6

Boundaries“I

hat

e sl

ick

and

pre

tty

thin

gs. I

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mis

take

s an

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. Wh

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hat

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, it

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ful.”

- D

avid

Lyn

ch

7

Reminders

&

In the last two years I have been heavily referencing

online graphic design, a lot of which I believe to be

largely ironic and sarcastic. I only really became

aware of this fashion around the end of my first year,

but I would say I didn’t really understand it until later

on in my design education.

When I first came across this sort of humorous

attitude to design I was drawn to it, maybe because

it seemed so familiar and playful to me. I remember

when I was younger trawling through lists of

typefaces trying to find the one that stands out the

most, meticulously drawing and re-drawing lines

and shapes with the brush tool on Microsoft Paint,

stretching photos and titles to fill the whole page. To

me there now seems to be a wave of design covering

the Internet that is drawing on these nostalgic values

and exploiting them.

I see myself as an interdisciplinary designer who

allows the content to often dictate the direction and

format of the work. I keep and upload all my work onto

a Tumblr blog, ‘a feature rich and free blog hosting

platform…’, this is also an environment where I see

the majority of my design inspiration. Tumblr allows

you to ‘Follow’ blogs, thus constructing an infinite,

tailored Dashboard of design work. It also allows

users to ‘Reblog’ images, copying them onto their

own blog; this is how trends can spread so quickly

and effectively.

Ultimately I am writing this to help me establish my

own way of working, a sort of loose manifesto that

will help me develop my practice. Understanding

and researching this current design fashion I am

surrounded by will help me create an ethos of my

own to follow, a mindset that encourages a more

positive and productive method of creation.

This is a collection of things that I feel are relevant

to what I want to do. This is a set of boundaries and

reminders that encourage me to produce and think

about work in a constructive way. This is not a book

stating what I think is wrong or right, or what I think

is good or bad design, but purely a revealed plan

about how I wish to produce.

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Boundaries

Last year I worked mainly on one project and a

few smaller ones within that one idea; this year I

want to change that. I wanted to create a lot more

physical outcomes, have projects running along

side each other and crossing over. I believe working

on multiple projects and concepts at the same

time creates a perpetuation of further ideas, it also

provides me with breaks to avoid saturating one

individual project and getting too close to my work,

something I believe I was guilty of doing last year.

As previously mentioned my main aim this year is

to develop my ethos about how I want to continue

thinking and working, I feel it is a very confusing time

to be a designer and this is why I am undertaking this

written project. This project is a collection of things

to help me understand where it is I sit within design,

and although this is in itself an individual project, I

plan for it to influence and help construct my other

on going projects.

Other than attempting to define an ethos, I am

working on various other projects, many of which

are collaborations. One project with Ed Chambers,

involves projectors and the juxtaposition of imagery,

Ed works predominantly with collage and we wanted

to see if we could exploit this. We considered artists

like Sanja Ivekovic, Patrick Kieller, Michael Snow and

Hollis Frampton and had ideas we wanted to work

towards but no real subject matter or justification

of why we wanted to do it. After a few meetings

we decided to work with the idea of ‘live collage’,

eliminating the personal and meticulous aspects of

the process.

Two identical batches of archive imagery whir

simultaneously on two individual laptops, changing

every 0.1 of a second as part of a Microsoft

PowerPoint slideshow. The rapid slideshows are

each paused spontaneously to construct a collage,

the juxtaposition is captured and the system repeats.

Initially we were going to set this system up and create

the collages ourselves but we felt we could remove

ourselves further from this, getting others to generate

the artwork, and ultimately the entire content for the

publication we want to produce. The project takes

the form of an interactive installation but we will

also document it as part of a publication and also a

short film. I am interested in the re-appropriation of

PowerPoint, using it for it’s mechanical uses rather

than its presentation properties.

9

Reminders

&

When someone discovers I am in a band they often ask ‘what do

you sound like?’, ‘who do you sound like?’, ‘what type of music do

you play?’, and although I should now be full of good comparisons

and made up music genres I still struggle to avoid the pretentious

‘we don’t really sound like anyone else’. I have always found it

difficult to place a name to the sound we create, but I wouldn’t say

it has been something we have purposefully avoided.

Perhaps it is because we see Abe as more of a ‘thing we do as three

individuals together’? Maybe Abe is the people we are collectively?

Abe has taken the form of audio and music, and this I believe will

always be its rawest form, however I am interested in how Abe

might exist in other forms aesthetically.

I see Abe as a shared pool filled with our thoughts, inspirations,

ambitions, ideas, emotions etc. From this pool I want to channel

and guide Abe into new formats and concepts aside from music,

this new media will not be inspired by our already existing songs

as such, but more the same substance that created ‘our sound’ in

the first place.

We plan to explore Abe in new ways to show aesthetically what it

is we are. We don’t know exactly what we will produce physically,

but we know we are not on about CD covers, music videos or flyers.

Abe is a filtered feeling between three individuals and we want to

explain it.

I am also working with two band mates as part of

an Abe (the band) Aesthetic project. Although this

is a joint project three of us are satisfying, we are all

working individually. This project gives us free reign

to work in whatever ways we want to attempt to

visualise the Abe aesthetic. The brief:

10

Boundaries

HyperTourism Postcard

HyperTourism Travel Agents

11

Reminders

&

In between projects I am working on a few concepts

that are helping me realise and clarify my ethos.

These are sometimes stand-alone pieces or just very

early stages of my other projects but I think they are

valuable and really help justify what it is I am trying

to say, some of my older work is also relevant to this

catalogue, along with work from other artists, old

and new.

This postcard was one of three I produced in my

second year for my HyperTourism project; a hyper

real holiday concept based inside a small, lo-fi, self-

constructed travel agents. The original postcard was

from Mallorca but I scanned it in and roughly ‘edited

out’ the text and crowds of people, exposing the

blank checkerboard Photoshop background.

It is interesting reflecting back on this piece a year

or so after. At the time I was very interested in these

current online trends and part of me wanted to join

in with them and work ironically, however the other

half always quite liked the aesthetic of the things I

was doing e.g. the wavy brush strokes. I was in an

in-between transformation. Some of my work used

techniques genuinely and some were used for a

more humorous effect, emulating what I was seeing

online.

12

Boundaries

Over my time at University I am aware that I have

worked in a rather personal, self-indulgent way,

coming up with projects and ideas that I wanted to

explore, concepts with no commercial constraints or

boundaries. I was working as freely and as creatively

as I wanted, thus removing me further from the

reality of client briefs and industry practice.

However in August 2012 I undertook a work

placement at Field Design in Sheffield. Field is a

small independent design agency consisting of four

members that specialises in print, web and brand

identity. It was here I started applying my conceptual

ideas to real briefs. One project in particular really

got me thinking about what values I can inject into a

piece of graphic design.

I was asked to design a poster for a Rocky Horror

Cabaret show. Straight away in my head I was

picturing blood-dripping titles, squished text and

over crowded flyers, but rather than discarding these

traditional elements that so often feature in these

scenarios I wanted to encompass them. I believe the

initial thought process to be extremely valuable; I

want to embody these connotations, consider them

and display them rather than remove them totally

and start afresh.

Naturally there were a lot of elements that the flyer

had to include, this helped maintain the spirit of a

‘typical’ Rocky Horror poster; red text and the use

of Wide Latin also embrace a feel of sleaziness. I

am aware of how certain typefaces, layouts etc.

that I have used could be perceived within a design

critique context; some designers might argue that

certain aspects are ‘bad’ or ‘incorrect’ but this is me

trying to explore these taboo aspects in a positive

way, using them genuinely and productively

13

Reminders

&

The Rocky Horror Cabaret Show Posters

14

Boundaries

Back 2 Back PostersProduced during Field placement

15

Reminders

&

16

Boundaries

When we last spoke I briefly asked you about your

thoughts on ‘post-internet design’ and categorisation.

Would you say there are any strong themes emerging

in design fashion at the moment?

Using satire branding, designing a kind of novelty

brand, referencing logos etc. (I’m guilty of this one! –

my catering company *Infinity Hospitality, and I also

design a series of business cards)

You also briefly touched on how your work relates

to the current trends. A few months on has anything

changed?

It’s still dominated by this web art thing, with visuals

of early web amateur graphic design, nostalgic

threads. But I mean I don’t always trust how sincere

it is. And like always, some people are doing this

really well, really meaningfully, and others are just

pursuing the aesthetic train of this stuff.

To me there is also deeper awareness/paranoia

generally about this, and a lot of people are self

consciously graphically spelling out meanings of

things, so there is a move away from pure buoyant

abstraction (which I’m really partial to). I think there

Much like I tried to achieve with my time at Field, Samara Scott is an artist that

manages to maintain the creativity and styles developed from her personal

projects and apply it successfully to her commercial work. I first came across

Samara Scott’s work in second year when a peer suggested I look at her work, Café

Chateau, as inspiration for the warped, lo-fi travel agents I was building. I then got

in contact with her through email just to ask her about her practice and find out

more about her and her way of working. Samara is a Royal college of Art Masters

graduate who makes ‘high impact elaborate and seductive scenery’. I decided to

get back in contact with her and discuss her recent work as well as asking some

more questions regarding the issues of current trends and intentions.

is a particular distaste forming for things that are

too pretty, it’s starting to scare people, so efforts are

being made to purposefully make things ‘uglier’ i.e.

– one example of many - I’ve started to see fonts like

comic sans being used etc. – this deliberate grasp for

the most ‘uncool’ thing. But then its always like this,

things are used because they are not tropes yet, and

they aren’t rapidly placeable, they can still float, but

people catch up, and sooner or later comic sans will

be perceived to have its own sort of language and

association of beauty.

To me your work is very tactile and uses a lot of

nostalgic materials, would you say there is a purity

and intended naivety to your practice?

For me these things are not separate, the purity and

naivety I’m discussing is really connected to and

all reels back to self expression, in this way its not

theoretical, or specifically research led but rather is

an expression of personal experience. I kind of find

talking about this a little dated and embarrassing!

It used to be something I shuddered to think about

talking about, but my work in its simplest form is

filtered observations – but that’s pretty blunt.

17

Reminders

&

It’s feelings I’m talking about! And to express this is

naturally tactile, nostalgic. It’s that which connects

the themes you mention in the question anyway.

I feel that making work in this open way – so the logic

can remain patchy, and its not instructive in any

way, it doesn’t direct you on a clear route (i.e. – this

is about Serbian politics, read here and you’ll get

your closure) – rather it over performs itself, pollutes

itself, opposes itself, and manages to hold a kind of

meaning open like dislocated footnotes. So by this

unspecificity it could open up a million things, it’s

unresolved, it’s not about answers.

In the heavily loaded tactility, the translations between

these things – the conscious and unconscious signs.

Everything contradicting, and also complimenting

simultaneously, in between this proposed spirituality

are signs of total superficiality… hopefully the impact

can remain more sensuous in those juxtapositions of

pearly/pebbled/brittle textures.

I guess what I’m saying is I’m playing with a

sculptural format which defies theorising because

of its personal intimacy – I don’t know if that’s good

or bad.

I think if you use something like a Davidoff perfume

advert as imagery in your work, people immediately

grab this as a stark opportunity for something

theoretical, to name something, to simmer the work

out in. But what’s interesting for me in motifs like

this is that it’s simultaneously poignant and generic.

What I’m prodding at with this is as a kind of portal

into feelings, for me this kind of imagery is ripe with

abstraction if you let it be.

There are powerful collective sensory experiences

in these sorts of cultural products of an era, and

I’m amazed at how personal and intimate and

resonating generic images can be.

Helen Marten puts it well, “import the idea of

something, exploit the emotional and social strains

embedded, and reassemble a look that is slightly off-

kilter but somehow foggily recognisable.”

I recently put it like this:

In this heavily loaded erratic tactility I want the

meaning to work like anecdotal footnotes, like fiddly

meandering translations. There isn’t an instructional

route through the work rather I’m more concerned

in devising a prodding, latent, unstable meaning.

Pollution! I want the associations to reel and swivel.

In that use of proverbial household materials you

can thieve out some universal emotional and social

attachments – and you can make people stay and in

that attention warnings and whispers slink through.

Would you say there is any level of irony or sarcasm

in your work?

No, and it makes me angry when people want to

see it like that. I mean humour, yes, obviously, but

when it’s this I’m laughing at myself too. Slight satire

perhaps, but I associate irony and sarcasm with an

exclusiveness or snobbishness, it’s bullying.

There are no instructions to the work I make, there

are no conclusions. I’m testing out my questions

at the same time. And yeah humans are pretty

weird, and gosh it’s so cheesy but it’s the only way

to explain it: I’m just really interested in looking and

expereincing, and noticing and playing out these

things into material spellings and mood boards.

I’m not claiming I know better. I don’t claim master

perspective.

It’s not exclusive to make stuff out of crap from under

the bed, or sandwich crumbs! It comes from a puddle

of nostalgia, a glued together collective disjunctive

lump of memory.

For example in that Davidoff flyer I wanted to rustle

out all that teenage desire, in the blurred muscles

and that chlorinated faux salty sparkling splash, the

foam. I mean its ridiculous – but I really did believe

in that; I use this stuff because it makes me feel

something strong. I’m not being ironic or satirical –

I’m still absolutely marvelled by how powerful that

image could be, and still is – and marking that change,

that instability in these iconic things and how the

reuse of stuff can resonate… their slippyness.

18

Boundaries

Recently you have worked with Lucky PDF, what was

that like?

I mean lucky pdf boys are my friends, and they went

to some of the same collages as me, and live in the

same area, so I know them socially. And I respect

what they do in a lot of ways. I mean for me, they

offered me a platform (with a space and budget) to

make something really quite ambitious. In some

ways I had to give over a lot of control in this, and

there is this strange blurry lines between your work

and theirs which sometimes is difficult.

But I admire them so much, their practice is

incredibly strategic, which totally relates to their

conceptual stance. And my work with them ended

up leading onto being invited to do some of my most

exciting projects so far like the solo show in march

at arts&jobs.

Lastly, what are you currently working on? Any plans

for the future?

Ahh I’m in Istanbul, doing a show here in about a

month, relaxing a bit, soaking things in for a bit, I

have projects coming up online with legion tv and a

solo show at Sunday painter next year. I’m planning

to go back to moving image for a bit.

*Infinity Hospitality is a catering company set up in

collaboration with chef Olga Winterbottom. We have been

invited to serve kinds of food at various social events. We

recently installed and catered a ‘breakfast’ for the opening of

Sunday Art Fair 2012 where we displayed marbled crackers

(streaky handmade incredibly coloured swirly biscuits which

are almost like landscapes and all sorts of coloured dips -

lemon curd, orange blossom mascarpone, beetroot yogurt

etc.) arranged in ornate glass vases customised with white

industrial sauce pumps.

This is our blub:

Infinity Hospitality caters for events in a spirit like fashion

designers or interior decorators, trading on what’s visually

flirtatious in basically functional materials; enjoying the

flippant status of our product as an accessory. And our

materials are incredible. Food is dense with sensory appeal,

and heavy with cultural connotations. Take some examples

of it’s texture. Think about the synthetic foods that ornament

Charlie Sheen’s penthouse apartment in ‘Wall Street’, his

trophies of sophistication. Think of the false but suggestive

glitter of the Ferrero Rocher. What Infinity Hospitality

produce out of this pool of motivations is something highly

decorative, and elaborately presented; treading the line

between a naive pleasure in our vibrant palette, and the

humorous treatment that sharpens this.

Although our food is visually challenging, and mimics

aesthetics and patterns where food is conceived as a sculptural

material – and has a relationship with painting and sculpture

– we are also interested in it being a real thing – that doesn’t

enter too much into performative or interactive concepts

– but food delivered with an atmosphere, responding to its

19

Reminders

&

context We also put on our own events (Night at the Embassy,

West World, and Café Fashion – where we serve toasty’s and

cocktails named after, and emblazoned with Italian brands)

Business cards

This is a series of editioned works that I have made – often

relating to a particular show or event. These include

personalised chocolates, mood rings (changes colour to

forecast your feelings) engraved with my mobile number,

and a silicon swimming hat emblazoned with my phone

number in the London Olympics 2012 font – launched to

coincide with the games. These are objects that work on this

border between corporate language and real intimacy. I like

the double casual ness of the objects and the utility of them

– the repeating of my mobile number starting to work like a

purist slogan and logo.

Infinity HospitalitySamara Scott and Olga Winterbottom

Lucky PDF SetSamara Scott

20

Boundaries

Infinity HospitalitySamara Scott and Olga Winterbottom

21

Reminders

&

I generally agree with most of the points Scott has

made throughout the interview. She seems to be

very aware of how and where her own work sits

within design, and also how she wants her work to be

perceived by others. It is comforting to see that Scott

bares similar worries to myself about the use of early

web amateur graphic design and nostalgic trends,

“But I mean I don’t always trust how sincere it is. And

like always, some people are doing this really well,

really meaningfully, and others are just pursuing the

aesthetic train of this stuff.”

This is what I am very interested in, the fine line

between the genuine and the purely fashionable.

Scott talks about self-expression and feelings being

the basis of her practice, she works honestly and

personally to create work she is interested in without

looking for answers, the work remains unresolved,

“…I’m playing with a sculptural format which defies

theorising because of its personal intimacy – I don’t

know if that’s good or bad.”

Scott is not concerned with whether or not her work

fits trends or works against them, and although she

is working personally, she is not unaware of what

is going on around her. I too strive to produce in a

similar manner, considering trends and fashions,

not just replicating and copying the already existing.

When Scott quotes British artist Helen Martens

talking about “a look that is slightly off-kilter but

somehow foggily recognisable”, I can’t help but think

about the Rocky Horror Show poster I designed

during my time at Field Design, I believe it is

important to maintain those traditional elements,

and still exhibit them in a fresh but familiar way.

Samara Scott

22

Boundaries

30-LoveAlyar Aynetchi

23

Reminders

&

Alyar Aynetchi is a graphic artist who studied at The Royal Academy of

Arts in the Netherlands. He is an artist whose work sits within the trends

I am looking into. His piece entitled 30-Love is a colourful composition

that exists under ‘Visual Experiments’ on his Cargo website. We see two

basic tennis rackets glossy with artificial shading amongst a few tennis

balls with drop shadows. One of the tennis balls is dramatically warped,

replicating a motion you might achieve with a ‘wave’ effect or ‘smudge’

tool on Adobe Photoshop.

Personally I am still yet to come across a situation where I feel it is best

to use the Photoshop effects and filters, maybe I have not experimented

enough in this department, but it seems that these processes are now

receiving the most use, whether ironic or genuine. There seems to be a

limit of sophistication to some of the design enhancers we can produce

with, and these exist within design’s most popular and highly regarded

software. Is it then no surprise when visual artists and graphic designers

exploit such factors? After all these Adobe rebels are using the tools most

available to them, it almost becomes Bricolage (the construction of work

from materials that happen to be available) in that the artists are using

what is at their disposal, what comes to hand and these could be Adobe

software, effects and filters.

The type looks as if it had come straight from the settings of the default

WordArt, with no apparent consideration for kerning as the thin, pink

outlines of the V and E harshly collide. The piece is finished off with an

artificial paintbrush mark that almost resembles an artist signature, the

stroke runs from green to blue in colour, something that would be extremely

difficult to achieve in reality, much like the shine and shadow. This faux three

dimensionality conjures up connotations of Walt Disney’s 1982 sci-fi Tron,

also the fluorescent colours and gradients remind me of Peter Saville’s work

for New Order in the 80s and 90s, I find it strange how such an image can bare

such visual similarities to the work of some of the most successful creatives.

24

Boundaries

Take Me to Your DealerNic Wilson

25

Reminders

&

I Got a Natural ShineOleg Dubrovsky

26

Boundaries

HyperTourism Wallpaper

27

Reminders

&

Last year I began experimenting with the idea of

displaying a process, showcasing the way something

is produced as part of it’s aesthetic. This wallpaper

was initially a screen printed poster based around

the idea of Tropicália, a Brazilian artistic movement

from the late 1960’s, the project then started to go

in a new direction and this poster was resampled

to create the wallpaper for the HyperTourism travel

agents I created.

I scanned in the original poster and then used the

‘clone’ tool in Photoshop to create a stuttering,

abstract pattern. Normally the clone tool is used in

a subtle way to correct blemishes or make things

seems smoother or clearer, normally the process

is invisible, the corrections are never seen. I was

interested in the idea of using something that is

normally so discrete in an obvious way and almost

celebrating the changes it has made, making it clear

how the artwork has been created, displaying a

process for its aesthetics.

I have recently related this concept in my mind

to the Pompidou Centre in Paris. Completed in

1977, Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, much

known for their Structural Expressionism or Late-

Modernism style, and ultimately bridging the gap

between modernism and post-modernism, were the

architects responsible for the exposed skeleton the

Centre displays. The revealed plumbing, wires and

staircase boast honesty, wearing itself on its sleeve;

you can’t help but question the structural aesthetics

of the building, and construction in general.

28

Boundaries

Berberian Sound StudioPeter Strickland

Hyde Park Picture HouseLeeds

29

Reminders

&

Much like The Pompidou Centre, Peter Strickland’s

Berberian Sound Studio, 2012, questions the idea

of the process as the image. Berberian Sound Studio

was screening a stones throw from my house at the

Hyde Park Picture House, and I had to buy a ticket.

I had seen the title dotted around the Internet and

eventually got round to watching the trailer. I have

worked with film in a few projects and it is an art

form I am getting increasingly excited about in both

the watching and the production side.

I believe Berberian Sound Studio supports similar

ideas and concepts to those I plan to embody in

my own ethos. As well as this, film is a medium that

I work with and plan to use more in the future, a

number of my projects involve moving image and it

feels natural and relevant to think about Berberian

Sound Studio in more depth.

Berberian Sound Studio is a film about cinema, and

specifically sound. The film revolves around naïve

English sound engineer Gilderoy (Toby Jones) who

has been commissioned to work with Italian film

producers Francesco (Cosimo Fusco) and Santini

(Antonio Mancino) on a film called The Equestrian

Vortex. This seemingly delightful, rather mundane

proposal however reveals itself to be a giallo (Italian

for yellow, stemming from the trademark yellow

covers of cheap mystery novels in the 20th-century)

style horror film, packed with dismemberment,

trichotillomania (the pulling out of hair), witches

and goblins. We learn about sound design in a

whole new way as we see the smashing of melons,

the snapping of leeks and the tearing of radishes to

recreate nightmarish sounds, “sounds a little watery,

is there any fresh marrow?”. The majority of the film

takes place in an increasingly claustrophobic sound

studio which is packed full of amplifiers, sound racks

and other machinery.

As the film progressed I became very aware of my

surroundings - Hyde Park Picture House is a one-

screen cinema that seemed to heavily resemble the

one in the film. When we were faced with close-ups

of sound plans, timetables and flickering sound

dials I couldn’t help but think about the wires and

knobs running the film I was currently experiencing

myself, a sort of perpetuating loop. This reminds

me of Bromberg and Medrea’s French documentary

L’enfer d’Henri-Georges Clouzot, 2009, a film that

discusses its own manufacture and production.

L’enfer is a documentary about Clouzot’s failed

attempt to create a film; we experience real archive

footage from the reels Clouzot filmed, entwined with

interviews from the producers of the attempted film

as well as re-enactments of missing scenes. The idea

of reflection and the displaying of a motion picture’s

construction is a concept that really resonates

with me, like Strickland, Bromberg and Medrea, I

too aim to question the aesthetics and function of

production in my work, featuring heavily the process

of the work as part of the work. L’enfer displays a

genuine irony on show here, nothing emotionally

fabricated, a stark contrast to the false artwork I am

noticing.

Both films also discuss the issue of health. Whereas

L’enfer’s Clouzot suffers a genuine heart attack

during filming, Berberian Sound Studio’s Gilderoy

experiences a more physiological break down.

Throughout the film Gilderoy receives letters written

by his Mother from home, thus gradually resulting in

his homesickness and overall disillusion. This could

refer to Strickland’s time teaching English as a foreign

language abroad before his full-length debut Katalin

Varga, 2009. Towards the end of the film Gilderoy

spirals further and further out of his comfort zone,

getting more wrapped up in The Equestrian Vortex.

At one stage we see a female scream artist in the

recording booth with Gilderoy and Francesco at

the mixing desk, as they become more and more

impatient and dissatisfied with the quality of scream

Gilderoy slowly turns up the feedback volume up in

the actresses headphones until she breaks down.

The film plays along a fairly straight narrative of a

vulnerable outsider becoming overwhelmed and

ultimately absorbed in something dark and thrilling,

however towards the end of the Berberian Sound

Studio the film reverses back on itself, turning on

it’s head throwing the viewer totally off course in a

sort of David Lynch-like fashion. It reminded me of

Lynch’s Inland Empire, 2006, where we see a lead

actress for an up and coming film become immersed

by a supposedly cursed film script, the characters

and film set then start to mix into each other and

blur with reality, causing the viewer to lose any sort

of grasp on the plot.

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Inland EmpireDavid Lynch

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I left the Picture House very perplexed trying to

connect and make sense of what just happened, but

to no avail. After weeks of trying to recall the details of

the transformational twist, I felt I was trying too hard

to analyse it, and perhaps it is just meant to be read

as a general representation of Gilderoy’s absolute

absorption, and ultimately his departure from the

green grassy hills of his hometown, Dorking.

Berberian Sound Studio certainly demands another

watch at least. The film’s ending will divide audiences

and will throw up the argument between ambition

and pretentiousness, a subject musician Brian Eno

discusses in A Year With Swollen Appendices: The

Diary of Brian Eno,

Berberian Sound StudioPeter Strickland

“I decided to turn the word ‘pretentious’ into a

compliment…It’s the way we make our thought

experiments, find out what it would be like to be

otherwise.” (Eno, 1996: 381)

It can be difficult sometimes to perhaps gauge

when a creator is producing something a bit too

self-indulgent, but I think ambition is what pushes

the boundaries of film, music, art forward, without

exploring new ground and new ideas we are not able

to progress from convention. What really interests

me is that this is a film about another’s production,

this is a concept that I am exploring within my own

work and documenting through my writing, work

questioning the aesthetics of production.

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Petra Cortright is an ‘Internet Artist’ that I came across on Tumblr a year or so

ago, Her work, for me, really epitomises what I mean when I discuss the new

online trends and styles. At the time I was becoming familiar with this new wave

of design and use of visuals, but even then Cortright’s website homepage still took

me by surprise. The welcome page is a Christian Cross symbol made up of around

30 smiley emoticons, most of which loop as gifs. Below this is a continuous line of

downward arrows which self scrolls taking up to about 20 seconds, the viewer is

then greeted by a link which reads ‘CLIKC HEER’, already the viewer’s patience is

tested even before seeing any of the artist’s work or even homepage.

We are then led into a tirade of more emoticons and

other gif animations. We see squabbling ravens,

rotating globes surrounded by candles, plants,

computer cursors and our fair share of smileys. With

all this going on it is hard to know whether to take

Cortright seriously, and even harder to know if she is

taking herself seriously. One would believe websites

are normally designed to help navigate around

certain content in the easiest way possible, American

graphic designer Milton Glaser once stated:

“To design is to communicate clearly by whatever

means you can control or master.” (evi.com)

Cortright’s homepage becomes almost unproductive,

baffling the viewer into confusion; I can admit I

have lost my cursor once or twice…for me however

this is a familiar feeling. I remember when I was in

my young teens experimenting with a free website

builder (a website company called Moonfruit) and

just filling the thing with flashing titles and sounds,

not ironically or anything, I just wanted to make

the ‘best’ website I could, which meant making

it as busy and as fun as possible, and although I

get the impression that humour is intended here,

subjectively I don’t think she is doing this through

innocence. There is a pseudo-naivety to her work, an

exploitation of a format, the medium almost works

as an audience filter, a test to those who encounter

it, who dares proceed?

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Her work mainly consists of lo-fi webcam recordings

of various bedroom-set performances, these echo

the DIY nature of the website itself and much online

art we can see growing today. Only Cortright will

know how she intends her work to come across, but

I feel she is well aware of the connotations of her

productions. I see some design that (I feel) quickly

pokes fun at the dilettante, but perhaps this is

something more. Maybe depth and time is something

to consider, commitment surely plays a huge part? Is

it possible for a practitioner with a whole archive full

of this kind of work to still be ironic?

HomepagePetra Cortright

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Song About Andre C. FilipekJohn Ray Alt

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Unknown Source

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‘Diamonds’Saturday Night LiveRihanna

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As discussed previously by Brian Eno, there will

always be a balancing act between the populist

and elitist, high and low art within culture. This is

something that I believe resonates with Rihanna’s

live performance of Diamonds on Saturday Night

Live in November, 2012. The performance took

place in front of a large green screen to allow digital

manipulation of the backdrop and visuals post-

performance. The show was then released publicly

displaying a lot of the themes and icons that I would

associate with this ‘Tumblr’ design fashion and also

‘Seapunk’, a subgenre of music, fashion and design

based around the sea, water, dolphins, palm tress etc.

I attempted to find the artist behind the Diamonds

visuals but to no avail, however some viewers were

convinced that they had been pinched from LA-

based producer Jerome Potter aka Jerome LOL,

“Last Saturday we played in Tijuana

and got back really late, like six,

and I saw a few tweets at me like,

‘Holy shit Rihanna blah, blah blah

stolen visuals.’ So I checked it out.”

(thefader.com)

Although he admits there to be

similarities with his work, he

doesn’t see it as a direct rip-off but

more “borrowing from this whole

scene”. Potter also states that he

feels Television broadcasting may

not be the best platform to display

this “kind of stuff”,

“If you’re watching music videos

that have that style, you’re seeking

out those YouTube pages and

choosing them as a viewer. But

in this case, SNL is presenting

something to you as opposed to

you searching for it. That’s what

the Internet is; you choose your

own content. On TV the producer’s

giving content to you.”

It could be argued that the art is imposed on viewers,

revealing it to a whole new audience who will not

have come across this fashion before, consequently

removing the meaning even further from its original

source. The foundation of this movement becomes

distant and we lose perspective.

Rihanna is regarded as one of the world’s most

popular current artists, and she has a lot of power

when it comes to fashion influence. It is interesting

for such an iconic, mainstream artist to expose

something so niche to such a wide audience, this

is almost reminiscent of MTV. In 1981 MTV was

launched as a channel that purely showcased

music videos, over the last decade or so we have

seen a change and MTV had become centred

around reality TV and shows for teenagers and

young adults. Perhaps the artists behind Diamonds

saw an opportunity to push the boundaries of

live performance in the same way MTV wanted to

expand into new territory. MTV allowed music to

exist alongside visuals in the same way that Rihanna’s

performance introduced a new visual experience

that has been absent on live television chat shows.

Andrew Blauvelt’s article Tool (Or, Post-production

for the Graphic Designer) also debates some of the

ideas picked up from Rihanna’s performance about

authorship, amateurism and accessibility. Blauvelt

is an American graphic designer and curator at The

Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis, the same centre

that published ‘Tool’ in Graphic Design: Now in

Production, 2011.

Blauvelt talks about how the Internet and

sophistication of technology has shaped graphic

design, quoting Ed Fella saying, “the only thing left is

the coffee” (Fella in Blauvelt, 2011: 23) in the opening

paragraph. It is no secret that graphic design has

become much more reliant on the computer, and

to me people are no longer seeing graphic design

as a profession but more of a piece of equipment or

software. I agree with Blauvelt when he mentions

the “recasting of graphic design as just another

tool” (Blauvelt, 2011: 23), a sort of dehumanisation

of the profession. Because design software is so

widely accessible, anyone can become an expert,

the profession is diluted and the tool becomes the

designer.

Technology is moving things forward, however

according to The Internet Fax Research Institute it

is believed that 87.5% of Japanese businessmen still

see the fax machine as a crucial business tool and

58.6% of houses in Japan still own a fax machine.

Yutaro Suzuki, an employee of Japan talent agency

HoriPro Inc., says, “It takes longer but my feelings

and passion come across better.” (bbc.co.uk)

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‘Diamonds’Saturday Night LiveRihanna

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Walter Benjamin talks about ‘aura’ as ‘the difference

between the singular object and the mechanically

reproduced’ and announces that there is a ‘loss of

aura with advancement of technology’. I think this

relates back to what Fella said, the ‘craft’ (physical)

has almost vanished from graphic design, it has

become less of a specialist subject, there is less

emphasis on design as a skill, design is becoming

reproducible and flat. It seems strange that

something that people study and ultimately aim to

get a degree in, is something so widely available and

so often attempted.

Graphic design is now so widely available for

anyone, and in today’s ‘do-it-yourself’ culture we are

surrounded by a range of dilettante work. Blauvelt

mentions that he has noticed “a flood of amateur

work”, and I think this is key to the initiation of this

new stylistic wave. Because there is this optimism and

enthusiasm for production, everyone is attempting

to create, and this ultimately results in a lot of ‘bad’

or ‘unsuccessful’ design which leads to elitism and

hierarchical opinions. Much of the online design I

see today plays on these ‘failed’ aspects i.e. choice of

typeface, scale of text, image filter, and reuses them

in an ironic and sarcastic way, Samara Scott touched

on this point stating,

“…efforts are being made to purposefully make

things ‘uglier’ i.e. – one example of many – I’ve

started to see fonts like Comic Sans being used etc.

– this deliberate grasp for the most ‘uncool’ thing.”

Designers are jumping on the amateurs and taking

a humorous approach, and to me I see this as a very

negative thing, resulting in a lot of cynicism. Scott

goes on to say,

“…I associate irony and sarcasm with an

exclusiveness or snobbishness, it’s bullying.”

Some designers want to exaggerate this lack

of expertise and professional knowledge in a

hierarchical manner. American architect Robert

Venturi’s 1972 publication Learning from Las Vegas

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writes about ‘vernacular form’ as the idea of the visual language

produced by people who are not trained in design. He opposes the

modernist theory of objectivity and suggests that there is a lot to be

learnt from the ‘lived experience’ and the ordinary.

This manifesto I am writing is about discovering an ethos that

allows me to use typefaces, techniques etc. in a naïve way but also

with the acknowledgement to how the work could be perceived by

designers who are more in tune with what ‘successful’ design is.

Chris Milk’s The Wilderness Downtown, 2010, is an online interactive

film for the Canadian band Arcade Fire. Blauvelt says how the film

exploits “the browser capabilities of Google Chrome” and also uses

Google Maps. The participant is asked to type in the address of

where they grew up and are told to ‘allow pop-ups’ for this page.

A hooded character then runs around the desired neighbourhood

followed by swarms of birds, the viewer is then prompted to ‘write

a postcard of advice to the younger you that lived there then,’ as

the song, We Used To Wait peaks, the street is bombarded with trees

and even more birds. In the corner of the main browser reads, ‘This

is a Chrome Experiment’ not only is it exploiting an already existing

format in a new way, but it is using it for a new purpose.

It could have been very easy to turn this concept into a film that

plays for the viewer but this use of web browsers allows the viewer

to resize, minimize and arrange the composition of the whole thing,

really questioning the aesthetics and function of Google Chrome

and the Internet in general. I am interested in the idea of using a

tool in a new way and displaying the aesthetics of a process, and

I believe Milk’s browser art works in a similar way to Jon Rafman’s

Google Earth orientated series 9-Eyes, an ongoing collection of

photographs retrieved from the online virtual globe, where we see

outrageous compositions but still featuring the navigation/zoom

tool and the Google watermark. Artists are flaunting the process

as part of the work, celebrating new uses for familiar technologies,

“What supposedly distinguishes humans from their primate

ancestors is their ability not to use tools but to integrate them into

everyday activities, find fresh uses for them, and to create new

ones.” (Blauvelt, 2011: 23)

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Ed Fella

9-EyesJon Rafman

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A common trend that I see appearing in contemporary graphic

design at the moment is the re-appropriating of the scanner.

Designers are finding new uses and purposes for already existing

tools and equipment. As well as transferring imagery and text to

a computer the scanner has been used to distort artwork, simply

by dragging and moving around the piece whilst the scanner is

functioning.

The same specific imagery and techniques are populating the

online design environment and to me, thematically, it still remains

unclear for the choice of certain objects and subjects, especially

when put together in a video or a poster, but there is something,

a quality that pleases, a feeling I can’t really justify. Throughout

Rihanna’s performance we are bombarded with Greek pillars, never

ending horizons and Roman busts, subjects that are repeatedly

appearing in a lot of design work flying around on the Internet,

on Tumblr especially. You can also spot rotating globes and the

blank chequered Photoshop background, aspects that also feature

in some of the design by other artists I have already showcased. It

makes me think about the reasoning behind the choice of these

themes, is there an intention or is it purely fashion? Should one

follow a trend even without awareness of origin and concept? It

reflects the trends of post-modernism in that it is deliberatively

avoiding the popular and the ‘high’ end of art, and moving more

towards the vernacular.

I have grown up alongside the development and maturation of

computers and the Internet, witnessing the sophistication of

software and the web, could this perhaps explain my relationship

with this type of art? Maybe, but it seems like more than just

nostalgia. Perhaps these topics have been chosen for precisely

this reason; that despite their context they hold values that satisfy

physically and aesthetically. French theorist and philosopher,

Roland Barthes, talks about a ‘writerly perspective’ by which we

all individually apply our own interpretation and experience

to a subject. Barthes also suggests that we can see subjects as

a ‘text’, ‘an activity of language production and interpretation,

which is experienced in the moment.’ People will view Rihanna’s

performance differently, to some the visuals may seem familiar,

they will understand that the visual artist is acknowledging

the current wave and trends of design, to other viewers the

performance will be purely new. Viewers will read things differently

depending on their own social and cultural experiences.

Professor of Graphic Design at North Carolina State University,

Meredith Davis states that “we can never be entirely ‘innocent’ or

free from the inherent biases of our own positions within culture”

(Davis, 2012: 190). She compares it to a goldfish being asked

to describe the nature of the water in which it sits, but instead

describes the room outside of the goldfish bowl. It can be difficult

The Wilderness DowntownChris Milk

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to describe something so close culturally because we are part of it

and yet when we aim to analyse something outside of our culture

we are only judging and interpreting it through our individual

experiences.

The rate of change and importance of fashion, as a whole, is

something that I believe will continue to intensify as technology

advances; it is becoming easier to distribute information across

the internet, thus allowing trends in design, music and clothes to

‘catch on’ and spread. I am an

avid user of Tumblr, a ‘free blog

hosting platform’, and I see

a lot of recurring trends and

styles spreading very quickly.

With the Internet it is so easy to

share art you like and for other

people to see it and for them to

share it, it’s like a sort of intense

online bubble of regurgitated

imagery, which as a designer I

can’t ignore. Blauvelt states,

“It isn’t about what is trendy

(forms) as much as what is

trending (topics).” (Blauvelt,

2011: 26)

Although I agree that topics

contribute vastly to design

trends, I argue that form is

just as integral. For example

a Gif, a file type that allows

the movement of a graphic

image, is a form that has been

taken and heavily reused as

a graphic medium. Another

example would be a Meme,

coined by British Evolutionary Biologist and author, Richard

Dawkins as ‘an idea, behaviour or style that spreads from person

to person within a culture’. This concept has almost been hijacked

by today’s Internet culture and used as a quick, instant visual pun,

often found with Impact typeface at the top and bottom of the

image. As well as form and topic I think program and process is also

playing a large part in the aesthetic trends of design. Using non-

design software like Microsoft Word and Paint to produce a poster,

or a T-shirt, is more proof of an inventive and resourceful design

culture. Contemporary designers are embracing the low side of art

whether it is for a genuine purpose or a satirical one.

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Felt Tip Printer Calibration Page

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Throughout this year, in between projects, I have

been working on a few small individual pieces that

have helped me visualise and clarify my practice and

what it is I want to embody in my work.

One of these is a hand drawn version of a printer

calibration sheet; recreated with coloured Sharpie

felt tip pens. This is just one version of the work (felt

tip pen) but I think there is a quality in felt tips that

is nostalgic to me and a lot of people. When we get

past a certain age and we are no longer interested in

colouring books we sort of forget about this medium,

there is no regular need or use for it. The overlapping

of pen marks and bleeding of the ink brings real

feelings of childhood for me. However ‘colouring

in’ is something that is normally so free and easy

and the strict restrictions of the calibration sheet

has almost removed that. Taking something digital

and recreating it manually with a material that is

normally so liberally used really makes you question

the aesthetics of the computer formality.

For this piece to be successful you would have to

have seen a test sheet of calibrated a printer before,

however seeing it recreated with a different tools is

removing it from its original context, warping the

rigidity of the calibration process. As it is viewed as

a piece of art you can not help but assess and judge

the composition and eye flow but this is something

that has not been designed to work aesthetically.

It is interesting when you are analysing something

that has a mechanical purpose, something that is

designed purely to function not to attract or appeal.

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UntitledFrank Stella

Ocean Park No. 24Richard Diebenkorn

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Initially to me this image produces connotations of

structure and machinery, things that are strict and

rigid, however the medium that sits within these

boundaries provides a softer side, connotations of

childhood and play, ‘staying in the lines’ is a phrase

that comes to mind when I used to ‘colour in’, this

seems ironic when you consider the original image

is produced by a machine that could not make

those human errors. The artwork reminds me of

American painter Richard Diebenkorn’s Ocean Park

paintings where he attempts to create vivid grid

like compositions but we see the paint not totally

conforming within the borders. Frank Stella uses

crayons in his work, displaying the strokes heavily

like we would see with an oil painting on canvas.

The artwork questions authorship. This is a copied

version of the Kodak ESP 3250 printer calibration

sheet, it has been replicated in a new medium and

given a new purpose and context, but is that enough

for it to be a new piece of work? There is no correct

answer for this. I think on it’s own the image can be

hard to understand or read but once it sits within the

context of this book I think it communicates much

more clearly. Felt tip was the first medium I tried but

I think paint could potentially have a large effect too,

I think the brush strokes would be more vivid and

also prove difficult to be as accurate. The image may

potentially be used as a poster so the placement and

use of text will have to be carefully considered if the

image is to maintain its purpose and concept.

I think the image is fairly open and it can be read in

a few ways. Firstly if the viewer has some knowledge

of the print process then they may know that it is a

recreation of a printer calibration sheet, allowing

them to work with the idea of technological

process and playfulness. American architect critic,

Charles Jencks, talks about ‘double coding’, ‘the

idea that objects can inspire plural meanings, that

the things will mean different things to different

people depending on their own knowledge of visual

language’.

The image is also colourful and abstract so it can still

communicate to viewers who have less knowledge of

where the image has originated from, it has multiple

entry points.

The viewer will question the aesthetics of the

calibration process. Because the process has been

redone in a new medium and shown in an art context,

viewers have to consider the artwork differently. The

new context means that people have to consider the

aesthetics, that is just instinctive. Hopefully viewers

will then consider the way it has been produced,

from a machine, the layout and colours are not

set out or chosen for any visual purpose, they are

chosen for a functional reason to help setup a piece

of machinery. I think this image relies heavily on the

context within it sits; in a gallery space I think this

could be even more effective.

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Character and Crayon Duvet Design

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Mr Sparkle - The SimpsonsMatt Groening

The ‘character’ is an exploration of something

nostalgic for me, but at the same time something I

want to keep fairly shallow. It is meant to be a neutral

representation of ‘a’ character and ‘all’ cartoon

characters, it is not human, nor an animal, just a

motif I could replicate, intensify and exaggerate. I

felt dwelling too long over the characteristics and

personality of the ‘character’ would only take it

further away from its pure and natural state, it wasn’t

important, it wasn’t aesthetically about the design

itself, but more about what it could communicate

and the forms it could take.

Initially I was going to print the crayon design onto

a duvet but due to printing constraints this wasn’t

possible, I then thought about screen printing

the design but I wouldn’t be able to achieve the

pencil crayon tactility. It seemed best to go with a

totally different design and medium, so I decided

to experiment again with Sharpie felt tip pens. The

‘character’ was drawn multiple times with different

colour combinations whilst holding three felt tips

together. This was a technique I used to try when

I was younger, I like the inconsistent, snagging of

the pen nib, sometimes barely even touching the

surface. A duvet is something I very much associate

with childhood, the design can reflect a favourite

television show or film at the time, and as a form

a duvet can become a cloak, costume or part of a

den. To me it is as much about the concept and idea

behind the process as much as it is about the final

outcome aesthetic; I am trying to produce artwork

that has richness, which embodies the ethos I am

developing.

I wanted to carry on working with pens and crayons,

and my work experimenting with the printer

calibration sheets allowed me to realise this. I had

been meaning to work with crayon for a while,

and I had this idea to do these abstract ‘whooshes’

for a while, I had designed a ‘character’ as part of

the Abe Aesthetic brief and the two worked well

together, it was only at a later date that I realised the

composition reminded me of Mr Sparkle from Matt

Groening’s The Simpsons.

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Character Duvet

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For some of the images I used in this work I really

struggled to track down the creator. With Tumblr

once an image becomes popular and is reblogged

various times it gradually gets removed form its

original source, in the same way Rihanna’s SNL

performance took something from an existing

setting and exposed it to a new audience, thus

diluting the primary context. Each time it gets

regurgitated, it warps the idea of ownership; the

artwork temporarily becomes someone else’s, until

the art is reblogged from the secondary source

and the process repeats. This reminds me of the

appropriation of Paula Scher’s work, the original

is not credited or is very hard to track down. In this

digital whirlpool authorship is forgotten and we are

surrounded by the anonymous and the imposturous.

I believe contributors to this system are aware that

this is the case, online art has become something

instant and impactful, a pang that peers will ‘get’

instantly and want to distribute themselves. An

exaggerated example of this would be a Meme

mentioned earlier, a visual pun designed for humour

to be circulated rapidly.

Looking back through the images featured it is

difficult to really distinguish what is intended as

negative and positive design. I only know about my

own work because I created it, my intent was to be

positive and productive in my artwork. An artist’s

work could easily come across in a different manner

but it doesn’t mean that is what is intended. Barthes’

1967 essay, The Death of the Author, supports this,

stating that the ‘scriptor’, as opposed to author,

“is born simultaneously with the text” (Barthes,

1967) and “to give a text an Author is to impose a

limit on that text”. Once a piece is created it is out

of the creator’s hands and is open to interpretation.

Someone might see my design as humorous or

ironic, even though that was not the intention as

social and cultural aspects will play a part in a way

a piece of design is read. The modernist approach of

seeking out form and finality can never settle, social

and cultural aspects will always be shifting, and

because our understanding of design relies on this,

it cannot be permanent and will always be moving.

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The ‘scriptor’ could see something meaningful in

something considered ‘bad’ or ‘tacky’ and use it for

it’s honest properties, just like someone could see

something meaningful in a piece that was intended

for sarcasm, Scott really sums it up,

“…in that Davidoff flyer I wanted to rustle out all

that teenage desire, in the blurred muscles and that

chlorinated faux salty sparkling splash, the foam. I

mean its ridiculous – but I really did believe in that;

I use this stuff because it makes me feel something

strong. I’m not being ironic or satirical…”

Touching on Jencks’ ‘double coding’ theory,

hypothetically two designers could each design

a poster that look identical but they hold opposite

intentions and values to each other, as well as the

viewers who encountered them.

There is a very defined graphic style at the moment

and it is impossible to ignore, in order to work

within design you must be aware of what is going on

around you, whether you plan to work within it or

rebel against it, the fashion will influence you. When

designing I can’t help but think about how my work

is going to sit within this hierarchical age of online

snobbery, how people will perceive it, both graphic

designers and non-designers. I am serious about

what I do, and I am serious about what I am going to

do, my aim is to further understand and justify the

context of my practice as a whole.

Compiling this document has allowed me to

view and analyse my own work alongside other

examples that I believe sit in and around a wave of

design I am very interested in. This has been a live

project, running parallel to my other work allowing

itself to be influenced and altered throughout,

attaching interviews and essays from other sources

I believe have helped me deepen my research and

understanding even further. I plan for this document

to serve as a constant reference for me as I continue

my practice. It is by no means a finalised conclusion

but rather a small, open-ended manifesto about how

I wish to produce and think about design.

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Books

Barthes, R ‘The Death of the Author’ (1967), Aspen,

no 5-6

Barthes, R (1980) The Pleasure of the Text, Hill &

Wang, New York

Baudrillard, J (1994) Simulacra and Simulation, The

University of Michigan Press, Michigan

Blauvelt, A & Lupton, E (2011) Graphic Design: Now

in Production, Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis

Benjamin, W (1969) Illuminations: Essays and

Reflections, Schocken, New York

Benjamin, W (2008) The Work of Art in the Age of

Mechanical Reproduction, Penguin Books, London

Buchanan, P (1992) Emilion Ambasz Inventions:

The Reality of the Ideal, Rizzoli International

Publications, New York

Caws, MA (2001) Manifesto: A Century of Isms,

University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln

Davis, M (2012) Graphic Design Theory, Thames &

Hudson Ltd, London

Dawkins, R (1989) The Selfish Gene, Oxford

Paperbacks, Oxford

De Botton, A (2003) The Art of Travel, Penguin

Books, London

Eno, B (1996) A Year With Swollen Appendices: The

Diary of Brian Eno, Faber and Faber, London

Fletcher, V (1983) Dreams and Nightmares: Utopian

Visions in Modern Art, Smithsonian Institution

Press, Washington, D.C.

Jencks, C (2002) The New Paradigm in Architecture:

The Language of Post-modernism, Yale University

Press, Connecticut

King, E & Obrist, HU (2012) M to M of M/M (Paris),

Thames & Hudson Ltd, London

Millar, J (2000) Jane and Louise Wilson, Ellipsis,

London

Novitskova, K (2011) Post Internet Survival Guide

2010, Revolver Publishing, Berlin

Robertson, M (2006) Factory Records: The Complete

Graphic Album, Thames & Hudson Ltd, London

Venturi, R, Brown, DS & Izenour, S (1972) Learning

from Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of

Architectural Form, The MIT Press, Massachusetts

& London

55

Reminders

&

Exhibitions

Gaiety is the Most Outstanding Feature of the Soviet

Union, 21 Nov 2012 – 9 June 2013, Saatchi Gallery,

London

Korean Eye 2012, 26 July – 23 September 2012,

Saatchi Gallery, London

The Nine Eyes of Google Street View, 26 July – 29

August 2012, Saatchi Gallery, London

Films

8½ (1963) Fellini, F, Cineriz

A Walk Through H: The Reincarnation of an

Ornithologist (1979) Greenaway, P, British Film

Institute

Berberian Sound Studio (2012) Strickland, P,

Artificial Eye

In Marge We Trust, The Simpsons (1997) Groening,

M, 20th Century Fox Television

Inland Empire (2006) Lynch, D, Studio Canal

Katalin Varga (2009) Strickland, P, Libra Film

L’enfer d’Henri-Georges Clouzot (2009) Bromberg, S,

Medrea, R, Lobster Films

La Prisonnière (1968) Clouzot, HG, Les Films

Corona

(nostalgia) (1971) Frampton, H

To Illustrate and Multiply: An Open Book (2008)

Snow, M, MOCA

Tron (1982) Lisberger, S, Walt Disney Productions

56

Boundaries

Websites

9-eyes.com

Jon Rafman’s 9-Eyes series

bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19045837

Article on the use of fax machines in Japan

beachlondon.tumblr.com/post/33369110746/chez-

baz-chez-chaz-day-1-infinity-hospitality

A brief look into Samara Scott and Olga

Winterbottom’s Infinity Hospitality

burnaway.org/2011/12/theory-in-studio-walter-

benjamin-and-the-concept-of-aura

Information on Walter Benjamin’s Aura theory

capdevila.co.uk/work/london2012mascot.html

Helios Capdevilla’s London 2012 Mascot

cargocollective.com/alyar/Alyar-Aynetchi

Alyar Aynetchi’s website

centrepompidou.fr/en

Pompidou Centre website

evi.com/q/what_did_milton_glaser_say

Milton Glaser quote

field-design.com

Field Design’s webiste

frieze.com/issue/article/class_act

Brian Eno quote about pretentiousness

jonrafman.com

Jon Rafmans website

luckypdf.com

Lucky PDF’s website

moonfruit.com

Free website builder

ofluxo.net/alyar-aynetchi

Information about Alyar Aynetchi

ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/73429297.html

Article on Rihanna and Azealia Banks green screen

performances

oliverlaric.com/versions2012.htm

Oliver Laric’s Versions

petracortright.com

Petra Cortright’s website

plato.stanford.edu/entries/benjamin

Information on Walter Benjamin’s Aura theory

samarascott.com

Samara Scott’s website

thecityofabsurdity.com/inttalkart.html

David Lynch epigraph

thefader.com/2012/11/15/interview-jerome-lol

Interview with Jerome LOL

thewildernessdowntown.com

Chris Milk’s The Wilderness Downtown website

trendlist.org

A website exploring current design trends

ubu.com/film

Source for video artists Hollis Frampton and

Michael Snow

57

Reminders

&

vimeo.com/55487879

Eike König talk at Here 2012

whosjack.org/samara-scott-qa

An interview with Samara Scott

wikipedia.org/wiki/MTV

The history of MTV

wikipedia.org/wiki/Paula_Scher

Information on Paula Scher

wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Diebenkorn

Information on Richard Diebenkorn

wikipedia.org/wiki/Seapunk

Wikipedia Seapunk definition

wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropicália

Wikipedia Tropicália definition

youtube.com/watch?feature=player_

embedded&v=n8X-MhY8LmI

Andy Warhol screen tests

youtube.com/watch?feature=player_

embedded&v=tfDCNpaPBiA

Saul Bass: On Making Money vs Quality Work video

youtube.com/watch?v=2LT23ixDaJo

Rihanna on Saturday Night Live

iwishiwasgucci.tumblr.com

oliverrogersrogers.com

abesheffield@gmail.com