New York:
Design and Society
The graphic atmosphere of New York City
Modernism’s impact on the west was great, not only as an organizational strategy for aesthetic output, but as a way of thinking, and subsequently acting. Post-modernism could be seen as a way of escaping the confines of the grid and of universal meaning to a more pluralistic manner of viewing the world.
The participants of this course will observe and translate examples of design in New York City and beyond with a focus on society and culture.
From the City Commissioners’ 1881 Grid plan for New York City streets to the modernist masterwork graphic identity for the New York City subway system to Coney Island's fantastical graphic optimism, New York is imbibed with principles from the modernist, post-modernist and beyond - from micro- to macro-scale. This course looks at the graphic artifacts left in the wake of post/modernism in New York City as an interface with it's inhabitants.
Part of understanding an idea comes from finding a personal entryway into it. The participants will utilize their own experiences and knowledge from Chinese society as a way to compare, contrast and finally act as a conduit between Chinese and American graphical customs. The exercises will employ situationist-style exercises in translating findings from the field in New York City and creating graphic reactions. We will activate the tension between expectation and reality by connecting ideas together in unexpected ways. Much in the way that the situationists used mistranslation as part of their process - navigating the London Tube with the Paris Metro map - we will peer at New York through an eastern lens - and in doing that - observe China through the prism of the west. Through these speculative graphic translations we hope to richen our mutual understanding of eastern and western visual culture.
The course will bring us into New York City for several excursions. We will document our findings using cameras and sketching techniques. The Purchase college labs will serve as our home base and workshop for discussing and creating graphic reactions to our findings from the field.
We will read excerpts from a selection of sources. An essay from Rem Koolhaas' book 'Delirious New York' will be provided in Chinese language format.
The results of the experiments will culminate in a graphic installation at SUNY Purchase, produced entirely by the group.
The graphic atmosphere of New York City
Modernism’s impact on the west was great, not only as an organizational strategy for aesthetic output, but as a way of thinking, and subsequently acting. Post-modernism could be seen as a way of escaping the confines of the grid and of universal meaning to a more pluralistic manner of viewing the world.
The participants of this course will observe and translate examples of design in New York City and beyond with a focus on society and culture.
From the City Commissioners’ 1881 Grid plan for New York City streets to the modernist masterwork graphic identity for the New York City subway system to Coney Island's fantastical graphic optimism, New York is imbibed with principles from the modernist, post-modernist and beyond - from micro- to macro-scale. This course looks at the graphic artifacts left in the wake of post/modernism in New York City as an interface with it's inhabitants.
Part of understanding an idea comes from finding a personal entryway into it. The participants will utilize their own experiences and knowledge from Chinese society as a way to compare, contrast and finally act as a conduit between Chinese and American graphical customs. The exercises will employ situationist-style exercises in translating findings from the field in New York City and creating graphic reactions. We will activate the tension between expectation and reality by connecting ideas together in unexpected ways. Much in the way that the situationists used mistranslation as part of their process - navigating the London Tube with the Paris Metro map - we will peer at New York through an eastern lens - and in doing that - observe China through the prism of the west. Through these speculative graphic translations we hope to richen our mutual understanding of eastern and western visual culture.
The course will bring us into New York City for several excursions. We will document our findings using cameras and sketching techniques. The Purchase college labs will serve as our home base and workshop for discussing and creating graphic reactions to our findings from the field.
We will read excerpts from a selection of sources. An essay from Rem Koolhaas' book 'Delirious New York' will be provided in Chinese language format.
The results of the experiments will culminate in a graphic installation at SUNY Purchase, produced entirely by the group.