation I have
+issues with. This balancing act of practical considerations and
+idealistic beliefs is kind of ironic and reminds me again that my values
+can be inconsistent and to me a bit funny.
+
+The use of fonts as tools is full of tensions from ⊞ers’ belief systems.
+Like many ⊞ers, I want to use open source fonts. I also want to use
+fonts that will load quickly from a content delivery network for web
+projects. I also want fonts to be cheap and well made and I am
+interested in fonts that are free. The internet is full of illegal and
+pirated copies of fonts that are not supposed to be free of charge. I
+sometimes receive or am asked to send font files outside of their
+licence. I dont have a huge amount of respect for some of these
+licences. But at the same time font ⊞ers are my friends and colleagues,
+I have ⊞ed fonts. What does a ⊞er’s actual use of fonts say about their
+beliefs around copyright? Do ⊞ers believe in intellectual property? What
+value do ⊞ers, specifically typographers, see in their work and that of
+their close peers, the font ⊞ers, and how does copyright relate to these
+values?
empty title
+Follow up questions for +Conor
+Hey Conor, hope you’re keeping well these days? I’ve been going +through the interview from back in December and was wondering if you +would mind me including this piece in my thesis:
+I guess the thesis has become a lot about ⊞ers and the beliefs they +have about their work, and its effect on the world around them. I was +really interested in your answer to this question because I think it +shows something a lot of other ⊞ers including me feel too; some desire +to structure the world around us, to have things be resolved, organised, +fitting together. And not just a desire but maybe even a belief that +this is really what our job is for? Maybe I’m reading too much into it, +but to me this maybe hints at part of the reason we’re am drawn to a +field like graphic ⊞? Curious to know what you think.
+And if youre uncomfortable with being included in this way, Im +totally fine with anonymising, removing, or editing.
+Thanks,
+Stephen
empty title
+Follow up questions for ◱
+Yo ◱, hope all’s good with you these days?
+I’ve been piecing together the interviews from December and I’d love +to include this section about your dream if that’s alright with you? It +seems to get at something I feel as well: this system that we’ve built +up and these drawers full of grids, sometimes there’s an angst or +unresolved feeling that they’re not going to work, they dont fit as an +answer to the problem.
+For me I think it might be something to do with order and chaos if +that doesn’t seem too much of a stretch, I’ve this need to structure +things and fit them in a form, and the dream seems to get at that fear +that it’s not going to work. The grid is solid but reality turns out to +be jelly at best, but very often custard and little bits of tinned +strawberry and soggy sponge.
+I assumed the dream is about the pressure or anxiety of running a +studio? I wonder for you, do you see it more relating to the work itself +or the management around that, or are these things that you consider +separate from eachother? I’m curious to know if you think of it the same +way, or maybe it’s something else to you and I’m projecting :)
+And if youre uncomfortable with being included in this way, Im +totally fine with anonymising, removing, or editing.
+Thanks,
+Stephen
empty title
+Follow up questions for ◳
+Hey ◳, hope youre good!
+I’m thinking of putting this section of the interview we did back in +december in my thesis. Is that ok with you? I want to include it because +I think it really captures some emotions that ⊞ers feel quite often, +some stress or anxiety or an attempt to grab onto something more stable. +But I also find it really interesting that you were talking about jelly +slipping through your hands, any idea why you didn’t say sand or mud or +gold but jelly? To me it seems like a fun and cute material to pick, +even though its a bit lumpy and maybe even kinda gross sometimes.
+I’ve been really interested in foods made of gelatin recently and +there’s something so mesmerising about them even though they’re never +the most appetising, and for sure unnatural or over-processed. Maybe you +just said it off hand, but it makes sense to me as well about being a +⊞er in some way? Something enjoyable and lovable about the jelly despite +its weird unnatural wiggliness. Really interested to know if you have +any thoughts or maybe you meant something completely different.
+And if youre uncomfortable with being included in this way, Im +totally fine with anonymising, removing, or editing.
+Thanks,
+Stephen
Conclusion
+The title of this document, ⊞, was borrowed from the mathematical +theory of free probability where it symbolises free additive +convolution, a way of relating terms that is more nuanced than +traditional ideas of cause and effect. In the fragmented look at ⊞ in +this document, which we’ve reached the end of now, I hope to have done +something similar: a convoluted addition, freely placing things together +to be held for a moment.
+⊞ involves a wide range of activities; typing, drawing grids, +communicating with other specialists, quoting, drinking coffee, working +out of office hours, having panic attacks, arguing, building myths, +personal expression, keyboard shortcuts, dreaming, rubbing paper and +exhaling, tilting your head and looking at the screen. We have examined +when and how these actions happen, and more importantly, why they do, +according to the ⊞ers carrying them out.
+These stories were gathered through various modes of describing, +listening and understanding. It is important that these are different +from conventional ways to frame the discipline, as I think a shift in +viewpoint is needed. So not “⊞er as Author” (Rock, 1996), “⊞er as +salesperson” (Pater, 2021) but instead ⊞er “sitting at the machine, +thinking” (Brodine, 1990) or “⊞er without qualities” (Lorusso, 2023). +The fragments have been situated and subjective rather than objective, +they have been outside of categories because the categories are broken +anyway.
+empty title
+Conclusion
+Last night I dreamt I was standing on a hill in the Swiss Alps and +you were there and all of our friends and the hill was covered in little +fields but not like a grid like lots of different shapes and sizes and +the sky opened in two and a ring of light so bright it nearly blinded me +came out of my chest and yours and they all merged into eachother and +everyone opened their mouths to sing and the air was filled with so many +sounds and one ⊞er walked up to me and smiled and said
+-
+
“I dunno, I’m more confused than ever”
+and they said
+and then you said
+“a funny feeling its a bit weird”
+“I’m just trying to touch it gently and acknowledge it”
+“live the gap between where you are and where you could +be”
+
and then I was them and you were me and we laughed and fell over and +the hill turned into a bright pink jelly ocean the whole sky was this +sort of green-blue and we all surfed wobbly waves and some people’s +surfboards were Quiksilver and some they had built themselves from a git +repository but the sun was a walnut and it was definitely moving but I +couldnt tell was it rising or setting but it didn’t matter to us the +surf was great and everything smelled like magnolias.
+empty title
+empty title
+empty title
+Acknowledgements
+Thanks to Ada, Aglaia, Ben, Chae, Conor, Irmak, Jenny, Joseph, kamo, +Leslie, Manetta, Marloes, Michael, Rossi.
+Bibliography
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+Colophon
+Written manically and edited in vexation in Etherpad. Composed +excitedly using paged.js. Typeset confidently in Work Sans by Wei Huang. +Digitally printed nervously at Willem de Kooning Academy Rotterdam on +Schoellershammer 75gsm and Clairefontaine Maya 270gsm.
+Copyright held reluctantly by Stephen Kerr, 2024 under the SIXX +Licence, a free, copyleft license for rituals, games, books and +consolations in any medium, both software and hardware. For the purposes +of this paper, licensing is understood as a responsibility towards an +audience, towards each other and towards other people who might want to +contribute to, use or amplify any work. The precise terms can be found +at issue.xpub.nl/20/license
+If you like this colophon you should really read the rest of the +thesis, its written specifically for you.