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<div id="content"><h1 id="section">⊞</h1>
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<h3 id="empty-title">empty title</h3>
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<p>Stephen Kerr</p>
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<p>⊞</p>
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<p>Thesis submitted to the Department of Experimental Publishing, Piet
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Zwart Institute, Willem de Kooning Academy, in partial fulfilment of the
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requirements for the final examination for the degree of Master of Arts
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in Fine Art & ⊞: Experimental Publishing.</p>
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<p>Adviser: Marloes de Valk<br />
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Second Reader: Joseph Knierzinger<br />
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Word count: 7828 words</p>
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<h4 id="to-de-sign-design-i-will-assign-a-sign">To de-sign design, I
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will assign a sign: ⊞</h4>
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<p>This symbol represents design in this writing in an attempt to avoid
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the assumed meaning of the word and examine it as something unknown, to
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mystify it, to examine its structure. The label ⊞ is a functional part
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of a belief system involving order, structure, and rationality and I
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want to break it. Removing the label is part of loosening the object,
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making it avilable to transition (Berlant, 2022).</p>
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<figure>
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<img src="./images/orange.jpg" style="margin-top: 95mm; width: 40mm;" alt="The Cadaster of Orange, unknown ⊞er, c. 100 CE." />
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<figcaption aria-hidden="true">
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The Cadaster of Orange,<br /> unknown ⊞er, c. 100 CE.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<figure>
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<img src="./images/Niggli-Grid-systems-in-graphic-design-7.jpg" style="margin-top: 95mm" alt="Grid Systems in Graphic ⊞, Josef Muller-Brockmann, 1981." />
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<figcaption aria-hidden="true">
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Grid Systems in Graphic ⊞, Josef Muller-Brockmann, 1981.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<figure>
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<img src="./images/albuni2.jpg"
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alt="Shams al-Ma’arif, Ahmad al-Buni Almalki, circa 1200." />
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<figcaption aria-hidden="true">Shams al-Ma’arif, Ahmad al-Buni Almalki,
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circa 1200.</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<figure>
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<img src="./images/Simple_carthesian_coordinate_system.svg"
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alt="Cartesian Geometry, Rene Descartes, 1637." />
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<figcaption aria-hidden="true">Cartesian Geometry, Rene Descartes,
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1637.</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<figure>
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<img
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src="./images/art-josef-albers-study-for-homage-to-the-square-69.1917.jpg"
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alt="Homage to the Square, Josef Albers, 1954." />
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<figcaption aria-hidden="true">Homage to the Square, Josef Albers,
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1954.</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<figure>
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<img src="./images/TheoVAnDoesburgCounterCompositionVI.jpg"
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alt="Counter Composition VI, Theo Van Doesburg, 1925." />
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<figcaption aria-hidden="true">Counter Composition VI,<br />
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Theo Van Doesburg, 1925.</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<figure>
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<img src="./images/po-valley2.png" style="margin-top: 95mm;" alt="The Po Valley, The Roman Empire, 268 BCE." />
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<figcaption aria-hidden="true">
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The Po Valley, The Roman Empire, 268 BCE.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<figure>
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<img src="./images/pietzwart.jpg"
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alt="Monogram, Piet Zwart, c. 1968." />
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<figcaption aria-hidden="true">Monogram, Piet Zwart,
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c. 1968.</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<h3 id="empty-title-1">empty title</h3>
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<h4 id="introduction">Introduction</h4>
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<p>This document is a collection of fragments exploring beliefs about
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labour in the creative industries, in particular graphic ⊞. Each
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fragment focusses on the social, cultural, political, spiritual or
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religious aspects of these beliefs through an ethnographic lens. They
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record, celebrate and question the meaning that ⊞ers give to their
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actions and how those meanings affect the world they live in. And it’s
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about how ⊞ers feel when we live with these beliefs: we feel a bit funny
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and I want to talk about it. </p>
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<p>I use various modes of address and different lenses to further
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fragment the definition of ⊞. The origin of the word thesis is to set or
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to put, but I am trying to show you something liquid that can’t be
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placed but shimmers and disappears through the sand. I document some ⊞
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activities, in my own work and the work and writings of others who
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identify with the label of ⊞er. The writing dissolves and reintegrates
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definitions of ⊞ from different voices to show the multiplicity of
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beliefs from practitioners, and to explore what it means to acknowledge
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these beliefs beside eachother: the tensions and harmonies, some
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lineages and some breaks. What is going on here in this thing we call
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⊞? </p>
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<p>This is a collection of stories about living life with particular
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working conditions, located at certain points in social, economic and
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cultural webs. In my practice-based research I gather and tell these
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stories through (auto)ethnographic methods: documenting how ⊞er’s work,
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conducting interviews, improvising communal performances and exploratory
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tool-making. This document collates and reflects on this research. </p>
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<h4 id="what-is-a-er">What is a ⊞er?</h4>
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<ol type="1">
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<li><em>A ⊞er is a person who wakes up at 5am but refuses to open their
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eyes. There are birds talking outside, it’s probably getting bright
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already. Something is wrong, not sure what. They finally open their eyes
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and there’s the ceiling again. When the light comes in sideways over the
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curtains this early you can see all the little ripples and imperfections
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in it. Nothing. Ribcage. Stomach. The front of the ⊞er’s legs ache. It
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would be better to sleep again. Have to pay taxes again next week. A ⊞er
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is someone who wonders if that invoice will come through I need to
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follow up on it. The birds are so loud. </em></li>
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<li><em>The role of the ⊞er is to count back from five to two and
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realise that was only three hours same as yesterday. They use ⊞ thinking
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to never get back to sleep. They need excellent time management skills
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to make this short moment feel like an eternity, several times a week.
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⊞ers have an acute spatial awareness and an eye for detail: although the
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ceiling seems miles away they focus on each tiny ripple for hours. A ⊞er
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is someone who will work the whole waking day today, but it’s better
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than last week when there was no work. ⊞ers look at their phone and see
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their alarm is going to go off in ten minutes, so they switch it off and
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get up.</em></li>
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</ol>
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<h3 id="empty-title-2">empty title</h3>
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<p>The precarity of working in the creative industries, in particular as
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a freelancer or within a small studio, induces anxiety. There is a
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belief that the ⊞er as freelancer is empowered by their autonomy, but in
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fact the ⊞er as worker is trapped by it. ⊞ is work and this work is
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believed to be inherently good. Work in our society is understood as “an
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individual moral practice and collective ethical obligation” which
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shapes the worker’s identity in positive ways (Weeks, 2011). The ⊞er
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believes they are a skilled or talented worker, someone who possesses
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spatial awareness, time management skills, and the capacity to carry out
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work effectively and efficiently. </p>
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<p>⊞ers are entangled in the Protestant religious underpinnings of the
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European work ethic (Pater, 2022). ⊞ is seen as a vocation which
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expresses and creates the ⊞er’s identity, and the process or its results
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make a valuable contribution to society. People understand the world and
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interact with it smoothly, thanks to the work of ⊞ers. ⊞ers pick the
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right materials to save the planet and increase efficiency and whatever
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else it is people find important. But the ⊞er becomes anxious despite
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meeting these goals and becoming this person. In reality, the ⊞er is a
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bot, the ⊞er is software. Value is extracted from their time, creativity
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and expertise which makes them stressed. ⊞ers are a creative cloud, a
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service to be tapped into, a cpu being run too hot. There is something
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to be learnt from the revelation that being replaced by machines proves
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we were being treated as machines all along. </p>
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<h4 id="geestelijk">Geestelijk</h4>
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<p>There was a belief that ⊞ could be a crystal goblet (Warde, 1913),
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something unbiased, clear and, in more recent versions of the theory,
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serving the context it fits within. But the foundations of this belief
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in functionality and rationality dont seem to come themselves from
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something functional or rational. </p>
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<p>De Stijl members, such as Piet Mondriaan and Theo van Doesburg
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(Figure 6), in their 1917 manifesto described a “new consciousness of
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the age […] directed towards the universal”. There was a drive towards
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universal standardisation or pureness of culture from the rich white
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men. Purity is a concept that turns up a lot in Mondriaan’s writings, eg
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<em>Neo-Plasticism in Pictorial Art</em> (1917). They claimed a shared
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spirit was driving this universalisation. A later paragraph of the
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manifesto is translated into english as:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>“The artists of to-day have been driven the whole world over by the
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same consciousness and therefore have taken part from an intellectual
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point of view in this war against the domination of individual
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despotism. They therefore sympathize with all who work for the formation
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of an international unity in Life, Art, Culture, either intellectually
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or materially.”</li>
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</ul>
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<p>In this translation it appears the authors believed in an emerging
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consciousness of the age, something collective which would bring an
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international unity. The members of De Stijl were neither aligning
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themselves with the capitalists or socialists but believed in an inner
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connection between those who were joined in the spiritual body of the
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new world (De Stijl, Manifesto III, 1921). The word intellectual, or
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geestelijk in the original Dutch, can also be translated as “spiritual,
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mental, ecclesiastical, clerical, sacred, ghostly, pneumatic”. The
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choice to translate as intellectual seems to be the most rational
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interpretation of this sentence, an effort to make the theories of De
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Stijl appear more materialist without the spiritual element. Compare
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with this translation:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>“The artists of today, all over the world, impelled by one and the
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same consciousness, have taken part on the spiritual plane in the world
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war against the domination of individualism, of arbitrariness. They
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therefore sympathise with all who are fighting spiritually or materially
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for the formation of an international unity in life, art and
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culture.”</li>
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</ul>
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<p>In this translation it is clearer that the members of De Stijl saw a
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link between the effects of what they made materially and their attempts
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to be fighting spiritually against the domination of individualism. I
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care about this story because of how it contextualises contemporary ⊞
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practice. Is contemporary ⊞ practice still involved in this spiritual
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battle? Did the new consciousness of 1917 survive the past century, did
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it procreate? Can aesthetics have generational trauma? William Morris,
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Constructivism, De Stijl, Bauhaus, International Style, International
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Typographic Style, Swiss Style, then what happened. Modernist artists
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had spiritual beliefs, and again I care about these people from a
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hundred years ago because of the effect they have on the present. </p>
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<p>Imagine I could trace this thought from Mondriaan all the way to
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myself, wow, cool thesis. Swiss style became corporate identity ⊞ and
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encouraged minimalism in ⊞. 21st century Flat ⊞, such as Metro ⊞
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language from Microsoft and Material ⊞ (Google, 2014), claim direct
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descendance from the International Typographic Style and that pretty
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much brings us up to date. I wonder about the use of the word Material
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in Google’s ⊞ strategy, I wonder about the ghostly absence of the
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geestelijk fight of De Stijl. Is Google’s choice of name another
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example, as with the subtle change in the translation above, that the
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spiritual element is no longer as important a part of the ⊞er’s
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worldview as it was a hundred years ago? </p>
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<h4
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id="excerpt-from-an-interview-with-conor-clarke-1st-december-2023">Excerpt
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from an interview with Conor Clarke, 1st December 2023</h4>
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<p><em>Conor Clarke is a Director of ⊞ Factory, independent Irish ⊞
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agency based in Dublin. His work has featured in international
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publications such as Who’s Who in Graphic ⊞</em>, <em>Graphis, Novum
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Gebrauchsgrafik, and the New York Art Directors Club Annual. He was the
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recipient of the Catherine Donnelly Lifetime Achievement Award for his
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contribution to ⊞ in Ireland and is the Course Director of ⊞ West, an
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international summer ⊞ school located in the beautiful village of
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Letterfrack on the West Coast of Ireland</em>. (⊞west.eu, 2023)</p>
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<h3 id="empty-title-3">empty title</h3>
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<ul>
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<li>SK: What do you think is the best shape?</li>
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<li>CC: Oh yeah, good god. square.</li>
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<li>SK: Square? how come?</li>
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<li>CC: Dunno, it just, it just seems resolved. I don’t like spheres.
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Circles I sometimes like.</li>
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<li>SK: Yeah, squares, do you use grids?</li>
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<li>CC: Sometimes. Not always.</li>
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<li>SK: Once you have grids squares make sense. But you like squares
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maybe because you like logos?</li>
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<li>CC: If I’m in an art gallery and I see, you know Joseph Albers
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(Figure 5) or something I just kind of feel, I just like, or Malevich i
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just like that stuff. If I see a Kandinsky and all those squiggles and
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circles it just, that just kind of upsets me a little bit.</li>
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<li>SK: That’s a bit chaotic?</li>
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<li>CC: Yeah. And even if I’m looking at Vermeer I can see some kind of
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square structure and logic, for some reason that always appeals to
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me.</li>
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<li>SK: Things are a bit organised when there’s squares around?</li>
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<li>CC: Yeah. And really great artists who don’t work that way I look at
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their stuff and think well that’s just beyond me.</li>
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<li>SK: Its something else?</li>
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<li>CC: Yeah. so yeah.</li>
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<li>SK: At least you didn’t say triangle.</li>
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<li>CC: Oh good god. Good god no.</li>
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</ul>
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<!-- -->
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<h4 id="maths-and-grids">Maths and grids</h4>
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<p>Why not choose a spiral or a circle if you dream of ⊞ers as shamans?
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Why the grid of squares? There are strong links beween ⊞ and
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mathematics, Josef Muller-Brockmann’s <em>Grid Systems</em> (Figure 2)
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for example or Karl Gerstner’s <em>⊞ing Programmes</em> (1964). I read
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these ⊞ theorists as you might comparatively read religious texts. What
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were or are the beliefs of the authors and their audiences?<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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</p>
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<ul>
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<li>“To describe the problem is part of the solution. This implies: not
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to make creative decisions as prompted by feeling but by intellectual
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criteria. The more exact and complete these criteria are, the more
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creative the work becomes.”</li>
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<li>(Gerstner, 1964)</li>
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<li>“This is the expression of a professional ethos: the ⊞er’s work
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should have the clearly intelligible, objective, functional and
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aesthetic quality of mathematical thinking.”</li>
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<li>(Muller-Brockman, 1981)</li>
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</ul>
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<p>These texts present a worldview where ⊞ can be mathematical,
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objective or problem-solving. In Muller-Brockman’s text the focus is on
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the formal qualities of the ⊞ in particular the use of grids and
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typographic systems. Gerstner’s focus is more on the effect of the ⊞,
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and the ability of ⊞ to solve a problem. Rationality and creativity are
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presented as proportional to eachother. He makes space for the
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intellectual by pushing aside feelings. </p>
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<p>The graphic ⊞er is presented as a functional actor in society who
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makes the world better. Gerstner seems to be implying that creative ⊞
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comes from following the intellect and some rational cause and effect
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process. I find it interesting that ⊞ claims this rational basis in the
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same historical period when science and mathematics, its supposed
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foundations, became much less rational and predictable, for example in
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chaos theory. It makes me think that the rationality serves some other
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purpose.</p>
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<h4 id="the-grid-and-the-written-word">The ⊞ grid and the written
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word</h4>
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<p>Why do ⊞ers believe in using a grid to present the written word, and
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where did this belief come from and how did it develop? It can be
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materially traced back to Guthenberg and metal type but that’s boring.
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Magic squares have been used in astrology books and grimoires throughout
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history (Figure 3). French poet Stéphane Mallarmé is sometimes quoted as
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a precursor to modernist typography (Muller-Brockmann, 1981). Why did
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Steve McCaffrey include the manifesto of De Stijl with <em>CARNIVAL</em>
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(1973)? De Stijl is best known for its painters and architects, and
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theories from both of these fields affected later ⊞ theories. But they
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also were poets and had literary theories similar to the german
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expressionists. Man’s attempt to find oneness with the whole of creation
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through a cosmic hybris. </p>
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<ul>
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<li>“An artists’ book featuring a series of typewriter concrete poems
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printed on perforated pages meant to be torn out and arranged into a
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square of four. Complete with instructions, a reproduction of a de Stijl
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manifesto from 1920, an errata slip, and publisher’s promotional
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postcard.”</li>
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<li>Description of Steve McCaffrey’s <em>CARNIVAL</em><br />
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(The Idea of the Book, 2024)</li>
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</ul>
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<h3 id="empty-title-4">empty title</h3>
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<p>The developments of the written word and its relationship to form in
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the 20th century is very much a part of the history of ⊞. I care about
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this story because it affects contemporary practitioners. I believe
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there is something magical in graphic composition and the layout of
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typography, something that can’t be grasped in the words alone. They’re
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non-canonical for ⊞ers but how have people who put words on pages like
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Mallarmé and McCaffrey influenced my beliefs about the written word?
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What makes one thing fit in the category of art, another ⊞ and yet
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another concrete poetry?</p>
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<h4 id="mystically-assigning-or-finding-meanings-in">Mystically
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assigning or finding meanings in ⊞</h4>
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<p>This autoethnographic annotation attempts to really miss as many
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cultural and technical cues as possible. It’s watching the ⊞er, me, and
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being totally mystified by their behaviour. </p>
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<h3 id="empty-title-5">empty title</h3>
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<ol type="1">
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<li><em>A rhythm exists and I wonder why. There is music and there are
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voices, and my fingers press the keys and the colours of the screen
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flicker and morph. There appears to be a life or energy flowing
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somewhere between these things and I am curious about it.</em></li>
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<li><em>The screen shimmers between different symbols, letters, images.
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The colours are symbolic. White means the ground, although sometimes it
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switches to white symbols on a dark ground. They are full of meaning and
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relationship. I press two buttons to the left of the keyboard and the
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screen answers with a flicker.</em></li>
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<li><em>I count out loud to 40. It symbolises both the number of pages
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to be made and the enormity of the task. It represents a period in the
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desert, long but with an end in sight. What is the relationship of the
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desert to the stars? If the screen can flicker from a dark to a light
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ground, is it possible for the sky to also switch from day to
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night?</em></li>
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<li><em>I have taken three of the forty steps.</em></li>
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<li><em>I have taken seven of the forty steps.</em></li>
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<li><em>⊞ is a series of movements and reconfigurations. It is a
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creative act and one of elision. I use the keyboard to communicate my
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will to the machine with commands such as “Ctrl+C” and “Ctrl+V”. I
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firstly inform the computer that I wish to control it. Each letter has a
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deep and layered meaning. CVCVCVCVCVCVCVCVCV. “Alt+Tab” asks the screen
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to flicker. The computer must match my multithreading. It must be
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prepared to follow my changing demands in our shared focus. FAVCV. F is
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to seek, but it is optimistically labelled to find. I enter the
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incorrect combination of symbols (“samle”) the incantation is useless
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and I will not find what I seek. I try again “sample” and the computer
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gives me what I desire. Why does the machine demand perfection? Why does
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it value perfection in me, what is it trying to teach me? Why wont it
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leave me alone?</em></li>
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<li><em>I have taken eleven of the forty steps. I will rest.</em></li>
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</ol>
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<h4
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id="what-does-do-what-is-the-er-trying-to-do-by-pressing-all-these-buttons-and-making-the-screen-vibrate">What
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does ⊞ do? What is the ⊞er trying to do by pressing all these buttons
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and making the screen vibrate?</h4>
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<ul>
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<li><em>“</em>⊞ only generates longing”</li>
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<li>(Van Der Velden, 2006)</li>
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</ul>
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<p>I wasn’t trying to generate longing, I was trying to make an annual
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report. It was a corporate job I was working on, a nice one to have
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because it’s fairly well paid and not too complicated. A bit boring and
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kinda repetitive, but you can just put your headphones on and get stuck
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into it. I was pretty happy with the results in the end, but for sure
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not the type of work you’re supposed to be proud of as a ⊞er.</p>
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|
<ul>
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<li><em>“</em>I found myself way over my head with, believe it or not, a
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catalogue and price list for bathroom equipment. Nothing I’ve done since
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has seemed as difficult.”</li>
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<li>Michael Bierut (creativechair.org, 2018)</li>
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</ul>
|
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|
<p>And of course Piet Zwart’s (Figure 8) famous electrical cable
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|
catalogues. ⊞ is just work, chill. Is a ⊞er a user or a server? Maybe ⊞
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|
is an example of our general belief in this dichotomy not quite making
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|
sense or fitting reality. The ⊞er is working for whom? Themselves? Their
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|
clients?</p>
|
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|
<h3 id="empty-title-6">empty title</h3>
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|
<ul>
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|
<li><em>“</em>attempts to undo the privileged position of the agentive
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|
subject can help us understand the strange status of repetitive and
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|
quasi-robotic labour in today’s digital age.”</li>
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|
<li>(Hu, 2022)</li>
|
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|
</ul>
|
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|
<p>This quote relates to freelancing generally in some way, and
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|
deconstructing the work or worker. Are workers things? Yeah, kinda. ⊞ers
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|
don’t have super powers, contrary to some beliefs within the industry.
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|
For example on what⊞cando.com it is suggested that we should “re⊞
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|
everything!”. Let’s actually not do that. ⊞ers are mostly just humans
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|
working on computers like so many other bots. ⊞ers try to create
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|
clarity, to assign meaning and understand: “Confusion and clutter are
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|
failures of ⊞, not attributes of information” (Tufte, 1990, p.53). What
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|
if the sounds of my fingers and my keyboard are not noise but music: we
|
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|
are quasi-robots and maybe its good to listen to our little Taylorist
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|
finger tappings and see what else is being said.</p>
|
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|
<h4
|
|
|
id="excerpt-from-an-interview-with-the-members-of-distinctive-repetition-on-1st-december-2023.">Excerpt
|
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|
from an interview with the members of Distinctive Repetition on 1st
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|
December 2023.</h4>
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|
<p>Distinctive Repetition is an award-winning graphic ⊞ studio based in
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Dublin, Ireland. Principal ⊞er and Institute of Creative Advertising and
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|
⊞ past-president, Rossi McAuley, is joined in this interview by ⊞ers
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|
Jenny Leahy and Ben Nagle. This interview was carried out around a table
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|
with the interviewer in the bottom right corner (◲) and the three
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|
members of the studio in the other three seats.</p>
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|
<ul>
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<li>◲: whats your favourite colour?</li>
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<li>◰: red.</li>
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<li>◲: red.</li>
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<li>◱: really? thats it? are you fucking kidding me?</li>
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<li>◰: do i fill it in?</li>
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<li>◳: they’re warm up questions obviously they’re to get you
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|
comfortable answering questions.</li>
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|
<li>◳: yellow</li>
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|
<li>◲: if the seat of your consciousness was in your hands, like all of
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|
your feelings and your thoughts and your desires and your emotions come
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|
through your hands, can you describe to me the day that you’ve had so
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|
far please?</li>
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|
<li>◳: jelly that’s not quite solid</li>
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|
<li>◳: not quite solidified in the fridge yet</li>
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|
<li>◳: and its just oozing through my fingers</li>
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|
<li>(redacted sentence)</li>
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|
<li>◳: that’s what today has been like but its my brain thats oozing out
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|
of me</li>
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|
<li>◲: yes. that’s a good answer. ok will we keep going in a
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|
circle?</li>
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|
<li>◱: whatever you like bro.</li>
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|
<li>◲: do you ever dream about work?</li>
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|
<li>◱: all the time.</li>
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|
<li>◲: would you care to share one of those dreams?</li>
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|
<li>◱: they’re always angst-ridden, never, they’re never eh, they’re
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|
never positive solution-solved things, we’ve always like lists and lists
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|
and lists of things to do they’re never resolved they’re always like
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|
shit we’ve, its, its always problematic, and its all the time.</li>
|
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|
<li>◳: weren’t you taking grids out of drawers in a dream recently?</li>
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|
<li>◱: yeah yeah.</li>
|
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|
<li>(obscured)</li>
|
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|
<li>◲: why were you taking grids out of drawers?</li>
|
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|
<li>◱: emm recently I had a dream where I was giving out to ◳ about not
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|
having things done, this ◳, participant two, about not having things
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|
done, and i was opening up drawers in my office and I was like, just use
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|
this grid and the drawers were full of grids and I was giving them to
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|
|
her and saying just fucking use those grids for fucks sake why don’t we
|
|
|
use those grids.</li>
|
|
|
<li>(section redacted by request of interviewees)</li>
|
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
<!-- -->
|
|
|
<h4 id="about-the-interview">About the interview</h4>
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|
<p>Before meeting them in person, I mailed a small booklet to the
|
|
|
interviewees entitled <em>Enthusiasm</em> to give context to the
|
|
|
conversation. The word enthusiasm originally meant inspiration or
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|
|
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:<br />
|
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
|
<li>“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
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|
|
feverish sleep in Ulm, Germany. In this process of enthusiasm and
|
|
|
dreamwork, he discovers the foundations of a wonderful science. <em>The
|
|
|
Method of Properly Guiding the Reason in the Search of Truth in the
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|
|
Sciences</em> will be suppressed by the churches, both Calvinist and
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|
|
Catholic. They are a threat to the world view, and a threat to religion.
|
|
|
The cartesian grid uses measurements to estabish relationships.
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|
|
Cartesian geometry has let us fly spaceships and zone and divide land.
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|
|
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.”</li>
|
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
<p>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
|
|
|
<span style="letter-spacing: -0.2px">relationship with grids that there
|
|
|
is a relationship with ⊞.</span></p>
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
|
<li>◳: jelly that’s not quite solid, not quite solidified in the fridge
|
|
|
yet and its just oozing through my fingers</li>
|
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
<!-- -->
|
|
|
<p>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? </p>
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
|
<li>◱: 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.</li>
|
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
<p>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.</p>
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
|
<li>◱: just fucking use those grids</li>
|
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
<!-- -->
|
|
|
<p>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.</p>
|
|
|
<h4 id="modern-work">Modern work</h4>
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
|
<li>“A cause becomes unmodern at the moment when our feelings revolt,
|
|
|
and as soon as we feel ourselves becoming ridiculous”</li>
|
|
|
<li>Adolf Loos, <em>On Thrift,</em> 1924 (Loos, 2019)</li>
|
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
<h3 id="empty-title-7">empty title</h3>
|
|
|
<p>Adolf Loos was a modernist architect whose writings such as
|
|
|
<em>Ornament and Crime</em> 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 <em>The Protestant Ethic and the
|
|
|
Spirit of Capitalism</em> (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. </p>
|
|
|
<p>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.</p>
|
|
|
<p>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.</p>
|
|
|
<h4 id="the-roman-grid">The Roman grid</h4>
|
|
|
<p>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:</p>
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
|
<li>“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.”</li>
|
|
|
<li>Descartes was Here, Clemens Driessen, 2020</li>
|
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
<p>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. </p>
|
|
|
<h3 id="empty-title-8">empty title</h3>
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
|
<li>◱: for fucks sake why don’t we use those grids</li>
|
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
<!-- -->
|
|
|
<p>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.</p>
|
|
|
<h4 id="an-analysis-of-a-joke-about-in-the-early-21st-century">An
|
|
|
analysis of a joke about ⊞ in the early 21st century</h4>
|
|
|
<p>When reviewing the AIGA Next conference in Denver Colorado, 2008, ⊞
|
|
|
critic Adrian Shaughnessy tells a joke:</p>
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
|
<li>“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.”</li>
|
|
|
<li>(Shaughnessy, 2013)</li>
|
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
<p>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.</p>
|
|
|
<h3 id="empty-title-9">empty title</h3>
|
|
|
<h4
|
|
|
id="an-annotation-of-my-practices-as-a-graphic-er-on-a-typical-working-day-23rd-october-2023">An
|
|
|
annotation of my practices as a graphic ⊞er on a typical working day,
|
|
|
23rd October 2023</h4>
|
|
|
<ol type="1">
|
|
|
<li><em>I read an email</em></li>
|
|
|
<li><em>and</em></li>
|
|
|
<li><em>I type</em></li>
|
|
|
<li><em>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</em></li>
|
|
|
</ol>
|
|
|
<h3 id="empty-title-10">empty title</h3>
|
|
|
<p>⊞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). </p>
|
|
|
<p>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. </p>
|
|
|
<p>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. </p>
|
|
|
<h4 id="libreoffice">LibreOffice</h4>
|
|
|
<ol type="1">
|
|
|
<li><em>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.</em></li>
|
|
|
<li><em>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. </em></li>
|
|
|
</ol>
|
|
|
<p>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 ⊞. </p>
|
|
|
<p>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.</p>
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
|
<li><em>my god im trying to use scribus to prepare a booklet</em><br />
|
|
|
<em>im going crazy</em><br />
|
|
|
<em>im going crazy</em></li>
|
|
|
<li>Correspondance with kamo, 2024</li>
|
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
<p>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.</p>
|
|
|
<ol type="1">
|
|
|
<li><em>“And I don’t care.” </em></li>
|
|
|
</ol>
|
|
|
<p>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. <br />
|
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
<h4 id="work-sans">Work Sans</h4>
|
|
|
<ol type="1">
|
|
|
<li><em>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.</em></li>
|
|
|
</ol>
|
|
|
<h3 id="empty-title-11">empty title</h3>
|
|
|
<p>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.</p>
|
|
|
<p>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. <br />
|
|
|
<br />
|
|
|
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?</p>
|
|
|
<h3 id="empty-title-12">empty title</h3>
|
|
|
<h4 id="follow-up-questions-for-conor">Follow up questions for
|
|
|
Conor</h4>
|
|
|
<p>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:</p>
|
|
|
<p>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.</p>
|
|
|
<p>And if youre uncomfortable with being included in this way, Im
|
|
|
totally fine with anonymising, removing, or editing. </p>
|
|
|
<p>Thanks,<br />
|
|
|
Stephen</p>
|
|
|
<h3 id="empty-title-13">empty title</h3>
|
|
|
<h4 id="follow-up-questions-for">Follow up questions for ◱</h4>
|
|
|
<p>Yo ◱, hope all’s good with you these days? </p>
|
|
|
<p>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. </p>
|
|
|
<p>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. </p>
|
|
|
<p>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 :)</p>
|
|
|
<p>And if youre uncomfortable with being included in this way, Im
|
|
|
totally fine with anonymising, removing, or editing.</p>
|
|
|
<p>Thanks,<br />
|
|
|
Stephen</p>
|
|
|
<h3 id="empty-title-14">empty title</h3>
|
|
|
<h4 id="follow-up-questions-for-1">Follow up questions for ◳</h4>
|
|
|
<p>Hey ◳, hope youre good! </p>
|
|
|
<p>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. </p>
|
|
|
<p>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.</p>
|
|
|
<p>And if youre uncomfortable with being included in this way, Im
|
|
|
totally fine with anonymising, removing, or editing. </p>
|
|
|
<p>Thanks,<br />
|
|
|
Stephen</p>
|
|
|
<h4 id="conclusion">Conclusion</h4>
|
|
|
<p>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. </p>
|
|
|
<p>⊞ 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. </p>
|
|
|
<p>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. </p>
|
|
|
<h3 id="empty-title-15">empty title</h3>
|
|
|
<h4 id="conclusion-1">Conclusion</h4>
|
|
|
<p>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 </p>
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
|
<li><p>“I dunno, I’m more confused than ever”</p></li>
|
|
|
<li><p>and they said </p></li>
|
|
|
<li><p>and then you said</p></li>
|
|
|
<li><p>“a funny feeling its a bit weird”</p></li>
|
|
|
<li><p>“I’m just trying to touch it gently and acknowledge it” </p></li>
|
|
|
<li><p>“live the gap between where you are and where you could
|
|
|
be” </p></li>
|
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
<p>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.</p>
|
|
|
<h3 id="empty-title-16">empty title</h3>
|
|
|
<h3 id="empty-title-17">empty title</h3>
|
|
|
<h3 id="empty-title-18">empty title</h3>
|
|
|
<h4 id="acknowledgements">Acknowledgements</h4>
|
|
|
<p>Thanks to Ada, Aglaia, Ben, Chae, Conor, Irmak, Jenny, Joseph, kamo,
|
|
|
Leslie, Manetta, Marloes, Michael, Rossi.</p>
|
|
|
<h2 id="bibliography">Bibliography</h2>
|
|
|
<p>Bayer, H. <em>et al.</em> (1975) <em>Bauhaus, 1919-1928</em>. New
|
|
|
York: Museum of Modern Art. </p>
|
|
|
<p>Berlant, L. (2022) <em>On the Inconvenience of Other People</em>,
|
|
|
Durham: Duke University Press.</p>
|
|
|
<p>Brodine, K. (1990) <em>Woman Sitting at the Machine, Thinking:
|
|
|
Poems</em>. Seattle: Red Letter Press.</p>
|
|
|
<p>creativechair (2018) ‘Michael Bierut’ [Interview], <em>Creative
|
|
|
Chair</em>. Available at: creativechair.org/michael-bierut (Accessed: 15
|
|
|
April 2024).</p>
|
|
|
<p><em>Design West</em> (2024) <em>Design West</em>. Available at:
|
|
|
designwest.eu (Accessed: 16 April 2024).</p>
|
|
|
<p>Driessen, C. P. G. (2020). Descartes was here; In Search of the
|
|
|
Origin of Cartesian Space’. In R. Koolhaas (Ed.), <em>Countryside, A
|
|
|
Report</em> (pp. 274-297)<br />
|
|
|
<br />
|
|
|
Gates, B (2004) <em>Remarks by Bill Gates, Chairman and Chief Software
|
|
|
Architect, Microsoft Corporation</em> [speech transcript] University of
|
|
|
Illinois Urbana-Champaign February 24, 2004 Available at:
|
|
|
web.archive.org/web/<br />
|
|
|
20040607040830/<a
|
|
|
href="https://www.microsoft.com/billgates/speeches/2004/02-24UnivIllinois.asp"
|
|
|
class="uri">https://www.microsoft.com/billgates/speeches/2004/02-24UnivIllinois.asp</a>
|
|
|
(Accessed: 13 April 2024)</p>
|
|
|
<p>Gerstner, K. and Keller, D. (1964) <em>Designing Programmes</em>.
|
|
|
Teufen (AR): Niggli. </p>
|
|
|
<p>Google (2014) <em>Introduction</em>, <em>Material Design</em>.
|
|
|
Available at: m1.material.io (Accessed: 16 April 2024). </p>
|
|
|
<p>Hu, T.-H. (2024) <em>Digital Lethargy: Dispatches from an age of
|
|
|
disconnection</em>. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. </p>
|
|
|
<p>The Idea of the Book (2024) <em>CARNIVAL: the first panel
|
|
|
1967–70</em> [book description] Available at: theideaofthe<br />
|
|
|
book.com/pages/books/529/steve-mccaffery/carnival-the-first-panel-1967-70
|
|
|
(Accessed: 13 April 2024)</p>
|
|
|
<p>Loos, A. (2019) <em>Ornament and Crime</em>. London: Penguin. </p>
|
|
|
<p>Lorusso, S. (2023) <em>What Design Can’t Do: Essays on design and
|
|
|
disillusion</em>. Eindhoven: Set Margins. </p>
|
|
|
<p>Mondriaan , P. et al., (1917) ‘Neo-Plasticism in Pictorial Art’,
|
|
|
<em>De Stijl</em>, Nov. </p>
|
|
|
<p>Mould, O. (2018) <em>Against Creativity</em>. London: Verso.</p>
|
|
|
<p>Müller-Brockmann, J. (1981) <em>Grid systems in graphic</em> ⊞.
|
|
|
Stuttgart: Hatje. </p>
|
|
|
<p>Pater, R. (2021) <em>Caps Lock</em>. Amsterdam: Valiz.</p>
|
|
|
<p>Rock, M., (1996) <em>The ⊞er as Author.</em> Available at:
|
|
|
2x4.org/ideas/1996/⊞er-as-author (Accessed: 16 April 2024). </p>
|
|
|
<p>Shaughnessy, A. (2005) <em>How to Be a Graphic ⊞er, without Losing
|
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Your Soul.</em> Princeton: Princeton Architectural Press.</p>
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<p>Shaughnessy, A. (2013) <em>Scratching the Surface</em>. London: Unit
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Editions.</p>
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<p>Tufte, E (1991) <em>The Visual Display of Quantitative
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Information.</em> Cheshire: Graphics Press.</p>
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<p>Van der Velden, D., (2006) ‘Research & Destroy: A Plea for ⊞ as
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Research’, <em>Metropolis M 2</em>, April/May 2006.</p>
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<p>Van Doesburg, T. et al. (1917) ‘Manifesto I’, <em>De Stijl</em>,
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Nov. </p>
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<p><span style="letter-spacing: -0.1px">Van Doesburg, T. et al. (1921)
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‘Manifesto III’, <em>De Stijl</em>, Aug.</span></p>
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<p>Warde, B. (1913) ‘Printing Should be Invisible’ <em>The Crystal
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Goblet, Sixteen Essays on Typography,</em> London: The Sylvan Press.</p>
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<p>Weber, M., (1905) “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of
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Capitalism”, <em>Archiv für Sozialwissenschaften</em> 20, no. 1 (1904),
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pp. 1–54; 21, no. 1 (1905), pp. 1–110.</p>
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<h4 id="colophon">Colophon</h4>
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<p>Written manically and edited in vexation in Etherpad. Composed
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excitedly using paged.js. Typeset confidently in Work Sans by Wei Huang.
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Digitally printed nervously at Willem de Kooning Academy Rotterdam on
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Schoellershammer 75gsm and Clairefontaine Maya 270gsm.</p>
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<p>Copyright held reluctantly by Stephen Kerr, 2024 under the SIXX
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Licence, a free, copyleft license for rituals, games, books and
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consolations in any medium, both software and hardware. For the purposes
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of this paper, licensing is understood as a responsibility towards an
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audience, towards each other and towards other people who might want to
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contribute to, use or amplify any work. The precise terms can be found
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at issue.xpub.nl/20/license</p>
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<p>If you like this colophon you should really read the rest of the
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thesis, its written specifically for you.</p>
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</div>
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