Statement
In our project, we are questioning the connection between design, human and public society by exploring the different positions of objects. Initially, we were interested in the mode of the display by the curators. The juxtaposition of the tactile tiles and spiked studs prompted us to think about the content behind them – the blind bricks are aimed at providing access for the disabled. In contrast, the spikes are intended to repel the homeless. There are completely opposite positions.
We started by investigating the context of this set of objects, exploring their forms and materials, examining the news to see if there were certain hidden issues, and trying to create new versions of ordinary objects to convey their different perceptions of tactile and psychological aspects. Further, we narrowed the scope and decided to take an implicit approach – overlapping the ‘catalogue of products’ with the ‘Braille system’ – to create a space for reflecting on public social issues. At the same time, this relates to the curatorial approach to display and the way spiked studs actually work. We make connections between seemingly contradictory objects so that when they are placed together, different meanings are established.
//2 TEXTS FROM THE READING LIST//
Francisco Laranjo, Critical Graphic Design: Critical of What?, 2014
In Critical Graphic Design: Critical of What? (2014), Francisco Laranjo refers to the design researcher Ramia Mazé’s three forms of criticality (The Reader, 2009). Mazé emphasizes that designers must not only reflect and criticize themselves internally but also question and critique their discipline and society externally.
In our work, we are trying to use the spiked studs to question and challenge the social aspects of the continued use of hostile design in public space. The framework of the publication is purposeful – an implicit means of exploring public social topics, of critiquing the relationship between design and human beings.
How do we get audiences to think about the design of the imperceptible harm in the society we live in? And how to tell more about the context, about those marginalized groups affected by it?
Carl DiSalvo, Adversarial Design , 2012
In Adversarial Design (2012), Carl DiSalvo has delved into the role of design in public political conditions. The term ‘adversarial design’ is used by him as a way to challenge controversial issues. Similarly, the V&A museum curators’ choice of all the collections tells a story about design and public society, creating a space for reflection on social events. Although the blind blocks and spiked studs are arranged in juxtaposition, the confrontational relationship between them prompts me to consider whether they have other meanings on the social level.
How should we treat the homeless? An organization has put up a poster in a public space with the text ‘No kid should ever have to sleep on the streets’, however, the humane slogan is posted on the back of a bench with armrests in a very ironic way. So in such a public context, how can design help to promote public discourse or civic life? Disalvo emphasizes that“In this process, the tactics of adversarial design-revealing hegemony, reconfiguring the remainder, and articulating agonistic collectives-become places along a continuum of a practice.” In our project, we are exploring how to provide the means to help define and better understand the social reality and the meaning behind objects.
2 TEXTS OUTSIDE THE READING LIST
Lupton and Phillips, Graphic Design the New Basics, 2008
In Graphic Design the New Basics (2008), Lupton and Phillips suggest that “frames are everywhere” (2008, p.101). Taken as a whole, the V&A Rapid Response Collection is a framing that brings together objects from our contemporary history that are significant for the economic, political, industrial or social context, providing them with a dedicated stage in order to make them more visible. Returning to the objects we have chosen, the curator extracts the street furniture from its environment and draws attention back to the object. For me, I hadn’t seen such spiked studs before visiting the V&A museum, so reading the museum labels was the only way I could get a quick overview of the objects. As stated in the article,“The caption of a picture is a frame that guides its interpretation.”In Rapid Response Collection, the accompanying texts are subservient to the content it surrounds, providing context for the viewer but not making judgements. The frame disappears when the viewer focuses on the object, yet the frame shapes the viewer’s understanding of that object. (2008, p101) As Gardner says, “For me the design — and the question that design is asking — rests within the object.”
Tomás Maldonado, Design, Nature, and Revolution: Toward a Critical Ecology, 2019
Relevant to our enquiry is the design in the human environment. In this book, Maldonado examines the role that design plays in the environmental crisis. “If there be a consciousness that is disjointed, enfeebled, and even humiliated by alienation, there will always be a corresponding environmental reality that is decipherable only in terms of alienation.”(Maldonado, p.3, 2019) If a certain type of group is marginalised, then a corresponding thing or environment will be created to connect with the human consciousness. Using this phrase as a lens to view the object we have chosen, it would be difficult to match anti-homeless with just its appearance, and the implicit intention here prompts us to think about the way we communicate between design and the public environment in our work.
2 DESIGN PROJECTS
Igor Grubić, East Side Story, 2013
Igor Grubic’s East Side Story (2013) is a film about violence against gay marchers being committed by extreme nationalism. The work is divided into two sections, one for the documentary that chronicles the violence against the gay participants, and the other for the dance medium that reconstructs the event.
In the structure of the work, Grubic juxtaposes the two videos in a single frame, which creates a contradictory and conflicting atmosphere between the aggressive real-life scenes and the dancers imitating specific movements in a calm neighborhood.
Related to this, the mode of display of the tactile tiles and spiked studs in the V&A museum were intentionally arranged by the curators – the two objects belong to the theme of Crisis and Conflict, they have completely opposite functions but are placed side by side. The tactile tiles are designed to be humane in order to make life easier for the disabled. In contrast, the spikes are designed to repel a certain type of person. So this subtle irony points us in the direction of our further processes.
Raphaël Dallaporta, Antipersonnel, 2014
In Raphaël Dallaporta’s Antipersonnel project, Raphaël explored landmines in detail, identifying and archiving hundreds of them. He has glorified these objects through photographic techniques, giving them the appearance of a beautiful collection of product photography, yet the detailed interpretation of each object makes this beauty exist in a disgusting atmosphere.
Back to our objects, I’ve never seen spiked studs in my country and for those who don’t know about them, they seem like decorative objects with a smooth metallic appearance. When I learned what they are used for, it seemed to me that these “decorations” were labeled as “heartless”. In our position, we use a very implicit way to let people conceive of the cause and effect of the use of spikes in our world. Instead of showing any real journalism about the damage that defensive architecture does to the homeless, we show the catalogue of elaborate spikes, but the addition of Braille illustrates the impact of spikes on humans and society at its hidden level.
Bibliography
Dellaporta, R. (2005) Antipersonnel. Rome: Punctum Press.
DiSalvo, C. (2012) Adversarial Design. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Grubić, I. (2013). East Side Stories [Video installation]. Tate Modern, London.
Laranjo, F. (2014) Critical Graphic Design: Critical of What? [online] modesofcriticism.org. Available at: https://modesofcriticism.org/critical-graphic-design/ [Accessed: 23 February 2022]
Lupton, E. and Phillips, J. (2008) Graphic Design the New Basics. New York: Princeton Architectural Press.
Maldonado, T. (2019) Design, Nature, and Revolution: Toward a Critical Ecology. University of Minnesota Press: Minneapolis.