Thus far, our class has been focused on understanding processes where technology and power systems interact to produce particular concepts like identities, knowledge, and truth. As we’ve seen, narratives are the glue that holds these processes together. And we have established that narratives are usually constructed, mediated, or transmitted by visual forms. Graphic design may be behind the narrative’s container (like a newspaper or a book); or its a method of exchange (like Facebook or WhatsApp); or its aesthetic translation (like its advertisement, product design, or branding).
Our work thus far has mostly been research and analysis. But as visual practitioners, we should also be able to interact with these processes. Artists and designers can stage interventions with these narratives, thereby altering the effects on identity, knowledge and truth. For our purposes, we can call these interventions “counter-narratives.”
In this next unit, we will learn ways that art & graphic design have taken action to stage interventions and build counter-narratives. We will look at different methodologies, each of which constitutes a “mode of criticism.” Each week will look at a particular mode, review some examples, and through discussion try to determine how it works. We will develop questions that are particular to that mode. Although we will treat these modes as different from one another, each with their own logic, it’s important to note that many real world projects straddle more than one mode.
In this unit, students will make 4 one-week projects, one for each mode of criticism:
Links to more information per mode: