Research File

This is a research file of sorts, related to this blog. As the blog is to be handed in electronically, I have just typed up the links etc that I have been using while creating this blog, and some of the quotes that I found interesting, and saved it as a PDF, which you can hopefully see below.
Laura Stokes Contextualising Design Blog - Research File

Manufactured Landscapes - Lecture 15 - 8-12-11

So, for this lecture, we started to watch the documentary film, 'Manufactured Landscapes'. 

'Manufactured Landscapes' is a documentary film based on the work of photographer Edward Burtynsky. Edward Burtynsky is a Canadian photographer who is well-known for his large scale photographs of industrial landscapes.

In 'Manufactured Landscapes', the director, Jennifer Baichwal, follows Burtynsky around places like China and Bangladesh, visiting areas that have been transformed due to human activity; places like slums, e-waste dumps and huge industrial factories. Burtynsky concentrated a lot on the extraction industry in his work, and because of this, he brought the seriousness/conditions of this industry to our consciousness/attention.

When working in China, Burtynsky looked at where all the products of manufacturing come together, i.e. the factories. One of the factories that Burtynsky and the film focused on was Sentai Electrical. They explain what they do on their website: "We are one leading manufacturer and exporter of low voltage electrical products and materials in China."

Burtynsky explained his 1997 work on oil as an "oil-phipany", and went on to explain what this was; he was driving along and thought how oil affects his life, for example, the steering wheel he was holding, the car he was driving etc. This is how he went on to complete a volume of work on oil works etc.

Burtynsky even asks that because China entered the market of extracting oil later than others, and will they be able to sustain?

I must admit, I am struggling to see how this relates to my work, but I do appreciate Burtynsky's work. I admire how he uses just a boring industry landscape, but then through his camera lens, he turns it into something relatable and fascinating. I would never think of taking something so mundane as a factory, or an mine, or a recycling yard, and making a volume of work on this, and eventually making a whole career on it. This could be something that I think about in my future work; to look at everything, and not dismiss it because it looks 'too boring'.

Postmodernism - Lecture 14 - 6-12-11

Postmodernism is often considered as the beginning of where we are today in the design world. Postmodernism believes that apparent realities are only social constructs and are therefore subject to change. It also underlines the role of language, power relations and motivations. The challenges Postmodernism faced were severe categorising, such as male v. female, straight v. gay and white v. black.


There are distinctive visual characteristics in Post-Modern style that blends history, new technology and decoration together. Postmodernists went on to question Modernism's purity and pristine demands, starting with throwing out the notion that form depends on function. A good example of this is a Duck building vs. a Decorated Shed. A Duck building, is a building formed in to portray what the activity held within the building. It is named after the "The Big Duck," in Long Island, New York, which originally sold ducks and duck eggs. Whereas a Decorated Shed is a very simple shed-like building (i.e. a basic rectangle building), which have large-scale text and symbols added to it, to inform the quickly moving passer-by what is in these buildings.

Above: The Big Duck, Flanders, Long Island, New York

Left: Duck v. Decorated Shed

Some good examples of Postmodernist artists, are: Tadanori Yokoo, Ettore Sottsass, Wolfgang Weingart, April Greiman, Ed Fella and Katherine McCoy.

Above: (Left) Tadanori Yokoo (Right) Ettore Sottsass

 Above: Ed Fella

Overall, I do believe that Postmodernism is the beginning of where we are today, design-wise. I believe that Postmodernism is also a major part of how we have gotten to be where we are today, and without it, I don't think that design would so significant in our society and wouldn't play such a huge role in our day-to-day lives. Like with every movement in the art and design world, there are some artists/designers in the Postmodernist movement that I really don't like, but there are some that that I do really like, particularly Ed Fella, and his hand-drawn type. I particularly like the quote in the above picture, because I feel that at the moment, I do concentrate a lot on what I think people want, and not what I want, so this is hopefully something that I take into future work; that being, you don't always have to follow the 'rules' so tightly, you can break some, but only if it works.

Quote 11 - Tim Brown

"There are useful starting points and landmarks, but the road to innovation consists of overlapping spaces or paths, rather than a sequence of steps in one direction." Tim Brown

Tim Brown is the CEO of the innovation and design firm, IDEO

Again, this quote took some digesting, but I completely agree with this quote. People tend to think (well, people I've spoken to) that designing something is quite a straight forward process, but this not the reality at all. I had this trouble with our last brief for the module ARD 502 The Message; thinking that it would be quite a straightforward process, and then underestimating it, and having to back track on the process, to get the final piece stage. I believe that this quote is one of the most important quotes out of the selection that was given to us, and I will keep this in mind for all my future projects.


(P.S. This is the last of the quotes, so back to normal lecture notes/thoughts from now on)

Quote 10 - Maurice Merleau-Ponty

"The body is much more than a tool or a means...it is our expression in the world." Maurice Merleau-Ponty

Maurice Merleau-Ponty was a phenomenological philosopher.

When I first read this quote, I thought that this was more relevant to Fine Art students. I still believe this, but I can understand it's relevance to anyone in the art and design world. I'm not entirely sure if I agree or disagree with this quote. I believe that, in the art world, the body is more than a tool or a means, you can express various emotions/expressions through the body, and you can instantly tell the way someone feels through their body language. You can also tell a lot about a person by the way they hold themselves. However, the body is an extremely important tool, and as a way of achieving certain means.

Quote 9 - Christopher Grunenberg

"The return by many contemporary artists to the use of clay signals not only a rejection of those values associated with Modernism, but also a visceral concern for the materiality of experience at a time when many cultural commentators are talking about the death of the concrete object in favour of the new virtual world of the information era." Christopher Grunenberg

When I first read this quote, I was quite confused by it, and didn't really get the meaning of it, and what the relation was between the quote and myself. To be honest, even after a second and third read through, I still thought this. Now, however, I can see a relationship between the quote and myself, and the meaning behind it.

I do, to some extent, agree with this quote, that the use of materials such as clay, does signal a rise in the appreciation and use of "concrete objects" instead of the ever-changing, ever-improving world of information technology. I think that this is inevitable, though, because, like with everything, the digital v. traditional side has a cycle, and they take it in turns to come back into 'fashion' and go out of 'fashion'. I don't agree with the first part of the quote, where it says "...the use of clay signals...a rejection of those values associated with Modernism...". I don't believe that it is rejecting the values of Modernism, but that it is a adding a new 'branch' to the Modernist 'tree.'

Quote 8 - Darrell Bishop

"I think skills are currently really underappreciated in design. Skills are too often thought of as a way of implementing design, whereas I have found the learning of skills to be one of the most important ways of actually changing my way of thinking about things." Darrell Bishop

I agree with part of this quote. I don't necessarily think that skills are underappreciated in design, as we, at university, are being taught to learn as many skills as we can at the moment, and that way, we have them for future work, and can say that we have tried something, and say if we don't like using something. I agree with the second part of the quote, because the more skills you learn, the more you know, and so you can ask yourself more questions, which will change the way you think about things. Personally, I have learnt only a few skills, compared to what I will someday, at uni, and already I am starting to change the way I think about things when given a new brief etc.