 |
|
| Many questions should be provided to stimulate, trigger thought process and enrich our daily professional lives. |
 |
|
 |
| The theme of this Congress is VISUALOGUE: Quality of Information. What image does this bring to mind? |
I see in VISUALOGUE the combination of the two terms, VISUAL, i.e. visible, discernible with one's eyes, and ANALOGUE, i.e. equivalent, parallel, into one meaningful unit. In the long cultural history of human communication, the process of documented transmission began with the help of images (rock drawings, cave paintings). Over the course of the millennia, reduced, repeatable and therefore legible series of signs developed, thus creating what we call writing and what for centuries determined our communication. In our modern digital world, with its seemingly endless possibilities of technical reproducibility and also manipulability, masses of images are now coming to the fore. Is this causing our ability to talk and write to gradually disappear, and with it, our ability to read, interpret and evaluate information? In the creative process, quality of information requires care in the reflection, selection and verification of material, a process that needs time, time that is often sacrificed on the altar of transmission speed. In the sense of VISUALOGUE, quality of information also means to relate word and image, to use pictorial information parallel to the spoken/written language in order to supplement or clarify information and to show up contradictions. There is a saying in German that goes: "An image says more than a thousand words." Nobody would contradict the statement: An image can say more than a thousand words. And vice versa: A word can say more than a thousand images... | |
|
| |
| Please describe one of your recent concerns or themes of interest, either within your field or personally. |
Professional or personal? In our life and work, this division is no longer drawn, professional is personal, personal is professional and encompasses the world we live in. A current event, the war in Iraq by G. W. Bush and his allies - I consciously don't say "the Americans" - is thus also of great personal concern. I seriously worry about the thoughtless abolishment of our precious democratic achievements. I seriously worry that a lobby, obsessed with power and money and contemptuous of international law, may set new standards thus creating ignorance instead of knowledge, dictatorship instead of democracy, monologue instead of dialogue, hostility instead of friendship, might instead of morals, stupidity instead of education, lies instead of truth... My hopes are high, however, that the democratic and enlightened forces in America and the rest of the world will end this spiral of violence. | |
|
| |
| What are your expectations for this Congress? Alternately, what fruit do you expect the Congress to bear? |
In our so-called modern information society the power of the media is steadily increasing. Quality and quantity of information can no longer be discerned as the speed of transmission collides with the human faculties of perception... I would like the conference to provide a broad, i.e. interdisciplinary discussion on the topic of the quality of information not just from a designer point of view. How are we going to distinguish between reality and virtuality in the future? How easy is it to manipulate our perception of information and how easily can our thinking and acting be influenced? Many questions for which at least an initial answer should be provided and which should stimulate, trigger thought processes and enrich our daily professional lives. | |
|
| |
| Please provide us with a message directed to the younger generation (design students and young working designers). |
The new media with their technology and dictate of speed are increasingly dominating, to an extent that the essential issue, namely communication, takes second place or is even ignored. If we don't take the time to carefully distinguish between content and form, between the what? and the why? on the one hand and the how?, on the other, we will gradually suffocate in floods of useless information without even noticing it. | |
|
| |
| Concerning your partnership with various clients, please describe the kind of relationships you have built in the past, and/or the kind you expect to build in the future. |
Clients are people like you and I. With an individual genetic blueprint, different from mine. With a personal world of experience, different from mine. With special interests, likes and dislikes, sometimes not dissimilar to mine. This creates suspense and liveliness in the dialogue, it can lead to harmony and sometimes discord, it results in discussions and makes solutions possible. What I have always wished for, have often been granted and am still wishing for today, is communication with mutual esteem, with respect on both sides and trust in the capabilities and potential of one's partner. I wish for an atmosphere of openness and sensitivity with enough economic freedom to allow the development of concepts and ideas. | |
|
| |
| Please answer the following question in the form of a message directed toward mature professional designers. Clearly, our modern communities are grappling with regional and cultural discord and face serious economic challenges. Given this environment, how might designers make the most vital contribution to society today? |
(see answer below) | |
|
| |
| In light of this answer, what are your thoughts about the meaning of--and possibilities for--the design profession in the society of the future? | Design is not an independent entity. As with other disciplines such as architecture, education, physics etc, design depends on ownership and the determining forces in the distribution of goods. Thus, all that we designers are left with are narrow, uncomfortable paths with which to create thorough fares and maybe even landscapes. We are neither politicians nor economists or theologians. As designers it is our task and duty to apply our knowledge and the tools of our profession in a conscious and subtle manner, to probe preconceived ideas and to discuss new contents if necessary, encouraging one another to look beyond the mere designing of shapes and forms. | |
| | |
 | ||