Total design of participation: Ideas of collective creativity by Tim Brown, László Moholy-Nagy and Walter Gropius

Total design of participation: Ideas of collective creativity by Tim Brown, László Moholy-Nagy and Walter Gropius

MUNCH, Anders V

Article:

The idea of design as an art made not only for the people, but also by the people is an old dream going back at least to William Morris. It is, however, reappearing vigorously in many kinds of design activism and grows out of the visions of a Total Design of society. The ideas of participation by Tim Brown can be compared to considerations by László Moholy-Nagy and Walter Gropuis on the training and education of active and capable citizens. This opens, though, some dilemmas to discuss: To what extend is the capability of creativity then a (pre)condition to be a citizen of the society wished for? To which degree should everyone be educated in ’design literacy’ to participate? Total design of participation is an artistic interven-tion in society and must be discussed in this utopian tradition.

The idea of design as an art made not only for the people, but also by the people is an old dream going back at least to William Morris. It is, however, reappearing vigorously in many kinds of design activism and grows out of the visions of a Total Design of society. The ideas of participation by Tim Brown can be compared to considerations by László Moholy-Nagy and Walter Gropuis on the training and education of active and capable citizens. This opens, though, some dilemmas to discuss: To what extend is the capability of creativity then a (pre)condition to be a citizen of the society wished for? To which degree should everyone be educated in ’design literacy’ to participate? Total design of participation is an artistic interven-tion in society and must be discussed in this utopian tradition.

Palavras-chave:

DOI: 10.5151/despro-icdhs2016-04_001

Referências bibliográficas

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• [11] Munch, A.V. (2012a) Fra Bayreuth til Bauhaus, Aarhus: University of Aarhus Press; summary: http://en.unipress.dk/media/3102680/summary.pdf.
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• [14] Wigley, M. (1998) ‘Whatever Happened to Total Design?’, Harvard Design Magazine, 1998/5; http://www.harvarddesignmagazine.org/issues/5/whatever-happened-to-total-design

Como citar:

Anders V. Munch; "Total design of participation: Ideas of collective creativity by Tim Brown, László Moholy-Nagy and Walter Gropius", p-308-312. In: Wong, Wendy Siuyi; Kikuchi, Yuko & Lin, Tingyi (Eds.). <strong>Making Trans/National Contemporary Design History [=ICDHS 2016 – 10th Conference of the International Committee for Design History & Design Studies]</strong>. São Paulo: Blucher, 2016.
ISSN 23186968, DOI 10.5151/despro-icdhs2016-04_001