From January 28-31, Design Loves Art brought the prestigious art fair, Art Los Angeles Contemporary to the PDC. There were a number of events, screenings, tours and happenings going on and I moderated a panel discussion entitled Uncertain Objects: The Confluence of Art, Design and Architecture on Saturday, January 30 at 2:30. We discussed the hybrid activity among artists, designers and architects and joining me on the panel to discuss this confluence were artists Walead Beshty, T. Kelly Mason and architects Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee.
Uncertain Objects refers to the intrinsic difficulty that design has in affirming its autonomy in the field of action in relation to art. We don’t want to get weighed down with design’s historical foundations here but I do want to say there’s been a plethora of “great debates” and exhibitions on this subject especially since design and art practice has grown since the 1990’s. We continue to have these discussions since there still remains a lack of criticality that has left the understanding of contemporary art and design in terms of its conventional polarized position that insists on the separation of art and craft and whether an object is functional or not.
What’s troubling also, is the limitation of the term design art, coined in 2005 by critic Alex Coles, because it refers to anything arty looking from Ron Arad’s “Rover Chair” to Rachel Whiteread’s “Daybed.” It’s a handy new term that’s been left to the market for definition. Here’s one example from an art fair that calls itself “Design Art” in London:
“A good piece of design…whether a building or teapot can be a work of art that just happens to have a purpose. Design and Art can no longer be kept apart. Like a good work of art, a good work of design can surprise, shock or sicken you, make you laugh or cry, but will never leave you indifferent.”
What’s not recognized is the extent to which today’s artists are rethinking their practice and bringing art to new levels of being. Sandy Kwinter has said that design is playing an enchanted role in artistic practice and artists are changing the way people interact with objects and architecture. And a major reversal of roles is occurring: Artists are forsaking objects to create concepts for architecture, spaces, operas and hospitals leaving “object making” to designers. Piero Golia, is establishing an office for Design Loves Art at the PDC, which he calls New Atlantis Enterprises. His project is devoted to the realm of the immaterial, to the design of pragmatic interaction, experience, and relationships. Artistic practice that includes design is entering the realm of daily life more and more. Artists seek to infiltrate life, manipulate it and evoke a social critique and it’s a great time to explore all the hyper multi-disciplinary encounters.
Likewise for the architect, who is re-defined as a designer as architecture expands into “total design,” which is pushing design into the environment. Our culture is moving clearly toward design, which is applied to everything and this confluence is enjoying a spectacular boom, asserting a kind of eminence in the vast melting pot of creation. This is not new. It’s just that the field of investigation and inspiration has never been so vast and dense. We are in a moment in which we are experiencing what Fredrick Kiesler said in the 60’s: The traditional art object be it a painting, a sculpture or a piece of architecture, is no longer seen as an isolated entity but must be considered in the context of the expanding environment.
So is this convergence a genuine revolution? Or is it a meltdown? Is this transcendence of categories an irreversible movement? Or just a moment in history? You can be sure we’ll be continuing this conversation and also exploring the richness of design and art issues at Design Loves Art.
By Helen Varola
http://artforum.com/video/id=21986&mode=large&page_id=8
Pictured: Rirkrit Tiravanija, (The Future Will Be Chrome), 2008, mirror polished stainless steel
I’ve already introduced myself as the curator for a new program at the PDC called Design Loves Art. You may or may know that Charles Cohen, the owner of the PDC, is a trustee at LA MOCA and our program is intended to merge the art world and design worlds through exhibitions, special projects, hosting art fairs and talks such as this. There are about twenty invited artist projects and galleries that exhibit sculpture, ceramics, film, video, painting, fashion, performance, architecture and photography in the program.
From January 28-31, Design Loves Art brought the prestigious art fair, Art Los Angeles Contemporary to the PDC. There were a number of events, screenings, tours and happenings going on and I moderated a panel discussion entitled Uncertain Objects: The Confluence of Art, Design and Architecture on Saturday, January 30 at 2:30. We discussed the hybrid activity among artists, designers and architects and joining me on the panel to discuss this confluence were artists Walead Beshty, T. Kelly Mason and architects Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee.
Uncertain Objects refers to the intrinsic difficulty that design has in affirming its autonomy in the field of action in relation to art. We don’t want to get weighed down with design’s historical foundations here but I do want to say there’s been a plethora of “great debates” and exhibitions on this subject especially since design and art practice has grown since the 1990’s. We continue to have these discussions since there still remains a lack of criticality that has left the understanding of contemporary art and design in terms of its conventional polarized position that insists on the separation of art and craft and whether an object is functional or not.
What’s troubling also, is the limitation of the term design art, coined in 2005 by critic Alex Coles, because it refers to anything arty looking from Ron Arad’s “Rover Chair” to Rachel Whiteread’s “Daybed.” It’s a handy new term that’s been left to the market for definition. Here’s one example from an art fair that calls itself “Design Art” in London:
“A good piece of design…whether a building or teapot can be a work of art that just happens to have a purpose. Design and Art can no longer be kept apart. Like a good work of art, a good work of design can surprise, shock or sicken you, make you laugh or cry, but will never leave you indifferent.”
What’s not recognized is the extent to which today’s artists are rethinking their practice and bringing art to new levels of being. Sandy Kwinter has said that design is playing an enchanted role in artistic practice and artists are changing the way people interact with objects and architecture. And a major reversal of roles is occurring: Artists are forsaking objects to create concepts for architecture, spaces, operas and hospitals leaving “object making” to designers. Piero Golia, is establishing an office for Design Loves Art at the PDC, which he calls New Atlantis Enterprises. His project is devoted to the realm of the immaterial, to the design of pragmatic interaction, experience, and relationships. Artistic practice that includes design is entering the realm of daily life more and more. Artists seek to infiltrate life, manipulate it and evoke a social critique and it’s a great time to explore all the hyper multi-disciplinary encounters.
Likewise for the architect, who is re-defined as a designer as architecture expands into “total design,” which is pushing design into the environment. Our culture is moving clearly toward design, which is applied to everything and this confluence is enjoying a spectacular boom, asserting a kind of eminence in the vast melting pot of creation. This is not new. It’s just that the field of investigation and inspiration has never been so vast and dense. We are in a moment in which we are experiencing what Fredrick Kiesler said in the 60’s: The traditional art object be it a painting, a sculpture or a piece of architecture, is no longer seen as an isolated entity but must be considered in the context of the expanding environment.
So is this convergence a genuine revolution? Or is it a meltdown? Is this transcendence of categories an irreversible movement? Or just a moment in history? You can be sure we’ll be continuing this conversation and also exploring the richness of design and art issues at Design Loves Art.
http://artforum.com/video/id=21986&mode=large&page_id=8
Pictured: Rirkrit Tiravanija, (The Future Will Be Chrome), 2008, mirror polished stainless steel
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