Abstract
The goal of the present essay is to show that a number of critiques, following in succession from the first efforts to professionalize design, played a key role in the formation of the discipline as we know it today. Such critiques of design, by countering established practices, created gaps in knowledge – created a discontinuity, the consequence of which was the creation of the possibility for a new way of working. What the discipline lacks today, then, is precisely such a critique of this sort: one that would oppose a situation in which design submits itself uncritically to market demands and accepts the universal relativism of social consensus. For the first time in the history of design, it seems that the professionalization of the discipline is increasingly determined by what is supposed to have chiefly produced it (as a side product during the industrial revolution and the division of labour). Similarly for the first time, we in the profession are indifferent to such a situation.
Keywords
design, critique, emancipation, Anti-Design
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/learnxdesign.2013.114
Citation
Predan, B.(2013) The Intervention of Criticism into Practice, in Reitan, J.B., Lloyd, P., Bohemia, E., Nielsen, L.M., Digranes, I., & Lutnæs, E. (eds.), DRS // Cumulus: Design Learning for Tomorrow, 14-17 May, Oslo, Norway. https://doi.org/10.21606/learnxdesign.2013.114
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
The Intervention of Criticism into Practice
The goal of the present essay is to show that a number of critiques, following in succession from the first efforts to professionalize design, played a key role in the formation of the discipline as we know it today. Such critiques of design, by countering established practices, created gaps in knowledge – created a discontinuity, the consequence of which was the creation of the possibility for a new way of working. What the discipline lacks today, then, is precisely such a critique of this sort: one that would oppose a situation in which design submits itself uncritically to market demands and accepts the universal relativism of social consensus. For the first time in the history of design, it seems that the professionalization of the discipline is increasingly determined by what is supposed to have chiefly produced it (as a side product during the industrial revolution and the division of labour). Similarly for the first time, we in the profession are indifferent to such a situation.