H\Blog
April 2007

Through the Looking Glass Date added 25.04.07 by Ruth Milne Publication Display is a form of representation as well as presentation. Meaning can be imposed on objects by classifying them; the value of an object could change according to the environment in which it is displayed and the audience it might attract. Glass as a ‘magical’ surface may be used to enhance the value attributed to an object or group of objects in the perception of the audience whether they come to admire, examine or to buy. Glass may place objects slightly out of reach thus rendering them more desirable. An implication that the objects are so delicate, rare or expensive that they are protected by glass may suggest to the viewer that they are more valuable than those within easy reach that can be touched or held in the hands. The audience is drawn into the fantasy and passes through the looking glass........

The End of Baudrillard and the End of Reality Date added 20.04.07 by David Lomax Publication In March, philosopher and cultural theorist Jean Baudrillard passed away. Much overlooked by many architects, he had a lot to say which was more directly relevant to the field than the more fashionable (inaccessible?) French school of Derrida and the deconstructivists. His line of thinking comes more from the fin de siecle observation of modernity and the phenomenology of Barthes, whose book of notes ‘Mythologies’ shares many themes with Baudrillard’s writing. Baudrillards concept of ‘hyperreality’ can hold many lessons for designers, in that it describes the way that value is ascribed to the things we produce in many other ways outside of their functional performance. His argument is that this value system might make reality redundant. Think of architects such as Rem Koolhaas or FOA, the vast majority of whose work exists only on paper. Are the spaces we create relevant in themselves in a world where most of us consume architecture through the pages of a magazine rather than in person? Baudrillard describes ‘collections’ (i.e. a magazine for example) as one way the modern world determines the value of one product against another. A shirt by Prada is worth more than one of the same performance in the Primark collection. There is a lot more to be learnt from his work. Often paraphrased by popular culture, Baudrillards writings were the foundation for sci-fi classic ‘The Matrix’, much to his chagrin. Check out his most comprehensive and accessible book, The System of Objects, as well as this obituary…. Click Here

Polish off your Brands Folks! Date added 03.04.07 by Anna Motture Publication Ever wondered why your hands really do feel as soft as your face when using a certain washing up liquid or why you always (and probably still would) want to be that Milky Bar kid when eating that selfishly thin bar of white chocolate. Do you want the Cadbury’s Easter bunny back? Would you admit to liking, as if it were a person that sporty, funny, adventurous BBC 2 that jumps across your television just before you sit down to your favourite programme? What’s in a name or rather what’s in a brand? After visiting the Brand, Packaging and Advertising museum this weekend in Notting Hill, I realised that good branding as any good design is timeless. The line up of Brasso cans beginning from the early 1900’s to present day had hardly changed at all, there familiarity was comforting, if anything later models were reverting back to the early designs. Go check it out and love up your branding……. Click Here

Great or Ghastly? Date added 03.04.07 by David Bickle Publication I'm referring to the gloriously gridded, giddily gargantuan show by the gratuitously graphic artists Gilbert and George. A colourful (language and image) blockbuster taking over one huge floor of Tate Modern 1.0. The highlight for me was the first room full of charcoal drawings on taped together paper- a pre-curser to the black grids so recognisable of arts favourite couple. The postcard collages further hinting at their obsession with their orthogonal compositional preoccupations. Not everyone's cup of tea admittedly, but can you afford to miss it? Make up your own mind and go see for yourself.