Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Michael Clarke
Verbalising the Visual
Translating art and design into words
Michael Clarke
ISBN 2-940373-01-9
and 978-2-940373-01-7
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Verbalising the Visual
Translating art and design into words
Michael Clarke
4/5 Contents
Contents
03
84 Informal language: beyond
198 Conclusion
the academic disciplines
200 Glossary
86 Colloquial language
202 Picture Credits
92 Language and difference
204 Index
102 Language and popular print
208 Acknowledgements
112 Activity three: how well do
reviews communicate?
114 Summary
How to get the most out of this book
Chapter openers
06
Each chapter opens with a breaker
spread that lists the section title and
all associated units. Each chapter is
colour coded to help aid navigation
throughout the book.
168 / 169 06 Other written texts Self-reflective texts Written reports Critical reviews Sampling three Summary
Each chapter unit is introduced Objects do not exist in isolation, not even priceless ones in
bullet-proof glass cases in galleries and museums. They
in isolation, and outlines the key are always in relation to other, adjacent objects. Unlike a
pictorial representation, the visible world of things has no
principles that will be explored. defining frame, it is an infinite extension of things. Just as
words take on meanings according to their similarity or
dissimilarity to other words, so do objects. At the most
basic level of comprehension, such comparisons enable us
to distinguish between a chair, a food processor and a
motorcar. But, more relevant to our concerns here, the
same process of comparing enables us to perceive, if not
always name, the differences between a drawing, a
painting and a photograph of the same subject. We
understand one thing in relation to another and the
language we use to do this directly reflects this
associational habit.
16
Jou-Jou
J M Clarke, 1973
28 / 29 01 Language and meaning Language, object Language and Linguistic devices Activity one Summary
and meaning visual artefacts
Captions 13
Mimic
Jeff Wall, 1982
Interpreting
Captions help bring principles under ‘In the 80s, Wall thought his pictures
should be about something. His 1982
Mimic, for instance, which looks like
amazingly lucky street photography
pages (describing, contextualising or
analysing), can be employed in an
interpretation. An interpretation can be very
in the first weeks of their study become
involved in the interim evaluation of art or
design projects. This can be a one-to-one
short or very long. It is never, however, simple. conversation with a tutor but it is very often a
discussion in the body text to life via but was performed by actors in front
of lights and a large-format camera,
was “about” racism.’
In any attempt to explain the meaning or
significance of an artefact, complex issues
concerning perception, knowledge,
group activity in which the progress of each
individual’s project is discussed. It is during
these group sessions that students quickly
Melissa Denes, Guardian Weekend,
26 / 27 01 Language and meaning Language, object Language and Linguistic devices Activity one Summary
and meaning visual artefacts
chapters contains an exercise these three images and read the text that
accompanies each.
Consider the relation between the
studied industrial design in England
before being introduced to Apple
while working at Tangerine, a
text and the visual image in the following London design studio he co-founded
34 / 35 01 Language and meaning Language, object Language and Linguistic devices Activity one Summary
and meaning visual artefacts
2 5 8
Written statements Self-reflective journals A critical review balances
of these reflections take can be subjective and factual information with
different forms and are only for the writer. a personal point of view
for different audiences. but it should be written in
standard English.
3 6 9
The language used Always, the use of Literary skills can be of great
is equally varied but language assumes benefit in a critical review
should be appropriate an audience. There is where the lack of any visual
to the context. no private language. images put greater demand on
verbalising the visual.
196 / 197 06 Other written texts Self-reflective texts Written reports Critical reviews Sampling three Summary
and begin to apply the concepts their own creative work. A related term,
intertextuality, recognises that all verbal and
visual constructs depend upon other, already
something and even more
adjectives to qualify it. When you
read through the preceding student
statements or listen to anyone
used to recreate its manifest
appearance. Does the verbal
experience match the visual one?
There are lessons to be learned from
professional status. To achieve any
proper appreciation of a student’s
work, it is necessary first of all to
know what the conditions of the
you think they do it? Can any one of
these serve as a model of good
practice? If not, might elements
from each be combined to do so?
interpretation, as in a Marxist or
psychoanalytical reading, is the
language very specific. In almost all
other interpretations, it is hybrid,
these as possible. Measuring their
success is the central activity of any
evaluation. But what kind of
language is used to do this? Is the
existing texts for their meaning.
under discussion.
talking about something visual, ask such comparisons and these are brief are. Students in the same Whatever the conclusion, it is well drawing on as many existing models vocabulary used adequate to the
To sample an existing model is to evaluate yourself not only how important are increased where there are several group who already know this can to remember that there is as are required by the speaker. This, task? Is it capable of making subtle
its qualities; to test its worth or suitability. the names used but how verbal descriptions of the same quickly move on to giving a context sometimes as much to be learned perhaps, is the model to adopt when distinctions of worth? Do the
appropriate are the chosen names. visual image. Which one serves as for their interpretation and final from a failed performance as a we are faced with the difficulty of judgements made consistently refer
When we are impressed by a particularly Are any of these samples worthy of the best model for your needs? realisation of the assignment, as the successful one. interpreting a complex work. We too back to the stated criteria? Deciding
effective oral or written presentation, we imitation? Are they instructive? students quoted in this chapter do. must accept eclecticism, mixing and which assessments fulfil this last
almost inevitably file it away for future But there is no single correct way of matching the language according to requirement is relatively easy.
reference or use. It becomes a measure, a way doing this. When we assess the need. Deciding which of these employs
alternatives for our own purposes language in the most effective way
of evaluating what is appropriate or we must keep in mind what is or is is less so.
inappropriate, successful or unsuccessful. not appropriate.
While reading through the preceding, albeit
very edited, statements by students, we have
probably critically assessed their suitability
and effectiveness in each context.
Here we recall the most common ways in
which we verbalise the visual; it is generally
these criteria we use to help us decide what is
worth imitating, or at least learning from.
140 / 141 04 Studio talk Language and oral Oral presentations Choosing the Sampling one Summary
communication appropriate language
Introduction Visual culture
Translating a visual experience into a verbal Visual culture is itself not easy to define.
statement, spoken or written, is far from easy. Superficially, it can suggest all visual
Yet students of almost any of the expanding phenomena, natural or cultural, but in the
subjects within visual culture are expected, context of academic disciplines and
above and beyond their technical and creative expectations, it is most often restricted to
abilities in their chosen discipline, to have the culture; the visible artefacts and
necessary skills to do so. Much like translating manifestations that we humans have brought
or interpreting any one written or spoken into the world. For the purposes of this book, it
language into another, these skills can be embraces in its awareness, if not always in its
learned, but they must first be identified, direct verbal or visual references, those now
examined and evaluated so that an very familiar areas of specialist study such as
appropriate choice can be made from the advertising, architecture, the fine arts, fashion,
available options to suit the specific film, graphics, product design and
requirements of a particular visual experience photography.
and its verbalisation. This book is specifically This book also explores cultural and sub-
addressed to those students seeking guidance cultural differences, questions of personal and
in acquiring these necessary skills. collective identity, and the specific
Across all the various specialist courses in vocabularies and concepts particular to these
the practice of visual culture and the groups. For example, the word ‘bias’ is, in its
assignments set within each specialist area, most general usage and most often within the
students quickly find themselves confronted context of art and design, used pejoratively to
with the need to relate verbal and visual identify a prejudiced position or one that
communication. Words and visual imagery departs from standard norms of judgement.
may have more obvious proximity in subject However, within the context of fashion, a
areas such as film or graphic design. However, garment described as being cut on the ‘bias’
in the research, design development, neutrally describes cutting obliquely across
realisation and evaluation of an art or design the warp of the fabric. Language can never be
practical assignment, or the research, taken at face value. Its interpretation and
processing, presentation and assessment of an meaning are always very specific to the
essay, report or critical review, an ability to context in which it is used.
verbalise the visual is essential. Acquiring and Despite the many problematic issues to do
developing the necessary skills is imperative. with verbalising the visual, this book is not
prescriptive. It is not a ‘how to’ guide that,
either explicitly or implicitly, claims any
authority to instruct how one should speak,
write or interpret statements about visual
culture, although it will identify and examine
all of these aspects. This book’s overall
approach is interrogative: asking questions
rather than presuming any one answer and
evaluating the options available rather than
prescribing any one of them. There are no
absolute techniques for verbalising the visual,
only appropriate ones.
8/9 Introduction
The book’s structure divides into two roughly
equal parts. The first three chapters examine
respectively: the unstable relation between
words, objects and meanings; the formal
language used by professionals in art and
design history, theory and related subjects;
and the more informal, even colloquial
language used by journalists and sub-cultural
groups. The last three chapters are entirely
focused on how practising students of art and
design verbalise the visual; in oral discussions,
presentations and interviews; in the context of
the formal, written essay; and in a variety of
other written contexts.
The two halves are meant to be reciprocal.
Both parts include deconstructed examples of
formal, academic, and informal, colloquial use
of language but there is no intention to
present the largely professional use of
language examined in the first half as an
exemplary model. Readers of this book are just
as likely to benefit from the student examples
used in the second half as the professional
ones used in the first. Identifying and
evaluating the different examples in order to
make appropriate, effective statements of
one’s own is the primary concern.
01
Woodcut, Sasa Marinkov, 1988
The names we assign to things are not An awareness of the instability between
naturally given, as anyone living in a words, objects and meanings is not new: it
multilingual society will quickly become goes back at least as far as the ancient Greeks
aware. However many recognisable (this may be different for other language
characteristics the Italian, Spanish or French cultures). Our modern awareness of this
languages may have acquired from their instability begins with Ferdinand de Saussure
shared origins in Latin, their vocabularies are (1857–1913), a Swiss linguist whose ideas laid
not the same. The differences between the foundation for many of the significant
languages further increase when the radius developments in linguistics in the 20th
expands outwards from the Mediterranean to century. Saussure’s linguistics differed
embrace Russian, Japanese or Arabic decisively from that of his contemporaries and
languages that all use other scripts. Language predecessors. He adopted a synchronical
is always specific to a particular language (language in any one place and time), rather
culture and the words that are used are than a diachronical (language in one place but
culturally determined. how it develops over time) analysis of
Let us take the English word ‘dog’. language. It is what a language is rather than
Ordinarily, both when we speak and write, we what it has become that formed the focus of
use the word as if it was inseparable from the Saussure’s attention.
creature it names. Yet there is nothing dog-like For Saussure, what made a word intelligible
about the sound or the written (or printed) was not its connection to some essence, but its
nature of the word. The relationship between difference from another word in the same
the animal and the name we give it is language system. As we have already seen, the
arbitrary, as the variety of names used to words we use to name things are arbitrary. It is
represent a dog in other languages makes the difference between the spoken or written
clear. If there were a natural relationship word ‘dog’ and other words, such as ‘dock’,
between an object and the word used to ‘doll’, ‘dolt’, or ‘dot’, which lends significance.
represent it, all languages would be the same. If you are speaking to a non-English person, in
A word is not the union of an object and a English or any other language, it is that much
name, but the union of the concept of an more important to pronounce the sounds
object and the word that represents it. The clearly in order to be understood. As with
word ‘dog’ does not securely attach itself to sounds, so with ideas or concepts. Different
any member of the species but to the idea of languages inevitably produce different
‘dogness’. The animal has escaped! concepts. Members of one language group
think and speak differently from those
of another.
Dog
03
English
Dog
Hund
For English-speaking readers and
German / Swedish listeners, the German word ‘hund’
has a ‘t’ sound at the end, but the
same word in Swedish ends with a
sound like the English ‘d’. In Russian
Japanese
the word sounds like ‘sabaka’; in
Japanese the word sounds like ‘inu’;
in Arabic, the word sounds like
Russian ‘kelb’. Neither visually nor aurally
do any of these resemble a dog.
Arabic
04
Diagram
08 09
Amiriya palace,Yemen Eltham palace, London
interior dome, 1504 interior, 1930s
Identifying the context of the object of Another way in which we are often made
attention is to locate it in a particular time and aware of significant aspects of an artefact,
place. Because all artefacts are products of either unnoticed or unknown to us, is through
specific conditions, social, economic, analysis. When practised by highly articulate
technical, cultural, both the character of the people with detailed knowledge of any one or
object and how it was understood at the time more ideological approaches, be it Marxist,
are determined by these factors. To include psychoanalytical, semiological, or any other,
information of this kind in a commentary is to this can become very complex, couched as
enlighten the reader or listener and this can be such approaches always are in very
especially useful when the object is from an specialised vocabulary.
earlier time, another place, or both. Any analysis based upon a single
Very few if any readers of books, journals, ideological discipline has no claim to
magazines or newspapers are informed about impartiality. However much any ideological
the historical and social context of all the discipline is able to reveal about an artefact, it
world’s cultures. For example, a Westerner’s is never, and never can be, conclusive. It is
enthusiasm for Japanese 18th- and 19th- always a particular point of view. There are
century prints does not necessarily include an always alternative analyses of equal interest
awareness of the context in which these were and validity. That is why any attempt to
designed, produced, used and understood, yet interpret a visual artefact or ensemble is
these factors, once understood, contribute to a always limited.
fuller understanding and appreciation,
reaching beyond the Westerner’s primary,
aesthetic response. Contextualising Japanese
prints liberates us from our own Western
assumptions and expectations, as it does for
all other artefacts from different cultural
contexts.
But this is true, also, even for the culture in
which we were born and reared. For example,
consider how many Europeans might be able
to locate Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel within
the context of early 16th-century Italy. How
different would our interpretations of any of
the images reproduced here be if they were not
given a cultural context?
14
Palm House, Kew Gardens, London
Richard Turner and
Decimus Burton, 1844–1848
15
Musician,
Mary Spencer Watson, 1954–55
All the above activities, named on the previous Practising students of the visual arts very early
pages (describing, contextualising or in the first weeks of their study become
analysing), can be employed in an involved in the interim evaluation of art or
interpretation. An interpretation can be very design projects. This can be a one-to-one
short or very long. It is never, however, simple. conversation with a tutor but it is very often a
In any attempt to explain the meaning or group activity in which the progress of each
significance of an artefact, complex issues individual’s project is discussed. It is during
concerning perception, knowledge, these group sessions that students quickly
expectation, referencing and evaluation arise. become aware how easily the interpretation of
As we have seen at the beginning of this their work overlaps with an appraisal of it.
chapter, any verbal statement, written or To critically evaluate an artefact is to
spoken, needs in turn to be interpreted by the engage in estimating the amount of worth we
reader or listener. Unlike the numbers in pure give to one or more aspects of it and it most
mathematics, words have no fixed value and typically employs several sets of binary
cannot claim any single meaning. During this opposites easily recognised in the words used
process of double interpretation, differences of to pass judgement: accessible, inaccessible;
opinion and, sometimes, open disagreement convincing, unconvincing; successful,
can easily arise. unsuccessful; better, worse; major, minor;
It is sometimes thought that interpreting good, bad. To use any one of the words in these
images of functional artefacts, such as a food equations is to pass judgement; to use more
processor or digital camera, is easier than than one is to adopt a much more clearly
interpreting works of fine art, be they painted, identifiable, overall evaluation. Keeping in
sculpted, photographed or otherwise. At least mind the binary opposite of any of the above
the utilitarian, functional dimensions of the or other binary terms is a very useful way
artefacts might provide a common basis for of estimating the position of the speaker
understanding. Without any comparable basis or writer.
in the practical, fine art artefacts are judged to
be far less contained.
Our recognition of likeness between one thing In order to distinguish one object from
and another can be so great that we see it as another, language enables us to name things.
analogous, a proximity so close that it is taken At this most basic level it enables us to
to be an equivalent, one thing standing for designate an object (chair) or category of
another. When we judge someone to be ‘blind’ objects (furniture) at the least disputable level
because they cannot recognise the merits of of understanding. This is the denotatory level
an artist or designer admired by us, we are not of meaning.
speaking or writing literally, in the sense that Maintaining this denotatory level in any
they cannot physically see, but description, analysis or evaluation of a visual
metaphorically, in the sense that it is as if they artefact requires enormous linguistic skill, a
cannot see. The same is true when a visual skill more frequently evident in the legal
image is said to be ‘exploding with energy’ or profession than that of art and design history,
‘reticent to the point of silence’. Neither theory or criticism. For example, confronted
‘exploding’ nor ‘silence’ are characteristics one with any visual representation of a dog, we
can reasonably attribute to a mute, static might readily decide that it is a dog not a cat.
artefact unless, as is the usual case, they are But is it only a dog? Given our awareness of
meant to be understood as equivalents. Where the instability and flexibility of language or
a simile acknowledges that something is like visual images, their openness to variable
another, a metaphor more confidently interpretation, naming or otherwise
replaces the other. representing something rarely if ever is
restricted to the denotative level of
understanding. A dog is an animal, part of
nature, man’s best friend, and so on. The
significance we attach to an object, or the
name we give it, is restricted only by our own
limitations of experience or knowledge. We are
the interpreters.
19
Zippo advertisement, 1932–62
21
Bertolli advertisement, 2006
20
Pinter vs the US
Daniel Pudles, 2005
23
‘Job’ poster
Alfons Mucha, 1898
24
Graveyard, Houses and Steel Mill,
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Walker Evans, 1935
2
The relation between word,
object and meaning is
unstable. Words acquire
meaning in relation to other
words, not things.
3
Identifying the historical
and cultural context of an
image is always revealing.
5 8
Interpreting a visual image Representing one thing as
involves a complete engagement equivalent to another, as in a
with all its elements and possible metaphor, is a further example
meanings. It is a complex process of associational thinking.
and never conclusive.
6 9
Evaluating a visual image is The denotatory level of
equally complex with many naming and describing stays
factors contributing to the as close as possible to the
amount of value we apportion visibly evident, least disputable
to one or more of its aspects. aspects of an image.
Language across Language and art Language and art Language Activity two Summary
the disciplines and design history and design theory and ideology
27
The Pantheon, Rome
AD 118–125
Judged a masterpiece by
architectural historians and critics,
the Pantheon is a key work in the
classical canon, the pedimented and
colonnaded portico leading into a
cylindrical domed hall. Like
comparable works of sculpture and
painting, it has served as an
influential model for many
successive architects trained in the
academic tradition. The Latin
inscription, identifying Agrippa as
the builder, reminds us that it is
also from the languages of the
ancient classical world that the
Western tradition of academic
writing is derived.
40 / 41 02 Formal language: the academic disciplines of art and design Academic language
Academic language
Language across Language and art Language and art Language Activity two Summary
the disciplines and design history and design theory and ideology
28
Conservatory perspective,
Balham Park Road, London
Michael Jones, 1999
29
Virgin and child with
St Anne and St John
Leonardo da Vinci, c.1500
42 / 43 02 Formal language: the academic disciplines of art and design Academic language
A parallel technical vocabulary supported the
The western canon description, analysis and evaluation of
architecture, which had its own masters,
Western art history is often said to have begun masterpieces and canon. With its origins in
with Giorgio Vasari (1511–74). Italian art and ancient Greece and Rome, the classical
architecture, to which he both contributed and language of architecture (albeit evolving) is the
wrote about, perhaps inevitably became the longest surviving tradition in the West (other
central subject of interest to the first cultures have their own different architectural
professional art historians in the late 19th and traditions and conventions).
early 20th centuries. The title of Vasari’s major In the ancient temple, the orders, the
book, The Lives of The Most Excellent Italian distinct columns named after the regions of
Painters, Sculptors and Architects (1550, enlarged their origin, control not only the structure of
1568) suggests the priorities that were to be the building but the building’s proportions too.
widely accepted and the vocabulary and They are as important in architectural
concepts that sustained them. Almost all of language as the verb is in verbal language. The
these priorities are based upon hierarchical spacing of each column was a vital concern.
selection and judgement: the fine arts of The Romans placed so much emphasis upon
painting, sculpture and architecture (the the intervals between the columns that they
various crafts recognised only if their identified five standard types based on
designers were a major artist); the master, multiples of a column’s diameter from the
always male and credited with unexplained narrowest, pycnostyle, to the widest,
genius; the masterpiece, defined as epitomising araeostyle. Variations on these created visual
the highest, claimed virtues; the canon, the rhythm, a parallel to that in speech or music.
catalogue of masterpieces by masters said to Such subtleties in the articulation of the
exemplify the Grand Tradition. elements of a building generated an equally
An enduring technical vocabulary, itself subtle and discriminating specialist language,
frequently Italian and much of it still used in as in the three-part division of the entablature
the studios of Western schools of art, (the whole horizontal section between the
architecture and design, has helped sustain column and the pediment) into the architrave,
the influence of the Italian Renaissance. frieze and cornice. From the Roman Vitruvius
The innovations of linear and subsequently to the Renaissance Serlio and beyond, this
aerial perspective – in which receding parallel verbalising of the visual has helped establish
lines and planes are projected onto a flat the norms of classical architecture.
surface with a common vanishing point and in
which objects diminish in scale and clarity as
they move away from the viewer – radicalised
visual representation and are techniques still
commonly used today. As are some additional
techniques: contrapposto, in which the
torsions of the body are set in contrary
directions; chiaroscuro, the gradations of tone
from light to dark; sfumato, a more subtle
modulation of tone sufficient to suggest
atmospheric effects.
Language across Language and art Language and art Language Activity two Summary
the disciplines and design history and design theory and ideology
The western tradition
30
A seated nude male,
turned to the right
Michelangelo Buonarotti, c.1504
44 / 45 02 Formal language: the academic disciplines of art and design Academic language
31
The five orders
Sebastiano Serlio, 1537
32
Villa Rotonda
Andrea Palladio, 1550–51
Language across Language and art Language and art Language Activity two Summary
the disciplines and design history and design theory and ideology
The formalist position is one of these.
The legacy Formalists emphasise direct contact with
artefacts, their visible, physical attributes,
Today, the universalising system of Western, such as line, shape, texture, colour and their
academic classicism may have been formal relations, rather than the
discredited (how can it be usefully applied to interpretation of subject, composition,
non-Western arts?) yet it has left a legacy, not historical and narrative possibilities or, least of
least in our continuing habit of dividing the all, social relations. Following the practice of
history of the visual arts into successive styles Heinrich Wölfflin (1864–1945) a typical
(for example, Baroque, Rococo or Neo- analysis of a painting would measure the
classical), movements (for example Mannerist, linear against the painterly (the tightly drawn
Romantic or Surrealist), dynasties (for contour against the more loosely brushed), the
example, Carolingian, Jacobean or Mughal) use of open or closed forms (forms clearly
and, especially in the 20th century, the enclosing an object or opening out to their
proliferation of ‘isms’ (Fauvism, Cubism or surroundings), what is parallel with the
Constructivism for instance). More surface and what is recessive (forms either
theoretically, some distinct approaches were complementary to or denying the two-
developed and employed which, however dimensional nature of the drawn or painted
much they may have been modified, revised or plane), the rough and the smooth, and so on.
adapted, have contributed to contemporary This position prioritises an aesthetic response:
modes of address. one that comes through the senses, and
discounts any other. The limited, formalist
vocabulary initially raises questions about the
limitations of the approach, but when
successfully connected to a psychoanalytical
interpretation, in which form itself is
analysed, it can be revelatory.
33
Maharaja Rajansingh on
an elephant
Mughal Indian (Jhalai), 1820
46 / 47 02 Formal language: the academic disciplines of art and design Academic language
Iconography, strictly speaking the study of
images (‘icon’ is the ancient Greek equivalent Plurality
of the Latin imago, meaning image), but in
practice tracking their modifications, It is widely recognised today that there is no
transformations and transpositions through single history of visual culture as a whole.
different times and places, has had an equally Universalising histories and theories of art,
durable influence. Following the practice of architecture and design, like those of visual
Erwin Panofsky (1892–1968), an iconographic culture in general, no longer have the support
analysis would refuse any division between of a majority. Without a single history or
form and content (outward visible appearance theory there can be no single language to
and any internalised meaning) acknowledging encompass all of the possibilities. Each
a connection between the visual arts and their specialised discipline whether of cultural
cultural context even though this might context (such as Mayan, Hindu or Tang),
depend upon a great deal of cultural and category (fashion, industrial design or
linguistic awareness. Iconography has links photography, for example), or ideology (for
with post-Saussurian cultural analyses, instance Marxist, psychoanalytical or
especially semiology, the interpretation semiological), generates its own vocabulary
or decoding of verbal, visual or any other and concepts. A major problem for the student
sign system. of contemporary history, theory and criticism
of visual culture is the degree to which so
many interpretations in any of these specialist
disciplines draw upon an eclectic range of
historical, theoretical, critical and linguistic
practice.
34
Visvandatha temple
Khajuraho, India
10th–12th century
Language across Language and art Language and art Language Activity two Summary
the disciplines and design history and design theory and ideology
35
A stack of current books,
magazines and newspapers
48 / 49 02 Formal language: the academic disciplines of art and design Academic language
Language across the disciplines
Language across Language and art Language and art Language Activity two Summary
the disciplines and design history and design theory and ideology
It is the table of contents and ultimately the
Complexities and contradictions text itself that usually reveal most. Where the
subject is very focused, the title, subtitle and
The balance between giving a progressive table of contents are frequently accurate
account of something (history), justifying an representations of the text that follows. This is
interpretation (theory) and evaluating the most often the case with short essays.
evidence (criticism) is variable from one General accounts, even of specific
author or book to another and rarely, if categories of visual culture such as painting,
ever, declared. photography or interior design, are least likely
The language used in titles and subtitles of to deliver what their titles and subtitles claim.
books and essays can conceal as much as it Whether ‘The’ or ‘A’ history of art, books
reveals. Titles beginning ‘The history of…’ produced in the West are invariably written
invariably fail to fulfil their all-embracing from a Western point of view, critically favour
claim, least of all that of being the one and certain groups and individuals over others,
only, definitive account, which the use of the without offering any theoretical basis for
definite article ‘the’ leads one to expect. Titles their exclusivity.
beginning ‘A History of…’ avoid such extreme
ambitions but the implication that this is only
one possible point of view can be
compromised and even contradicted by a text
where the author too often assumes the
position of uncontested authority.
36
The Strand, London
50 / 51 02 Formal language: the academic disciplines of art and design Academic language
Of the three authors quoted in this subsection,
Robert Venturi is the most theoretical, his
37a
provocative thesis appropriately couched in
the rhetorical language of binary oppositions. Plans for Crown Hall, Illinois
Institute of Technology (above)
Robert Hughes’ language is much more
and Altes museum, Berlin,
conversational, determined probably by the Germany (below)
book’s origin in a television series, his text Karl Friederich Schinkel,
mixing historical, theoretical and critical 1822–23
approaches in a single paragraph. Kenneth
37b
Frampton is, as the title of his book accurately
Crown Hall, Illinois Institute of
states, critical, consistently comparing,
Technology, USA
contrasting and evaluating the architects and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, 1950–56
buildings he discusses. He is also explicit
about his point of view. ‘Crown Hall…was a decisive return
to the tradition of Schinkel and in
‘My interpretative stance has varied
particular to Schinkel’s Altes
according to the subject under consideration. Museum in Berlin, always admired
In some instances I have tried to show how a by Mies. This Schinkelschuler type-
particular approach derives from form is generally evident as an
organizing paradigm throughout
socio-economic or ideological circumstances,
Mies’s work of the late 1960s….
while in others I have restricted myself to Needless to say, the programme
formal analysis.’ (My italics). Kenneth could not always be appropriately
Frampton, Modern Architecture: A Critical accommodated within such a
simple paradigm. Thus, where the
History, Thames & Hudson (revised third
School of Social Services with its
edition), 1992 centralized library to the rear
permitted a more or less direct
transposition of the portico entry
and rotunda of the Altes Mueseum,
Crown Hall could but barely reflect
these constituent elements and
then only at the expense of the
programme.’
Kenneth Frampton, Modern
Architecture: A Critical History,
Thames & Hudson (revised third
edition), 1992
38
Red and blue chair
Gerrit Rietveld, 1918
Language across Language and art Language and art Language Activity two Summary
the disciplines and design history and design theory and ideology
39
The National Gallery, London
William Wilkins, 1832–38
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Language and art and design history
Language across Language and art Language and art Language Activity two Summary
the disciplines and design history and design theory and ideology
’isms Modernism
Semantic problems arising from the language By the end of the first chapter alone, Nikolaus
used in book titles, subtitles and chapter Pevsner in his Pioneers of the Modern Movement
headings, however, are minor compared with (original title 1936, revised and republished as
those confronting anyone engaging with the Pioneers of Modern Design, 1960) has introduced
historical literature on 20th-century visual at least ten key words or concepts by which he
culture. Quite apart from the fact that the 20th sought to define the new characteristics of
century has seen new communication modern art and design. More than half a
systems telescope world cultures into what is century later, but by the same point in his
commonly called a global village, the number book, Modernism (Phidaon Press, 2001), Richard
of art and design ’isms generated during this Weston has nearly doubled the number of new
century has exceeded any before. From terms used. Both authors, like so many others
Fauvisme, Cubism and Futurism before the who have written about the modern period,
First World War, through Purism, adopted the increasingly specialised language
Constructivism and Surrealism between the that has come to signify Modernism, like
two World Wars, to Abstract Expressionism, functionalism (fulfilling the required needs),
Conceptualism and Minimalism later in the mass-production (production for the majority
century, the list is so long that there are now rather than the minority), standardisation (the
books summarising the ’isms. Writers or regularisation of components in an
commentators addressing the entire century, assembly-line production system) and
however selective they may be, also have to construction (the declaration of the
negotiate portmanteau terms such as supporting system over outward
‘Modernism’ and ‘Postmodernism’. The former is appearances), plus ‘the untranslatable word
sufficiently distant in time to have acquired a sachlich, meaning at the same time pertinent,
substantial literature. The latter is still in matter-of-fact, and objective, (which) became
dispute, as the alternative, hyphenated, ‘post- the catchword of the growing Modern
modernism’ suggests. Both of these ’isms have Movement’, as Pevsner correctly observed.
generated new vocabulary and concepts over Almost all of these and many other terms
the decades and they now shape the many were acquired from other specialist
standard accounts available. disciplines, often other languages, and most
are metaphorical. They function as images of
what they seek to identify. This is very much
the case with Le Corbusier’s demand that the
house be ‘a machine for living in’.
40
The Bauhaus, Dessau,
workshop wing and driveway
Walter Gropius,1925–26
54 / 55 02 Formal language: the academic disciplines of art and design Academic language
There can be little doubt that this
accumulation of novel terminology was a
necessary response to the emphasis placed
upon innovation by leading artists and
designers both in their creative visual work
and in the proliferation of manifestos and
theoretical texts written by them or their
supporters. In retrospect, it might appear odd
that in their desire to rid themselves of all
traditional cultural assumptions about art and
design, – especially the expectation that a
picture should illustrate a story – the
Modernists should have rejected the
intrusions of literature into their own area of
expertise while taking up writing themselves.
But, as we all know, the unfamiliar is often
very challenging and demands explanation.
The innovations of modern art and design
required commentary, even justification. The
links between language and the visual arts
could be re-established, albeit on new terms,
and a new name given to these innovators;
the avant-garde (those in the forefront of
influence).
41
The Frankfurt kitchen
Grethe Schutte-Lihotzky, 1926
Language across Language and art Language and art Language Activity two Summary
the disciplines and design history and design theory and ideology
42
Isometric drawing of Walter
Gropius’s design for the office
of the Bauhaus director
Herbert Bayer, 1923
43
Bottle of Vieux Marc, Glass, Guitar
and Newspaper
Pablo Picasso, 1913
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Inflecting the modern Reductive practices
The several inflections of the word ‘modern’ Despite a revised text that included material
are highly significant in themselves. In on Art Nouveau, Futurism and Expressionism,
ordinary usage the semantic distinctions all excluded in the original publication,
between these are blurred, but within art and Pevsner’s foreword (in his Pioneers of Modern
design history, theory and criticism they have Design, 1960) still insists that his heroes, such
increasingly conveyed much more specific as Adolf Loos and Walter Gropius, ‘were the
meanings. The primary meaning of modern initiators of the style of the century and that
denotes the present or recent times. In this Gaudí and Sant’Elia were freaks and their
sense, all artefacts produced during the same inventions fantastical rantings’. This is explicit
period, whether traditional or innovative in critical-evaluation not objective history, but it
character, can be said to be modern. makes abundantly clear that Art Nouveau and
‘Modernity’ is more narrowly defined and is Futurism along with Expressionism, all
used to identify the condition of being decidedly innovative in their differing ways,
modern, especially in its more conscious were anathema to the Modernist cause and
progressive aspects. would later be labelled irrationalist.
‘Modernism’, like most other ’isms, A parallel and equally critical selection
identifies a set of ideas and practices. These ultimately determined what came to be
are highly selective, opposed not only to accepted as Modernist fine art. If painting and
traditional approaches but to those other sculpture were to extricate themselves from
contemporary, innovative developments that the other arts and achieve some degree of
do not conform to its own ideals. These are: autonomy they must, of necessity, concentrate
rationalism (the prioritisation of reason over upon what was most peculiar to their
all other means of explanation), regularisation specialist area of practice. In Western painting,
(the most rational forms: square, rectangle, this constituted the formal elements and their
triangle, circle and the 90-degree angled grid, effects and the flat surface on which these
the orthogonal, whether two- or three- formal elements appeared. Very early in the
dimensional), and the technological (those 20th century Roger Fry and Clive Bell,
elements of art, architecture or design derived following in the Formalist footsteps of
from the applied sciences). These were the Wölfflin, had concentrated attention on what
ideals promoted by Pevsner and others and Bell called ‘significant form’, distinguishing it
recorded and commented upon by Weston. from what were seen to be other, extraneous
‘Modernist’ denotes a person or artefact aspects of interest. This reductive approach
that supports these ideals. In Anglophone reached its ultimate definition in Clement
cultures, moderne (the French word for Greenberg’s essay, ‘Modernist Painting’ (1960):
modern) is sometimes used to designate the ‘flatness, two-dimensionality, was the only
popularisation of the decorative within condition painting shared with no other art,
modernity (rejected by Modernism) that is and so Modernist painting oriented itself to
most readily associated with Art Deco, a term flatness as it did to nothing else.’
derived from the 1925 Paris Exposition
Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et
Industriels Modernes.
Language across Language and art Language and art Language Activity two Summary
the disciplines and design history and design theory and ideology
Traditional ties Postmodernism
44
Vitra Design Museum poster
Mendell & Oberer, 1999
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60 / 61 02 Formal language: the academic disciplines of art and design Academic language
45
Destabilising modernism
Groninger museum, Netherlands
Coop Himmelblau, 1990–94
In Collins’s account, as in those of many
Rejecting the rectilinearity and others, ‘Pop Art’, with its blurring of the
undecorated surfaces of Modernist boundaries between high and low culture and
architecture, this building appears its embrace of consumerism, plays a pivotal
so unstable that it could be splitting
role. These terms, together with others such as
open, even falling apart. Intersecting
diagonal planes create a precarious kitsch, camp, and funk, indicate a decisive
effect while strident colour and move away from what by the 1960s had
all-over pattern further remove the become the severely reductive characteristics
building from traditional or
and language of the International Style
Modernist expectations.
(Modernism in its most programmatic,
aestheticised form). This radical shift in
sensibility is summed up in Robert Venturi’s
riposte, ‘Less is a bore’, to Mies van der Rohe’s,
‘Less is more’. This shift is also reflected in the
choice of name by the founders of the 1981
Milan-based design group, Memphis, alluding
to a Bob Dylan song as well as both the
pop-music capital in Tennessee, USA, and the
ancient Egyptian urban civilisation.
Double-coding (or even treble or quadruple), as
Charles Jencks identified it, is the
superimposition of one meaning upon
another, thereby complicating the
interpretation of an artefact.
The burgeoning influence and example of
Saussurian linguistics during the same period,
as we have seen, contributed to this
destabilisation of received expectations in
visual culture. If language itself was insecurely
bonded to that which it sought to represent,
how could any authority be invested in any
statement? To what extent should historians
46
of visual culture trust the stated intentions of
The thematic house, artists, architects, designers or, for that matter,
the winter room
theorists? Yet, Collins’s very pertinent
Charles Jencks, 1985
observation that, ‘the much-heralded “death
‘Architecture is a hybrid concern, a of the author” is not a commercial reality’,
mongrel or macaronic affair…its cannot be ignored in a consumer culture that
essential heterogeneity has been
gives so much emphasis to the designer-label.
recognised since Vitruvius defined it
in the first century BC as
“Commodity, Firmness and Delight”.
But these three, he continued, “must
be supplemented by a fourth which
is just as essential: the symbolic”’.
Charles Jencks, Towards a Symbolic
Architecture: The Thematic House,
Rizzoli, 1985
Language across Language and art Language and art Language Activity two Summary
the disciplines and design history and design theory and ideology
The two might best be distinguished in the
Alternatives context of cross-dressing. The drag artist relies
upon our awareness that it is a ‘fella in a frock’
Once doubts arise about the authority of (or woman in trousers). It is an exaggeration of
language to communicate a certain meaning, the stereotypical female or male
all verbal statements are open to a plurality of characteristics: it is parody. The transvestite
interpretation. Uncertainty leads to usually aims to be a convincing equivalent of
scepticism. This scepticism is as visible in the the opposite sex: this is pastiche.
artefacts of Postmodernism as it is legible in Despite its use of classical columns and
the historical commentaries. Mike their recessed equivalents, pilasters, Venturi’s
Featherstone in his 1991 book Consumer Culture National Gallery extension makes clear that it
and Postmodernism characterised several is not a classical building like the main gallery
postmodern characteristics as: ‘The with its centralised portico echoing Palladio’s
effacement of the boundary between art and Villa Rotonda. The columns nearest to the old
life; the collapse of hierarchical distinctions building are packed together but as the eye
between high and mass/popular culture; a moves further away, the columns get further
stylistic promiscuity favouring eclecticism and apart until they cease altogether. The section
the mixing of codes; parody, pastiche, irony, of the extension most distant from the old
playfulness and the celebration of the surface building is so stripped down that it could
“depthlessness” of culture; the decline of the qualify as Modernist. Add to this the exposed
originality/genius or artistic producer; and the iron roofing over the main staircase which in
assumption that art can only be repetition.’ effect quotes 19th-century engineering
Robert Venturi had promoted the appropriation structures and the building as a whole can
of elements from the past, especially the more easily be seen to be hybrid (of mixed origin,
symbolic ones, in opposition to the purged heterogeneous), another common
world of Modernism and clearly linked this to characteristic of Postmodernism.
the wider readmittance of historicism (the
appearance, form or structure of historical
styles). These characteristics are closely linked
to pastiche and parody.
47a
Sainsbury’s wing extension, the
National Gallery, London
Robert Venturi architectural office,
1986–1991
47b
The riverside development,
Richmond, Surrey, UK
Quinlan Terry, 1984–87
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Language across Language and art Language and art Language Activity two Summary
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48
Colour collage
J M Clarke, 2007
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Language and art and design theory
Language across Language and art Language and art Language Activity two Summary
the disciplines and design history and design theory and ideology
The future The spiritual
‘We will sing of great crowds excited by work, Wassily Kandinsky’s (1866–1944) Concerning the
by pleasure, and by riot; we will sing of the Spiritual in Art (1912), despite its consistent
multicoloured, polyphonic tides of revolution references to supposedly rational supporting
in modern capitals; we will sing of the vibrant evidence (Marxism, Theosophy, atonal music),
mighty fervour of arsenals and shipyards depends for its effect upon an equally
blazing with violent electric moons; greedy rhetorical use of highly metaphoric language:
railway stations that devour smoke-plumed ‘Colour is the keyboard, the eyes are the
serpents; factories hung on clouds by the hammers, the soul is the piano with many
crooked lines of their smoke; bridges that strings. The artist is the hand that plays,
stride the rivers like giant gymnasts, flashing touching one key or another purposively, to
in the sun with the glitter of knives; cause vibrations in the soul.’ Kandinsky’s
adventurous steamers that sniff the horizon; claim in the next paragraph that: ‘It is
deep-chested locomotives whose wheels paw evident therefore that colour harmony must
the tracks like the hooves of enormous steel rest ultimately on purposive playing upon
horses bridled by tubing; and the sleek flight of the human soul; this is one of the guiding
planes whose propellers chatter in the wind principles of internal necessity’ is pure
like banners and seem to cheer like an speculation, its unsupported assertions
enthusiastic crowd.’ underlined later in statements such as,
Of the 11 listed aims in Filippo Tommaso ‘form is the external expression of inner
Marinetti’s (1876–1944) Founding Manifesto of meaning’.
Futurism (1909), this is both the longest and Many of Kandinsky’s claims relate to his
most sustained example of rhetorical rather preoccupation with synaesthesia, the
than rationalised exposition of a theoretical overlapping of one sensory response with
position. The initial ‘We’ was a fiction (there another. Language itself betrays our common
were no other members of the Futurist group acceptance that a particular colour can be hot
at the time); verbal images, whether similes or or cold, sweet or sour, soft or hard, quiet or
metaphors, accumulate but without any loud. Kandinsky was himself acutely sensitive
suggestion of how these might be visually to these sensory associations and relies upon
realised (what method should be used to our (albeit Western) collective experience
represent ‘greedy railway stations that devour when he writes, ‘yellow is the typically earthly
smoke-plumed serpents’?); progressive colour’, ‘blue is the typically heavenly colour’,
technology is celebrated but through before considering ‘the varied powers of red’.
metaphorical, anthropomorphic and But where Marinetti’s aspirations were for
zoomorphic parallels (‘bridges that stride the an urban-industrial renewal of visual culture,
rivers like giant gymnasts’ and ‘the hooves of Kandinsky’s, perhaps even more ambitiously,
enormous steel horses bridled by tubing’). were for an apocalyptic, spiritual
Paradoxes abound but the intended, transformation of lived experience: ‘Painting is
incantatory effect is achieved. a thundering collision of different worlds,
Having already announced that, ‘a roaring intended to create a new world in, and from,
car…is more beautiful than the Victory of the struggle with one another, a new world
Samothrace’ (the famous sculpture of a which is the work of art’ (Wassily Kandinsky,
winged female figure with fluttering drapery), Reminiscences, 1913). The language is biblical,
and that, ‘We will glorify war – the world’s more the Book of Revelations than a manual
hygiene,’ as well as ‘destroy the museums, on painting.
libraries, academies of every kind’, Marinetti
concludes, ‘Art, in fact, can be nothing but
violence, cruelty, and injustice.’ All of this is
bombast, exaggerated statements whose
primary aim is to arouse and excite instead of
convince with rational argument.
66 / 67 02 Formal language: the academic disciplines of art and design Academic language
49
A Futurist evening in Milan
Umberto Boccioni, 1911
50
Impression No. 3 (Concert)
Wassily Kandinsky, 1911
Language across Language and art Language and art Language Activity two Summary
the disciplines and design history and design theory and ideology
The modern Modernist graphics
68 / 69 02 Formal language: the academic disciplines of art and design Academic language
51
Rüstem Pasa Mosque,
Istanbul, Iznik ceramic mural
(detail), 1561
52
Moller house, ladies’ lounge
Adolf Loos, 1928
53
‘Kiki’ poster,
Jan Tschichold, 1927
54
Bauhaus press letterhead
Lázló Moholy-Nagy, c.1920
Language across Language and art Language and art Language Activity two Summary
the disciplines and design history and design theory and ideology
As with other important writers on
Roman Las Vegas Postmodern architecture, such as Charles
Jencks’s The Language of Postmodern Architecture
Learning From Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism (Academy Editions, 1977) Venturi and his
of Architectural Form (MIT Press, 1977), written colleagues argue that the symbolic level of
with Denise Scott Brown and Steven Izenour, interpretation is as essential in architecture as
was Robert Venturi’s second challenge to a formal or technical one. Adopting the
Modernism. At the outset, it makes its central concepts and tools of semiology, Venturi
concern clear, ‘Las Vegas is analysed…only as a argues that, ‘Architecture depends in its
phenomenon of architectural perception and creation on past experience
communication.’ Overall, the message is and emotional association and that these
equally clear: just as academic architects went symbolic and representational elements may
to study in Rome, contemporary students often be contradictory to the form, structure,
should go to Las Vegas, and the similarities and program with which they combine in the
and dissimilarities are explored in some detail. same building.’
Like the earlier work, much of the writing is Overall, the language employed is as rich
structured around the use of comparisons and and varied as the thesis: academic mixed with
contrasts. This is especially so when the the conversational, technical with the
55a
preferred, ‘flamboyant’ commercial buildings colloquial. Metaphors and similes abound.
of the hedonistic gambling town are set in Signs ‘inflect’. There are ‘dumb’ doorknobs and Fremont Street (also known as
Glitter Gulch), Las Vegas, c.1940
opposition to the ‘puristic’ austerities of the several neologisms, such as ‘sprawl city’. In a
Modernist International Style. But another book with so many comparisons and 55b
significant and consistent comparison, no contrasts, binary opposites proliferate, a
Las Vegas strip, c.1960
doubt greatly influenced by the rise of Pop art, number going beyond the single word to
is with the Roman: ‘The Italian landscape has opposing phrases, as in ‘ugly and ordinary’ Very early in Venturi’s Learning from
always harmonised the vulgar and the against ‘heroic and original’, ‘symbols in Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of
Architectural Form, the major
Vitruvian,’ that is to say, mixed high and low space’ against ‘forms in space’ or ‘mixed
highway of the town is established
cultural elements. This is an important media’ against ‘pure architecture’. as one of the main components in
characteristic of Postmodernism, widely the overall argument:
practised and frequently addressed in the ‘Las Vegas is to The Strip what Rome
relevant literature. is to the Piazza…the zone of the
highway is a shared order. The zone
off the highway is an individual
order. The elements of the highway
are civic. The buildings and signs are
private. In combination they
embrace continuity and
discontinuity, going and stopping,
clarity and ambiguity, cooperation
and competition, the community
and rugged individualism….The
agglomeration of Caesar's Palace
and The Strip as a whole approaches
the spirit if not the style of the late
Roman Forum with its eclectic
accumulations…. For three days one
may imagine oneself a centurion at
Caesar's Palace.’
Robert Venturi, Learning from Las
Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of
Architectural Form, MIT Press, 1977
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56
Bookshelf
72 / 73 02 Formal language: the academic disciplines of art and design Academic language
Language and ideology
Language across Language and art Language and art Language Activity two Summary
the disciplines and design history and design theory and ideology
The sociological
74 / 75 02 Formal language: the academic disciplines of art and design Academic language
Initially, Freud divided the psyche, uppermost
The psychoanalytical down, into conscious, pre-conscious and
unconscious levels with a system of
Like Marxism, psychoanalytical theory since censorship operating between each level. By
Sigmund Freud has passed through many the early 1920s, he had reconfigured this
revisions and several alternatives, each relationship and presented a new structure
addition and transformation adding to the and vocabulary: in reverse order these are the
already existing concepts and vocabulary. id as the source of all undifferentiated desire
Essential to all of these is the common belief, or fear; the superego as the internalised force of
now absorbed into common usage, that there cultural repression; the ego as the determining
exists a conscious and sub-conscious level in relationship between both of these factors.
the human psyche. What often interests those Central to this repressive, psychic mechanism
engaged in visual culture is the degree to is the concept of psychological castration, the
which the conscious intentions of an artist Oedipal Complex, in which the infant male’s
or designer are determined by their sub- desire to possess its all-providing mother is
conscious aspirations and anxieties. threatened by both mother and father.
Psychoanalytical commentaries seek to Post-Freudian analysts such as Melanie
discover these hidden intentions, often Klein and Jacques Lacan have reinterpreted
using methods similar to those of the several of Freud’s concepts. Klein focused
psychoanalyst’s free association technique, attention upon the pre-verbal stages of the
a method entirely dependent upon the child’s development, especially behavioural
analyst’s response to the highly ambiguous, responses to the breast. Together with Joan
given material. Riviere they diagnosed the patterns of love,
hate and reparation that have influenced
many writers on art, including Adrian Stokes
and Richard Wollheim.
The more recent theories of Jacques Lacan,
true to his post-Saussurian origins, recognised
that, given the fundamentally verbal
relationship between analyst and analysand
in the traditional circumstances of
psychoanalysis, the human psyche was best
understood through linguistic models.
Decoding the dreams and incoherent
statements of analysands was parallel to that
of decoding any language statement and, by a
semiological shift, the visual. Even the so-
called ‘mad’ person was still using language,
however unconventionally. On which basis, it
is easy to see how this approach could be
applied to the albeit different means of visual
58
communication. Like Freud, Lacan divided the
PPDVI psyche into three ‘orders’. All have had ready
(Post-Partum Document,
application to visual culture. They are: the
Documentation VI: pre-writing
alphabet, exurgue and diary) imaginary: the mirror stage, that moment of
Mary Kelly, 1978 self-recognition as separate from the mother;
the symbolic: the moment the child enters
Each section in the Post-Partum
language, culture, and encounters the
Document series uses a different
structure but Kelly’s overall concern significance of the father (patriarchy); the
is always with the relationship real: the illusive, never-defined, unstable
between her and her son during the notion of being.
weaning period. The section VI
series use the format of the Rosetta
Stone as a structural model and
focuses on Lacan’s ‘symbolic order’,
the moment of the child’s entry into
language and learning to write. It is
also the final stage in the Oedipal
Complex. A significant feature of the
whole series is the absence of any
images of the body, the mother’s or
the child’s.
Language across Language and art Language and art Language Activity two Summary
the disciplines and design history and design theory and ideology
Feminist identity Gay identity
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59 60
Untitled no 122 Untitled
Cindy Sherman, 1983 David Wojnarowicz,1992
Language across Language and art Language and art Language Activity two Summary
the disciplines and design history and design theory and ideology
Racial identity Post-colonialism
The term ‘Western culture’ presupposes other European colonialism was not a worldwide
cultures and otherness is a central issue in phenomenon, but its imperialist, universalising
contemporary discourse on racial as on other ambitions are readily recognisable in those of
kinds of identity. If all identity is culturally contemporary globalisation; the willing or
constructed, the identities of non-white forceful establishment of Western, capitalist,
people raise some very specific issues. Given Liberal-democratic values. In this context
the powerful role of written language within difference acquires other meanings, including
Western culture, those from oral cultures the incommensurable (the incompatible,
without written records, documents or irreconcilable), for example, the clash of
literature were and sometimes still are judged fundamentalist Islam and equally
inferior. The adoption of another’s written fundamentalist Christianity. Despite the
language complicates matters further. This is common origins of the Christian, Islamic and
paralleled in the context of visual culture too Jewish faiths, questions of identity whether
and verbalised through the familiar use of religious, social or sexual have become acute.
implicit, if not always explicit, binary terms. The postmodern assumption that meta-
Until very recently, Western writing narratives (those universalising systems of
interpreted sub-Saharan African, wooden belief or theory) are dead is clearly
figures as primitive carvings by anonymous contradicted. If visual culture is to be
craftsmen; Brancusi’s equally conceptualised, addressed globally, these highly significant
wooden pieces as sophisticated sculptures by differences must be accommodated.
a named artist. The disparity between the two Manifestations of these complexities are
evaluations was blatant. Disparities of this replete within visual culture and can be
kind, and others, still persist. both supportive of and interrogative of
Postmodernism.
61
Paris Match cover
Issue 326, 25 June–2 July, 1955
78 / 79 02 Formal language: the academic disciplines of art and design Academic language
Deconstruction
63
Superimposition of lines,
points and surfaces,
Parc de la Villette, Paris
Bernard Tschumi, c.1985
Tschumi’s relation to
deconstruction is not only through
his contacts with Jacques Derrida.
Tschumi wrote in Architecture and
Disjunction (The MIT Press, 1996) of
the Parc de la Villette that, ‘the
superimposition of three coherent
structures can never result in a
supercoherent megastructure, but in
something undecidable, something
that is the opposite of totality’. This
diagram illustrates the separate
structures employed.
Language across Language and art Language and art Language Activity two Summary
the disciplines and design history and design theory and ideology
Activity two
How well does formal academic
language communicate?
64
Classical ruins
William Gowe Ferguson,
late 17th century
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65
Dolls, Dresden
Sebastian Loew, 2005
66
Talking Presence
Sonia Boyce, 1988
Language across Language and art Language and art Language Activity two Summary
the disciplines and design history and design theory and ideology
Summary
1
All academic disciplines
have their own
specialist language.
2
The specialist language
employed unavoidably
determines understanding.
3
Dividing the history of art
and design into periods,
styles and movements is only
an expedient.
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4 7 10
There are no clear The vocabulary particular Theoretical writing
distinctions between to Modernism and can be prescriptive as
the history, theory and Postmodernism is as much well as explanatory.
criticism of visual culture. a part of their identities as
the artefacts.
5 8
The title of a book In the 20th century many
can be misleading more artists and designers
about its content. took to writing their own
theories. Is this an attempt
to determine interpretation
and understanding?
6 9
Histories of art and design The language of art and
are never neutral; they design theory is just as
are always selective and likely to use metaphorical and
written from a particular rhetorical devices as sequential
point of view. logical statements.
Language across Language and art Language and art Language Activity two Summary
the disciplines and design history and design theory and ideology
84 / 85 03 Informal Language: beyond the academic disciplines
03Informal language:
beyond the academic
disciplines
67
Why I chose graphic design (detail)
Jamie Howlett, 2005
70
East Coast Hip Hop
Album cover, 2006
72
Skateboards
74
PowerHouse skatezine,
various covers
Over the last two decades, Hip Hop has The language of graffiti is extensive and every
become the most international, influential bit as specialised as that of conventional fine
subcultural group, having evolved from its art. The word graffiti itself has ancient Greek
roots in 1970s New York black ghettos or and Latin origins. Graphein in ancient Greek
’hoods (neighbourhoods) into a richly compounds to draw, paint or write, as in to
overlapping mix of words, music, dance, dress describe or depict. The Latin, graphium, is the
and graphics. As with all other youth tool used by scribes. Graffiti is Italian and
subcultures, music is the core element linked to sgraffito, a mural technique. There is
bonding its members. For Hip Hop this is Rap, an obvious irony here.
the rapid, rhythmically spoken monologue Graffiti is as old as fine art, but where our
over a musical background. The vocabulary Western fine art tradition from the classical
used in Rap is that of ordinary conversation through the Italian Renaissance to the present
within the subculture. The music has clear is not only a legitimate but elevated cultural
parallels with several aspects of postmodern form, graffiti is illegitimate, commonly
visual culture, especially the appropriation of categorised with vandalism and likely to be
existing material for purposes different from erased in as brief a time as it took to make.
that of the original. Scratching is the dragging A whole list of binary terms operate in any
of the needle across the tracks of commercial discussion of graffiti: legal – illegal; amateur –
recordings. Quickmixing is a collage of musical professional; high – low; honourable –
fragments electronically lifted from different dishonourable; permanent – transitory. Just
sources. Sampling is a direct musical when the complex, ghetto graffiti of New York
equivalent to appropriation; a reworking of began to appear in the 1980s, one-time
readily recognisable examples. graffitists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat and
Keith Haring were taken up by first
commercial and then public galleries,
legitimised and made artists.
75
Stencil graffiti
D:FACE, 2006
77
Railwayside graffiti
London 2006
79
Railwayside graffiti
London 2006
80
Railwayside graffiti
London 2006
84
Star Star
Jason Fox, 2006
91
De la Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea
Erich Mendelsohn and
Serge Chermayeff, 1935–36
92
Guerrillero Heroico
Alexander Korda, 1960
‘There was a time when Camden ‘The famous photograph of Che ‘It’s the face that not so launched a ‘The fate of a single image,
(London) was communist – or at Guevara snapped by Alberto Korda thousand ships as provided the documented in a concise and clever
least it looked that way. On a stroll in 1960 has circulated through the backdrop for student digs. The exhibition at the V&A, sums up our
up the lock, you’d be bombarded globe in the past half century, photograph of Ernesto “Che” lapse from idealism to the plump,
with images on badges, T-shirts and endlessly reproduced in Guevara taken by Alberto Korda on smug hoarding of our material
posters of romantic Red increasingly exotic forms, each March 5, 1960 is thought to be the gains. In 1960 the photographer
revolutionary Che Guevara…and the created with different intentions most reproduced image in the Alberto Korda snapped Che Guevara
image was always the same one: a and evoking varied responses…a history of photography, and its at a rally in Cuba – shag-haired,
single frame captured by one new exhibition…concentrates many manifestations form the basis frowning with messianic intensity,
Alberto Korda.The powerful specifically on the history and for the...exhibition.... Despite and wearing his zip-up leather
image…became a rallying symbol legacy of the Korda portrait, often representing rebellion for millions jacket as if it were a clerical soutane,
for protestors worldwide, from the known as the Guerrillero Heroico, of people since the Latin American the uniform of his fanatical creed.
student uprisings in Prague in 1968, the startling image with eyes gazing revolutionary leader was snapped at Korda called the image Guerrillero
through the Zapatistas in Mexico, to fiercely into some distant horizon, a funeral cortege in Cuba, the Heroico, allegorised Che….
the Middle East today – appearing traditionally displayed in students’ portrait has also taken on a range of After Che’s assination in 1967,
on posters, banners and murals.... rooms.... Most of those who sport different meanings by its co-option Korda’s portrait – now starkly
For others, it’s become a generic the Che Guevara logo today forget unto advertising and simplified, with beret lifting off to
statement of romanticised, that he was the Osama bin Laden of merchandising.’ form a halo and its red star holding
anti-establishment views…. More his time…. Securely insulated from out a remote hope that heaven
recently, its ubiquity has opened it politics, Guevara’s image is now might still be established on
up to pastiche and parody…. It is largely perceived as a fashion Earth – found its way on to posters,
ironic that this Marxist accessory, the logo on the celebrity lapel badges and T-shirts. It became
revolutionary has probably helped T-shirt or handbag…Korda…worked a testament to martyrdom, and the
shift more T-shirts, baseball caps as a young man as a fashion tragic souvenir of a lost cause….
and assorted tat than Mickey photographer…. He aimed to be the The image persists, but these days it
Mouse…. Korda’s photograph and Richard Avedon of Cuba. Taken by has a different meaning. The enemy
the mythology of Guevara go hand surprise by the guerrilla victory of of capitalism has been co-opted, and
in hand.’ 1959, he worked subsequently with killed over again; the freedom
Raul Corrales, Castro’s official fighter, transformed into a
photographer, to capture the commercial brand, now greases
excitement of the revolution. In his transactions in the consumer
image of Che, something survives of economy and sells opium to
his earliest experience with the masses.’
beautiful women. With the
extraordinarily long hair and wispy
beard, it is a strikingly androgynous
portrait, and in the 1970s it
inevitably appeared on a poster as
“Che Gay”.’
93 94
Cher Guevara GuevIRA, 1993
Scott King, 2001
2
English, although now
universally prioritised, is not
a universal language.
3
The distinction between formal
and informal language in
English is probably etymological;
ancient Greek and Latin for
formal language and Germanic
or Anglo-Saxon for informal.
5 8
The language most suited to The language of journalism
discussing a visual culture such is not unified but reflective of
as graffiti is not appropriate to the vocabulary and concepts
discussing Italian Renaissance of its target readership.
painting and sculpture.
6 9
Colloquial language can be Journalism is most often
no less particular and eclectic in the choice of
exclusive than formal, language, mixing and matching
academic language. Both are according the occasion.
acquired language patterns.
Language and oral Oral presentations Choosing the Sampling one Summary
communication appropriate language
95
Two audio cassettes
Giulio Miglietta, 2006
Language and oral Oral presentations Choosing the Sampling one Summary
communication appropriate language
The studio discussion of one
Conversation Dialogue
student’s Christmas vacation design
assignment, ‘Pocket Monet’ (a pun
Much of our daily conversation falls far short In group discussions, statements are made, on ‘pocket money’), is typical of very
of the recommended ideals of clarity and the audience receives and interprets the many. The names of several famous,
international people had been
precision in good verbal communication. We statements and responds. This is dialogue; a
randomly distributed as subjects
fail to complete sentences altogether or rely verbal interchange of thoughts, opinions or among the group, the design
upon the listener to do it for us as in, ‘and so feelings. The entire group may agree with any requirement being something that
on’, ‘do you get me?’ or ‘see what I mean?’. We one or all the statements made but not always. epitomised the subject but small
enough to go into a pocket. This
frequently speak in phrases, but deliver them Questions may be asked. An original
particular student was given the
as if they were sentences with finite verbs. statement may be challenged by one of the Turkish nation-builder and
Members of a peer or subcultural group group making a contrary statement. And so nationalist leader, Mustafa Kemal
usually understand each other sufficiently to the chain of communication continues. Ataturk.
Asked by the tutor, ‘Have you
enable incomplete sentences and fragmentary Whether or not the discussion reaches an
finished it?’ she replied, ‘Yes, but my
phrases to communicate satisfactorily. The agreed conclusion, the literary parallel here is friend was messing around. The
speaker is assuming other members of the drama, with its progressive exchange of thing is I couldn’t use the double-
group are so informed about the subject being differing points of view, not the novel, where a sided printer thing so I just cut and
stuck it up.’ When the tutor then
addressed that they can complete the single narrative voice usually dominates.
asked if she or anyone in the group
undeclared end of the sentence or phrase, as The dialogue will ideally reflect the had heard of Ataturk before, the
the examples above show. diversity of knowledge and experience that answer was no but the student
But conversational language patterns go each student brings to any group discussion, continued, ‘Obviously I’m gonna
examine his life…. At Christmas, I
beyond any particular group. Elisions are but the dialogue has to be conducted within a
got a book on astrology so basically
ubiquitous, as in, ‘aren’t they?’, ‘don’t you broadly agreed pattern of language, especially looked his birthday up. First of
think?’, ‘I’ve done this’. Interjections, such as, specialist language. For students of visual March so he was Pisces (the fish
‘really?’, ‘wow!’, or, ‘cool’ are almost as culture, this means acquiring as soon as sign). I made a connection between
that and events in Turkey.’
numerous. There are also those innumerable, possible a firm hold on the meaning and use of
As the discussion focused on the
repetitious habits of speech. Some are the vocabulary and concepts widely employed design work, one participant asked,
personal, the favoured vocabulary of the in any serious discourse on art and design in ‘What about the fish?’ adding ‘I
speaker, as in, for example, the consistent use any given language. This is not easy, but once wouldn’t have known about
astrology and Pisces.’ The student
of ‘marvellous’ rather than ‘wonderful’ or an acquired, the benefits become increasingly
explained, ’A school of fish is like
equivalent. Others are part of the collective clear in terms of both accuracy and people following him’.
language of a culture. Repeatedly beginning a confidence.
sentence, sometimes inappropriately, with
‘basically’ is a typical example, as is the use
of ‘like’ in ‘So I thought like…’, meaning ‘So I
thought that…’. Consideration of the specific
language to be used for a particular audience
is important if communication is to be
ensured.
97
Pocket Monet
Keisha Ferrell, 2005
98a
98b
Pocket Monet
Keisha Ferrell, 2005
Language and oral Oral presentations Choosing the Sampling one Summary
communication appropriate language
Talking about the gestation and
Monologue
development of a still unfinished
work can be hazardous for many,
If possible, it is always advisable to ascertain the inconclusiveness of the material
what kind of language is appropriate to any being dealt with too amorphous to
describe. This was the case in the
oral presentation if communication is to be
early stages of a typographic
successful. Even within a relatively contained assignment, ‘Word’. The task was to
peer group like that of first-year use a variety of methods to record
undergraduates all on the same course of conversations using only type, but
taking into consideration how all
study, it is unwise to assume too high a degree
the senses are affected by the
of common understanding. All too likely, the circumstances; in other words,
group will contain students from quite synaesthetic experience.
different cultural backgrounds, each bringing
their own expectations and patterns of
understanding. Differences in understanding
and interpretation are inevitable even among
students from the same language culture and
widen where the group contains students
from quite different language cultures.
In the 1930s, C. K. Ogden developed what he
called Basic English, reducing the vast
vocabulary of the language to 850 words.
Although this is no longer generally employed,
it is easily paralleled today in what
professional interpreters of other languages
into English would recognise as International
English: a basic vocabulary that is readily
understood by very many others using English
as a second language. Within the context of
any specialist discipline, this includes the
relevant specialist language. Anyone
addressing an international audience in
whatever language might consider reducing
their vocabulary to the most familiar and,
therefore, readily understood.
100
Look At Her
Sara Colding, 2005
Language and oral Oral presentations Choosing the Sampling one Summary
communication appropriate language
101
Double-page exploration
Lakweena Suit, 2005
Language and oral Oral presentations Choosing the Sampling one Summary
communication appropriate language
In almost all cases, however, whether the
Interview student is interviewing or being interviewed,
the situation is for the most part a reciprocal
Unlike group discussions where all the one. The language employed by the
participants help determine the direction of participants can vary considerably according
the dialogue, an interview is fundamentally to the speakers; almost exclusively
interrogative, a question and answer structure formal–academic, informal–colloquial or,
in which the interviewer is largely responsible more likely, a mixture of both. A single
for the questions put to the interviewee. example of an interview cannot be made
Sometimes the questions can be rigidly representative of all these factors but it can
predetermined. On other occasions they arise illustrate a number of frequently encountered
from the responding statements of the contexts in which the questions put to the
interviewee, as in the interview recorded here. interviewee are satisfactorily answered. The
An interview is, of course, a kind of dialogue example used here immediately establishes
but a restricted one both in the number of the degree to which students, from the
participants and the possible control exercised beginning of the assignment, was consciously
by the interviewer. Ideally, it is an equal, pursuing the potential of her chosen subject
reciprocal relationship, a face to face and how different and accessible and always
encounter for the purpose of consultation, but approriate to the context. All the questions are
it can also be an interrogation of someone answered, the information given repeatedly
suspected of a misdemeanour. An interview, going beyond that required and indicating the
therefore, can be more threatening than either extent to which the interviewee was as much
a monologue or a dialogue. The interviewee in control as the interviewer.
must be attentive to all the connotations of the
questions put to them and the implications of
their answers. Vigilance is required if the
interviewee is to exercise control over the
direction of the interview. Students might
find themselves in either of these roles,
interviewer or interviewee, and need to be
prepared for both.
Language and oral Oral presentations Choosing the Sampling one Summary
communication appropriate language
104
The Balloon Race: In the Bag 200
Alexis Mutkin, 2005
105
The Balloon Race: Getting Ready
Alexis Mutkin, 2005
106
The Balloon Race: the Release
Alexis Mutkin, 2005
Language and oral Oral presentations Choosing the Sampling one Summary
communication appropriate language
Rather than speaking from a few bullet points
Addressing the audience listing the essential items to be addressed,
some students, made nervous by the prospect
Clear enunciation and pronunciation using of standing up in front of an audience, are
standard diction are generally recommended. tempted to write out in full what they intend
These considerations are made even more to say then either learn it by heart or read it
important when the presentation is given to out. A student with appropriate performing
students from different language cultures and skills like those of a good actor might succeed
possibly with only a limited experience of the with the first option. The second is invariably a
one being used by the speaker. Making a recipe for failure. Speed of delivery, pacing and
correct assessment of the audience in terms of pausing are necessary if the audience is to
age, cultural background, language ability and receive and properly understand what is said.
familiarity with the subject is a major factor in Reading almost always results in a too
any successful presentation, as is the choice of regularised rhythm and monotonous effect.
visual or other supporting material and how it Because oral presentations are by definition
is integrated with the oral. spoken ones, some of the characteristics of
ordinary speech, such as elisions, a hesitant or
occasionally faltering delivery, are entirely
acceptable, even contributing to the desirable
variety. They are widely accepted as the signs
of authenticity, the authorial voice of the
speaker.
Language and oral Oral presentations Choosing the Sampling one Summary
communication appropriate language
Presentation two
111
The first of two presentations on
architectural design was very The Jencks house, side elevation
different. While the frequently used (after alterations)
‘I’ as in, ‘I have selected a domestic Charles Jencks and Terry Farrell,
building, which is Charles Jencks’s 1978–81
house…located in Holland Park,
London.’ maintained a personal ‘The conversion of the Jencks’ family
tone, the choice of ‘domestic home, which was built in 1840,
building’ rather than ‘house’ and evolved over the years 1978–1981.
‘located’ rather than just ‘in Holland The main conversion shell was
Park’ ensured a close association designed in collaboration with Terry
with the Latinate language of Farrell Architectural Partnership,
academia. This remained and Charles and Maggie Keswick
consistently so. ‘The Jencks house Jencks, the owners.’
conversion is an example of
Postmodern architecture that has
been sympathetically related to its
context, retaining some of the local
features and vernacular style of the
London stock brick, cream stucco
and trim. The complex hybridism of
the façade communicates
symbolism, new classicism and
mannerism. It has been termed
symbolic by its owner, meaning to
allow the viewer to appreciate its
expressive form and discover its
intended message.’
112
The Jencks house, front door
Charles Jencks and Terry Farrell,
1978–81
Presentation four
114
The second presentation on
architectural design remained Nationale-Nederlanden building,
impersonal throughout. The nearest Prague
to the personalised ‘I’ being, ‘we can Frank O. Gehry with Vladimir
say that’. But while terms such as Milunic 1992–96
‘signification’, ‘appropriation’ and
‘deconstruction’, or sentences such ‘The building…was to fill an empty
as ‘Frank Gehry...juxtaposes various space in the centre of Prague after
sources...revealing the meaning in World War II bombing’.
the non-narrative manner of
detached signifiers’, brought the
presentation close to a spoken
academic essay, the following
sentence: ‘The effect of the towers
composed in a fluid embrace is still
extraordinarily lyrical, a show-
stopping performance.’ is nearer to
the more accessible and suggestive
language of journalism.
Language and oral Oral presentations Choosing the Sampling one Summary
communication appropriate language
115
Wow wow
Sara Colding, 2005
Language and oral Oral presentations Choosing the Sampling one Summary
communication appropriate language
The audience The context
The first key question in choosing the A second key question is what is the context.
appropriate language is who is being In the most informal studio situation almost
addressed. In a one-to-one conversation with anything that manages to communicate
a fellow student from the same social and effectively is acceptable, including near-
cultural background a great number of meaningful repetitions such as: ‘basically’ or
assumptions about language communication ‘like’, phrases or sentences that trail off into,
can be made by both but this could be ‘and so on’, or slang words as in, ‘Dalí’s work
disastrous in a comparable conversation with is whacky’.
a fellow student from a very different cultural This kind of language is unlikely to suit a
and linguistic context, even one within the group discussion involving a more diverse
same peer group. In the absence of a universal group of participants and be even less
language, translation from one particular appropriate in the context of a student giving
language into another is hazardous. an account of their own work to a peer group
Even within the same language culture of international students. Colloquialisms such
sharp differences in the use and as, ‘higgledy-piggledy’ may be acceptable if not
understanding of words and concepts exist encouraged; slang is not. In a pre-prepared
between one social group and another. As we oral presentation, standard English and
have already seen, subcultural or specialist standard diction (or the received equivalents
language can contribute to effective in any other language) are generally expected.
communication between members of the This does not exclude elisions, similes,
same group or confuse and even alienate metaphors or the personlised ‘I’, but it does
those outside it. Whether a listener or reader entail respect for a more formal, public-
understands terms like iconography, signifier, minded approach in which academic and
sachlichkeit or tag, depends upon the breadth technical terms are used accurately and
and depth of their cultural awareness. theoretical statements are made in the
vocabulary particular to each one. It also
entails respect for differences in culture, race,
gender, and sexual orientation. Prioritising
white, heterosexual, male Westerners over all
others is no longer acceptable.
116
Circular text
Sara Colding, 2005
118 117
Dividing, headlines Nationale-Nederlanded building,
Louise Matell, 2005 Prague
Frank O Gehry with
Assessing the context, carefully Vladimir Milunic 1992–96
judging the target audience,
choosing the right language, verbal In her oral presentation on Gehry’s
or visual, and deciding on the most building, the student stressed the
effective mode of delivery, are not Postmodern concern to go beyond
restricted to oral presentations. This any single, elitist interpretation of a
image shows attempts by a graphic building to include more readily
design student to identify different accessible elements, especially
kinds of language used in different visual metaphors. The two
English newspapers to report the contrasted but embracing towers
same event. are a visual metaphor for a dancing
couple: the Ginger and Fred of
popular Hollywood culture. In this
way architects aim to communicate
meaning to an ordinary person
while keeping the interest of
experts. Might this be a
consideration for those giving an
oral presentation?
Language and oral Oral presentations Choosing the Sampling one Summary
communication appropriate language
Naming Describing
Sampling one
Every example of studio talk used in Naming is rarely enough to
A sample identifies an object, action or this chapter names people, things, adequately identify a visual
conduct judged worthy of imitation; an thoughts, actions, events and much experience; the context is almost
else. Naming is a fundamental in all always too complex for that. Simply
illustration of a typical or representative
language communication. In the naming the objects and actions in a
example. A sample can serve as a model for context of verbalising the visual, major painting would not only be
others. In many ways, not least our choice of nouns (the words we use to name inadequate, it would very likely be
language, we are all dependent on existing things) and adjectives (the words misleading. Further information
used to qualify a noun) play a vital explaining the relationship between
models, whether we imitate a single one,
role in any commentary: they the objects and actions and how
reject one in favour of another, or combine identify things. Our understanding these are represented is required. If
elements from several. Within visual culture, of anything spoken or written our first experience of a visual
the term eclectic is used where the depends upon the speaker or writer image is through someone’s verbal
naming the subject and everything description, the subsequent sight of
artist/designer has taken elements from
else relating to that subject. But the actual image poses a direct test
several sources and synthesised these into there is rarely only one name for of just how effectively words were
their own creative work. A related term, something and even more used to recreate its manifest
intertextuality, recognises that all verbal and adjectives to qualify it. When you appearance. Does the verbal
read through the preceding student experience match the visual one?
visual constructs depend upon other, already
statements or listen to anyone There are lessons to be learned from
existing texts for their meaning. talking about something visual, ask such comparisons and these are
To sample an existing model is to evaluate yourself not only how important are increased where there are several
its qualities; to test its worth or suitability. the names used but how verbal descriptions of the same
appropriate are the chosen names. visual image. Which one serves as
When we are impressed by a particularly
Are any of these samples worthy of the best model for your needs?
effective oral or written presentation, we imitation? Are they instructive?
almost inevitably file it away for future
reference or use. It becomes a measure, a way
of evaluating what is appropriate or
inappropriate, successful or unsuccessful.
While reading through the preceding, albeit
very edited, statements by students, we have
probably critically assessed their suitability
and effectiveness in each context.
Here we recall the most common ways in
which we verbalise the visual; it is generally
these criteria we use to help us decide what is
worth imitating, or at least learning from.
Neither the visual image nor Analysing the subject or artefact Interpretations of the same artefact In the context of discussing visual
anything said or written about it being discussed is similarly can vary immensely as can the culture just as much as in any other
exists in a cultural vacuum. Both are enlightening but it is generally more language used to do this. Once we discussion, we repeatedly make
directly linked to a set of difficult. It requires an ability to accept that verbal and visual value judgements. Our evaluation
assumptions, expectations and deconstruct the artefact into its representations are ambiguous, it is may be made without any
outcomes. This is as true of constituent elements whether these inevitable that there will be many supporting evidence or even
professional products of art and are its structural components, the equally valid readings of the same explanation but it still expresses an
design and the discourse that formal vocabulary employed, the thing. When we add to this an assessment of worth. How often do
surrounds them as it is of student ideological motivations that inform awareness of how much the we begin sentences with, ‘I like…’ or,
work and the related discussion. The it, or all of these. Inevitably, this also meaning we attribute to objects is ‘I don’t like…’? On a personal,
distinction between the two is the involves familiarity with a number determined by our personal subjective level this is acceptable
context. Professional designers work of ideological positions and the experiences and knowledge, the but where more objective criteria
to real briefs with contractual specialist vocabulary associated range of possible interpretations are required, it is not. Student
obligations. Most student design with these. Several of the preceding becomes even wider as does the assignments include the criteria for
assignments are closer to exercises, student examples address these variety of language used. Only in the assessment; it is the obligation of
stages towards the acquisition of complex matters but how well do case of a particular ideological the student to meet as many of
professional status. To achieve any you think they do it? Can any one of interpretation, as in a Marxist or these as possible. Measuring their
proper appreciation of a student’s these serve as a model of good psychoanalytical reading, is the success is the central activity of any
work, it is necessary first of all to practice? If not, might elements language very specific. In almost all evaluation. But what kind of
know what the conditions of the from each be combined to do so? other interpretations, it is hybrid, language is used to do this? Is the
brief are. Students in the same Whatever the conclusion, it is well drawing on as many existing models vocabulary used adequate to the
group who already know this can to remember that there is as are required by the speaker. This, task? Is it capable of making subtle
quickly move on to giving a context sometimes as much to be learned perhaps, is the model to adopt when distinctions of worth? Do the
for their interpretation and final from a failed performance as a we are faced with the difficulty of judgements made consistently refer
realisation of the assignment, as the successful one. interpreting a complex work. We too back to the stated criteria? Deciding
students quoted in this chapter do. must accept eclecticism, mixing and which assessments fulfil this last
But there is no single correct way of matching the language according to requirement is relatively easy.
doing this. When we assess the need. Deciding which of these employs
alternatives for our own purposes language in the most effective way
we must keep in mind what is or is is less so.
not appropriate.
Language and oral Oral presentations Choosing the Sampling one Summary
communication appropriate language
Summary
1
Spoken language
is generally informal
and colloquial.
2
Tone of voice, accent,
emphasis, all influence
understanding.
3
Clear enunciation
and pronunciation using
standard diction are
essential when addressing
a diverse audience.
5 8
Inconclusive, faltering Pre-prepared oral
delivery is acceptable in presentations presuppose
spontaneous speech. more formal language
and a clear structure.
6 9
Oral accounts often invite Choose the right
a narrative structure, language to suit
a chronological sequencing your audience and
of elements. the context.
Language and oral Oral presentations Choosing the Sampling one Summary
communication appropriate language
144 / 145 05 The essay
05 The essay
The origin of the English word ‘essay’ is A majority of good essays have a basic three-
French. The French verb ‘essayer’ means to try, part structure, the activating force being the
to attempt or to make a trial of something, development of a well-supported, convincing
hence the still extant meaning of an essayist, argument. Just as the sequence of events in a
someone who carries out a test or trial; an well-constructed narrative or account most
essai. This is very close to the modern English often depend upon there being a clear
meaning. To write a ‘paper’, in the sense of a beginning, middle and end to the story, so do
written answer to a question, is an alternative very many good essays. In an essay, this
word although this can also identify an oral structure breaks down into defining the
presentation made at a conference. subject, exploring the subject and drawing
If an essay is the most academic piece of conclusions. Really good essays, of course, are
writing students are asked to produce, it is more complex than this generalised
clearly an advantage to be as well informed as framework suggests but overall they often
possible about the history, theory and follow this pattern.
criticism of visual culture as well as the Given the importance of pursuing an
specialist language used in these disciplines. argument or point of view, it follows that the
But what, in general, is expected of an essay? main substance in an academic essay is within
There is no single way of writing an essay. the middle section. It is here that both the
But, whatever the given title or question, the breadth and depth of any student’s knowledge
essay should be: clearly structured, the and awareness will reveal itself. It is also the
structure reinforcing the development of a context in which a student’s familiarity with
particular point of view or argument; written and ability to use often-difficult concepts and
in standard English (or its appropriate vocabulary will be called upon.
equivalent); and comply with the university’s There are occasions when an assignment
or college’s agreed practice of academic may ask for an account or brief history of a
presentation. The last demand can vary subject but these are rare and more likely to be
considerably. There are several internationally only a part of a much wider requirement. With
acceptable ways of identifying sources, extended essays and final year dissertations
references and quotations. where the word count runs into several
Given the open-ended, inconclusive thousand and not several hundred, the need
character of an essay it is not surprising that for a historical perspective requires more
most examples engage in a variety of equally detailed information.
relevant activities, the most common being
those of describing, contextualising,
analysing, interpreting and evaluating. It is
equally likely to be the case that the language
will not only employ the specific vocabulary
and terminology relevant to any particular
ideological position but a range of linguistic
devices from the most matter of fact and
denotative to the sometimes highly
connotative, in which similes and metaphors
play an important role. The kinds of language
required to address the visible, material
elements of an object, locate it in a particular
cultural milieu and explain what it might
signify are different.
121
Going underground,
carriage interior
Ken Kirton, 2005
123
Corporate US flag
Adbusters, 2002
125
Going Underground,
Don’t All Be So Sad
Martin Richardson, 2005
Whatever the demands and expectations, the The language employed in any research
writing of a formal academic essay requires context can vary considerably and recording it
some research. For undergraduate students, it can be problematic. The use of key words and
is very likely that the set brief is one directly concepts should be respected but bearing
related to a current or recent programme of these exceptions in mind, the general advice is
study that includes lectures, seminars and to use your own words when making notes in
possibly tutorials. If the lecturer has given a a lecture or seminar, from books, websites, or
good presentation, students will have from anywhere else. This will help ensure your
experienced an introduction in which the key understanding of the material as well as
issues and even key words were identified; an steering you away from unintended
introduction that greatly assists in deciding plagiarism. Editing your notes on the same day
what is important, less important and of little they were made can clarify their meaning
importance in what follows. Seminar while the original experience is still fresh.
discussions offer the opportunity to question No one who has experienced listening to a
and clarify these issues. A tutorial can address speaker, looking at the visual images and
any particular concerns of the individual trying to make a useful record of both would
student. deny that it is difficult. But practising students
Having decided the requirements of the of the visual arts are more likely to be able to
essay brief, specific areas of research can be communicate verbally and visually than other
identified. Using key words and concepts, students. Given that the recorded material is
these can be pursued in library catalogues, the for the student’s own use, brevity and even
Internet and elsewhere to source appropriate personal coding can be used. The priority is
material. Contemporary media offer not only a that the information should be easily
wide range of sources but different kinds and retrievable at a later date as required.
levels of information on a single subject. If the
subject being researched is unfamiliar, then
specialist dictionaries, encyclopedias and
books introducing the relevant subject can
provide a generalised overview and possibly
some useful reference material for further
research, as can websites. Ensure that the
material is up to date or, at least, still relevant
and that it is of a suitably academic kind.
For a majority of undergraduates engaged
in the practice of one or another medium
within visual culture, the academic
components of their programme of study are
most likely to focus on the key words, issues
and periods of Modernism and
Postmodernism. This no more means an
acceptance of these terms than it does their
suitability for other than Western or
Westernised cultures. Try pursuing words such
as, imperialism, post-colonialism or identity
and the varieties and complexities of response
will become increasingly evident. All research
is determined by the researcher or on the
advice of their tutor. Just as each essay offers a
particular point of view, so the research that
informs it was motivated by a particular set of
interests. These interests might evolve or
change through the research but they are
always decided by the individual.
127
Untitled photograph
Joseph Owen, 2005
128
Untitled photograph
Joseph Owen, 2005
For the first student, ‘Modernist For the second student,‘it is not only
artists such as Seurat admired the modern materials that caused the
Tower immensely’, so much so that tower to be constructed in iron, but
he painted his first image ‘before also modernist design principles:
the construction was completed.’ form follows function.’ This
The student then noted that ‘Seurat reference to Louis Sullivan’s
and Eiffel also shared key interests’ quintessentially Modernist claim
in matters of design and their that ‘form ever follows function’
common desire to rationalise their both contextualises Eiffel’s Tower
methods. Seurat’s decision to paint and underpins its own Modernist
the Tower before it’s completion is credentials.
especially unusual in the context of
the nearly unanimous negative
reaction to it and is a clear indicator
of his modernist sympathies.
Just as interrogating the assignment brief can There are key questions to ask about the
help clarify its requirements, so can available material. Does the material rely upon
interrogating the research material help select primary, secondary or both types of research?
what is appropriate to the chosen point of The first offers new evidence and probably a
view. But, because the essay requires an new point of view but is relatively untested.
argument, the selection of material cannot The second can be reassuring if only because it
only be that which supports the chosen point quotes sources already familiar from lectures,
of view. Comparing and contrasting positions, seminars and general reading. The third is
weighing the evidence for and against, are possibly revisionist, questioning the various
central to the development of a convincing received interpretations and proposing
argument and its presentation. possible alternatives in the light of new
Deciding on a point of view is, therefore, evidence.
crucial in the writing of an essay. It not only It follows that reading several accounts and
helps select the supporting textual and visual interpretations of the subject is beneficial. Ask
evidence for the point of view, it helps select yourself what convincing evidence is given?
the equally important contrary evidence. In a Does the text rely upon the exposition of a
well-argued essay, there should be a logical argument or the use of unreliable
representative selection of contrary positions, similes, ambiguous metaphors and a whole
each represented through the appropriate range of rhetorical literary devices? All of
vocabulary and concepts. Exploring the which, as we have seen, are common in
similarities and dissimilarities of language writing about the visual arts and can very
used by these can add considerably to the easily persuade the reader to accept any
argument. It can also help clarify the point of number of assumptions and unproven,
view proposed in the essay, identifying the prejudiced positions. No text ever brings its
theoretical and ideological sources that own guarantee of authority. It is for the reader
contributed to it. If there is recognition of to interpret and decide, as it is for the reader of
these sources of influence before the essay is any written essay.
written, it is very likely that the essay will be This is a crucial factor. If we, as reader, have
greatly improved. to decide what is or is not reliable material, on
But the sources used must be reliable. This what basis can we decide? In such
can be a complicated issue. There is no certain circumstances, beware the temptation to
way of knowing which is the more reliable conclude that only experts know. Consider the
between texts supported with primary questions raised in the above two paragraphs.
research evidence or those supported with Use these questions to interrogate the
secondary research evidence. (Primary research material. If the overall balance is
research is that carried out at first hand. positive, it is likely that the material is both
Secondary research is the use of material useful and reliable. Should this prove so, then
discovered by others.) If the use of primary ask yourself, how does this relate or support
research without convincing, supporting my point of view? How can I use this material
evidence is questionable, the use of secondary in an effective way?
source material is equally so. However
persuasive a commentary on whatever
subject, we may not need to know if it is by an
expert but we do need to know if it is valid on
its own or supported with accurately reported
or quoted evidence. This too can be
problematic. Where the main text of a book
quotes another but does not identify the
source, the quotation cannot be used with any
reliability in an essay unless the original
source can be found. Asking all these
questions can help clarify matters. In general,
it is the status of the author (it is well to
research this) and the reputation of the
publisher that helps decide.
Once you have decided upon a point of view, The thesis, antithesis, synthesis model has
you are able to propose your position for been tested and proven valuable in
consideration. This is the first stage in the incalculable numbers of essays, dissertations
development of your argument. In academic and theses but it is an abstract model. If your
terms, it is your thesis and you will want to assignment brief restricts you to 1250–1500
reinforce your position with the most words, you may have no more than six short
convincing, supporting evidence that you can. paragraphs in which to deal with all three
Make sure that you present your point of view stages of the process. The greater the number
as clearly as possible using the appropriate of words, the greater the number of
language. As with most declarations of intent, paragraphs. After 2000 words the paragraphs
it is as important to state what you will not be can be fitted into subsections.
addressing as what you will. This helps define Quantity and quality should not be A limitation on the number of
the parameters of your essay. The title and equated but it is easy to see that as the words is not necessarily a
limitation in arguing a point of
subtitle of your essay should indicate its number of permitted words increases so does
view. Another student’s response
central concerns. the need to find the most appropriate to the ‘Explorative Study’ brief
Your research, however, will have drawn subsection and paragraph in which they hinged upon the centrally placed
your attention to differing and even contrary might best serve the development of the statement, ‘Although I really like
the aesthetic qualities of Helmut
opinions to your own. These alternatives need argument. Parallels have been suggested
Newton’s work…. I cannot help
to be examined if you are to properly consider between the structure of a good narrative but…despise the way he
the evidence for and against. They are the with its beginning, middle and end, and that represented women,’ both
antithesis of your own position and form the of an essay. However, in the sequencing of the positions being explored.
Nor did a similar limitation on
second stage in the development of your stages in an argument, it is the dramatist not
words hinder the development of
argument. These contrary points of view need the novelist who provides a more suitable a well-supported argument in
as much attention and supporting evidence, model. An argument is more like the dialogue another student’s response to
verbal and visual, as that required by the main between different speakers than a story told the brief, ‘What is Modernism?’
Fritz Lang’s 1927 film Metropolis
thesis. They also require paying attention to by a single person from their point of view.
and Sant’Elia’s 1914 Citta Nuova
the sometimes quite different, specialist How best, therefore, to stage the argument? project were cited in the
vocabulary. Remember how a consideration of What approach might be thought the most argument. ‘Both these texts are
binary opposites can reveal the position of an suitable? Yet again, there is no single answer focused on the idea of the
city…epicentres of culture,
author. It is not unusual for a superficially to these questions but a serious consideration
technology and advancement....
persuasive, if ultimately unconvincing, point of some of the most widely practised options Both artists…used New York as a
of view to rely upon a rhetorical use of can help resolve the difficulty. The deciding starting point for their work.’
language. Make sure that the evidence you use factor, however, might very well be the
in support of your own point of view employs temperament of the essayist: an awareness
convincing language, convincingly used. of what best suits the writer can quickly
The third stage involves making a critical eliminate any number of unsuitable options.
evaluation of all this material, weighing one Consider the following two possibilities in
position against another in order to arrive at response to the same material. In the first
whatever conclusion you can. It is here that option, contrary points of view to that of the
the possibility arises of resolving the conflict essayist are directly challenged, their
between thesis and antithesis to make a understood limitations exposed. In the
synthesis. Thesis, antithesis and synthesis are second option, the essayist endorses any
the three stages in the process of dialectical elements in the alternative points of view
reasoning, the process during which opposing that are in sympathy with their own but
points of view are ultimately reconciled into a rejects the others. The first option effectively
higher order. It is this process that underpins clears the field for the essayist’s own point of
almost all the advice offered on how to view. The second adopts a revisionist
develop an argument in a formal, academic approach, modifying existing points of view
essay. This three-part structure is attributed to to arrive at a new one.
the early 19th century German philosopher, Both the above models engage with and
G. W. F. Hegel. But Hegel’s model almost evaluate differing points of view. They
invariably assumes a conclusive end to the generate dialogue in order to arrive at either
process of dialectical reasoning. A conclusive an alternative position or a synthesis of
end may not be available and this must be existing ones. A much more rare third
recognised. It is perfectly valid to end an approach is to examine and evaluate all or
otherwise thoroughly investigative essay on a at least a representative range of differing
question mark. points of view but in revealing the inherent
limitations of all of these to conclude that
there is no available certainty: all points of
view are relative.
Helmut Newton’s Vivian F., Hotel The argument that the condition of ‘Modernist work should not dwell
Volney, New York, 1972 has a semi- modernity is essentially that of an on its time or just be comfortable, it
naked woman sitting cross-legged, urban-industrial culture is well should be looking ahead…. It must
head on a raised hand, looking out supported in this student’s essay. embrace modern ideas and
of the picture. ‘The fact that it has ‘This was a time of huge change concepts and be able to represent
been set in a hotel bedroom, and advancement socially…. The these in a new way…it must
portrays a certain level of coldness, Industrial Revolution had innovate and improve on the
objectivity and impersonal transformed life, the world had products of its time’, argues the
relationship between the entered the mechanised age. Huge student, and appropriately so. An
photographer and the model. In factories were producing the Italian Futurist architect and
response to Newton’s photograph I machines of the modern age, this decisively avant-garde, Sant’Elia
have…set mine somewhere led to an enormous shift in lifestyle responded to the rapid urban-
familiar…the big windows behind for everyone but particularly those industrial changes surrounding
me represents my freedom and living in cities.’ Working in the him. ‘[His] New City is a series of
where I want to be. The street relatively new medium of film, drawings and paintings that detail
represents where society wants me itself a mechanical form of his plans for a modern city for his
to be and the fact that my face is not representation, Lang’s Metropolis generation…a new city of glass,
in the frame is saying “I don’t want is one of the earliest examples steel and concrete.’
to be part of this.” Vivian F.’s cleavage of a cinematic response to the
is rather visible, whereas any burgeoning urban-industrial
possible chances of mine being seen culture.
have been overruled by the position
of my arm.’ The student’s statement
is interpretation and critical
analysis of both photographs.
138
View from the interior of the
Bauhaus building, Dessau
Walter Gropius, 1925–26
To fully assess the merits of an essay Comparing one thing with another Read through the available essays. Ask yourself, how is the essay
and decide in what ways it might helps clarify what is distinctive Take a comprehensive view of them. structured? Does it follow the classic
serve as a model for your own essay about something. Similarities and Consider each one as a whole pattern of thesis, antithesis and
writing, it is necessary to ask not dissimilarities are revealed. If all the avoiding any temptation to engage synthesis, the three parts framed by
only many questions but to do so possible elements used in an essay with the detail. Does the text flow, an introduction and conclusion? If
with rigour. The material must be are listed, from overall structure to one point leading on to another in a so, do each of the separate parts
closely scrutinised and interrogated. individual words, these can provide smooth way with the visual images break down into several subsidiary
If you have already done this to the a useful basis on which to compare nicely integrated? Or, is it erratic, sections perhaps indicating greater
overall composition and the the selected examples. By narrowing stopping and starting rather than complexity? If the essay does not
structure of the argument, you must down the focus of attention to moving forward with a sustained follow this classic pattern, how else
then do it to the kinds of language particular aspects, it can help momentum, the visual images is it structured? Does it begin
used. Few good essays are written in minimise prejudice and offer a more appearing like afterthoughts? promptly by reviewing a
only one kind of language. Is the objective basis for assessing the Whatever answers are prompted by representative range of differing
language too colloquial for an value of each essay as a model for these questions they will help you approaches and interpretations of
academic essay? Is it closer to imitation. At its most mechanical decide whether the essays are well the subject? Does it then evaluate
journalism than a scholarly text? Or, level, this way of assessing the presented or not. Should you decide these before moving on to a full
is the essay text congested with essays can be just a matter of ticks that one or more is well presented, statement of the author’s point of
jargon, the unnecessary display of and crosses for each essay against you will want to know how this has view? Or, does it reverse this second
specialist vocabulary and concepts? the separate elements. But it can be been achieved if you are to benefit structure, stating the author’s
Does the language assist in used much more flexibly by from their example. So, you will position then comparing this with
clarifying the points made or does it considering the relationship have to probe more deeply, ask more alternative ones? Given the
only serve to make them obscure? between the elements. For example, questions and then evaluate what important requirement to develop a
Getting the balance right is very you may decide that the argument you discover. Give yourself sufficient strong argument, it is worth
important. Having learned to in one essay is well structured but time to do this: it will very likely be examining the section of an essay
interrogate other people’s essays your assessment of the language time well spent. that most focuses on this: the
you can then do it to your own to used is not so good. If these central section in the classic pattern.
ascertain how successful they are. considerations include three or even
more elements, you are moving
towards an ever more thorough
evaluation and one which is likely to
prove more instructive as a guide for
your own essay writing.
2
Whatever the brief,
examine it closely to discover
what are the implicit as well
as explicit requirements.
3
There is no single way
of writing an essay but there
are standard requirements.
5 8
Most successful essay Do not use words or
structures are fundamentally concepts you do not properly
three-part ones; thesis, understand. Check their
antithesis and synthesis. meanings first.
6 9
When doing research, Ensure that the main text,
use your own words. quotations and visual images
form a coherent whole.
140
Girl with books
Kate Bellamy, 2005
142a
onedotzero team
142b
Phillip from State
James Medcraft, 2005–6
T H E R E A V I S UA L M A R K E R T O
O K , TA K E A L O O K A T T H E S E
DOTTED LINES COMING OUT OF
ok... SHOW THE VIEWER WHERE
HMMM IM ST I LL IM LO OK ING. . .
M Y R E P R E S E N TA T I O N A L E Y E S . . .
NOT SURE...
MMM NICE
ASS . ..
DA M T H O U G H T
BUBBLES.
145
Why I chose graphic design
Jamie Howlett, 2005
147
Reflecting figure
Emily Franklin, 2006
149
Book project
Lloyd Smith, 2006
150
The nine colours of the soul
Federico de Cicco, 2005
155
Image board
Amy Hyewon Lee, 2005–6
‘Marmalade is an innovative
magazine aimed at people in the
creative industries…. It is a
magazine that sets out to support
fresh creative talent…[it] is a
showcase of new talents in the
creative industries: its target market
is “culture influencers”.’ Almost a
series of bullet points, this very
nearly direct statement clearly
identifies the company’s profile
with only a minimum number of
connotative words, such as the
choice of ‘fresh’ rather than ‘new’,
or use of ‘showcase’ rather than
‘presentation’.
158 159
Lava is T-shirt prints for Stylorouge
Magali Nishimura, 2005–06 Magali Nishimura, 2005–06
In more contemporary terms, Baudelaire’s Given that newspaper and magazine reviews,
statement encourages the critic to increase just as student reviews, rarely amount to more
the reader’s awareness, provide an appropriate than a few hundred words and include only
cultural context but, above all, acknowledge one, or at best two or three visual images, an
subjective response, personal enthusiasm and ability to recreate the sensory experience of
a particular point of view. These are the most the exhibition can be as beneficial to the
familiar characteristics of present-day art reader as any detailed analysis of items on
criticism. To write a review now is to engage show. It is within these constraints that
with these issues whether you are a literary skills in simile, metaphor, connotation
professional critic or a student. and rhetoric become both desirable and
Just as the majority of Baudelaire’s mid- necessary. Using an effective word or phrase
19th century readers were non-specialists, so can trigger a complex network of associative
are those today who read exhibition reviews. A meaning that would require paragraphs to
relatively safe assumption is that most readers spell out in literal terms. For example:
need to be informed about the subject of the
‘A special room is dedicated to Moholy’s Light
exhibition, its historical and cultural context
Space Modulator (1922–30). The structure
and what relevance it might have for us. This
made of mirrors, lamps, abstract shapes
involves explanation and evaluation. It is an
seems to live in several dimensions
equally safe assumption that in general,
simultaneously. It sparkles, reflects, rotates,
reading reviews precedes visiting the
casts deep shadows and makes noise.’
exhibition. The reader, therefore, will need
some indication of what the exhibition If reading reviews precedes seeing an
contains, how the exhibits are displayed and exhibition, the ultimate question the reader
what supporting information is readily wants answering is: ‘Is it any good?’ Reviews,
available. This involves description, however, rarely offer a blunt yes or no.
interpretation and evaluation. Approval and disapproval can appear in the
same piece, the same paragraph and even the
same sentence. Evaluative judgements are
often dispersed throughout the review,
sometimes no more than a clause or even
phrase in a single sentence. They are
sometimes implicit rather than explicit. All are
acceptable practices. Describing, interpreting
and evaluating are overlapping activities for
most of us.
On occasions, the approach is interrogative,
asking why something is so in the apparent
absence of an appropriate answer, as in ‘Why
Albers and Moholy-Nagy?’ This is a legitimate
question. ‘Linking these two men together
with no other specific reason than their link to
[the] Bauhaus,’ is a valid point. As is the issue
of balance between serious political matters
and entertainment here. ‘There is a dichotomy
in the message presented and it is possible
for a more “serious” message to get lost in
the vibrant colours and sensory experience
[of Tropicalia].’
The problem in any review is that it will
prove to be too rhetorical, too ‘partial,
passionate and political’ for the supporting
evidence provided. If the review fails to match
what it claims with what is identifiably shown
in the exhibition it will be unconvincing. When
this happens, the reader becomes disengaged,
even disbelieving. Whatever trust existed at
the outset of the review is lost. Writing a
successful review requires considerable
literary skill if the convictions of the reviewer
are to be accepted by the reader.
164b
Upward
Josef Albers, c.1926
For both writer and reader, Presentation or representation? We Nothing exists in a cultural vacuum. The language best suited to writing
identifying the purpose of a text is must be alert to the distinction. The Everything is produced and a reflective journal is not necessarily
fundamental. What function should former requires that we show consumed within a specific social suited to writing a report. There are
it serve? What is its subject? To something directly to another and historical context. The distinctions between what is felt
whom is it addressed? Is the text person or persons. This is easily mathematical equation that 2+2=4 and what is understood. There are
accessible to the target reader? For understood if we think of the studio might be thought to transcend these additional distinctions between
the writer, these are basics context where actual artefacts are conditioning factors but the choice what is a subjective response and an
determining everything from the presented for consideration. The here of Arabic rather than Roman objective one. Each may be equally
point of view adopted, how the latter is very different. It is an act of numerals opens up a complex valid but they must be suited to the
material used will be structured and translation. To represent something network of associated meanings. purpose and the context. Deciding
the kind or kinds of language involves mediation in order to bring Whenever we verbalise the visual, what is best suited to the purpose
employed. For the reader, the to mind or into the imagination of we are engaged with these and the context will help decide the
writer’s decisions must be another person or persons culturally conditioning factors. If, as appropriate language to be used. If
persuasive. The text should something which is not materially author, we do not properly and you are seeking good models of
minimise any possible doubts. A present. All visual images are of this adequately provide a context for the practice, these considerations will
good test of any example of text is to kind. When we verbalise the visual, general subject or specific artefact help identify what is efficacious. If
ask how well the means employed we are engaged in this act of in a text, much of what we write the intention in any writing about
fulfils its purpose. Are these well translation. We are using verbal may be thrown into doubt. Ask visual culture is to achieve a desired
matched? There are no reliable rules language to describe, analyse, yourself how often your outcome, to be effective, then the
for deciding beyond the generalised interpret or evaluate what is understanding has been limited by a written text must produce this
advice that the evidence supplied presented in a visual language. lack of contextual information. Was effect: it should persuade the
should be convincing. What is Scrutinising the language used to do this a limitation of the author or, targeted reader. Flexibility is
convincing to one reader may not be this is an invaluable experience. was it your limitation? If the book required. Are you sufficiently
to another. There is no way of When you next read a text that made clear its subject and level of flexible to meet all the different
avoiding differences of intention or successfully verbalises the visual, address, were you up to it? Does this written assignments set? Does your
response, dependent as these are on consider how this was achieved. awareness make you more writing fall into habitual patterns or
a diversity of social and cultural What kind or kinds of language are concerned to provide this basic can you vary it according to need?
factors. used? What makes the language information in your own writing? The writer must be aware of the
effective? many alternative structures and
kinds of language available.
Familiarity with these differences
requires reading a sufficiently
varied set of texts. There are no
limits to these.
2
Written statements
of these reflections take
different forms and are
for different audiences.
3
The language used
is equally varied but
should be appropriate
to the context.
5 8
Self-reflective journals A critical review balances
can be subjective and factual information with
only for the writer. a personal point of view
but it should be written in
standard English.
6 9
Always, the use of Literary skills can be of great
language assumes benefit in a critical review
an audience. There is where the lack of any visual
no private language. images put greater demand on
verbalising the visual.
208 Acknowledgements
Acknowledging the unstable relationship
between language, objects and meanings,
Verbalising the Visual takes an interrogative
approach in asking how we translate the
experience of visual culture into written
and spoken words. Its primary aim is to
examine and clarify a representative range
of language; formal and informal,
academic and colloquial, global and local,
which characterises current art and
design discourse.
Beginning with an exploration and
clarification of the very many ways in which
language is used to discuss, describe, analyse
and critically evaluate art and design, the
book then tests, through selected examples,
whether such statements always
meaningfully relate to their subjects.
A closer examination of specific language
contexts then follows, from the often very
formal, academic terms and concepts used
in art and design history and theory to the
informal writing and speech of journalism
and studio practice.
After deconstructing the particular
language employed in each case, the book
then applies this awareness to those almost
universal occasions when students must
relate the mute world of visual culture to
verbal discourse: interpreting and researching
assignments; writing essays, reports and
reviews; conducting interviews and
questionnaires; making oral presentations
of art and design work for peer-group
discussion and critical assessment. Suitably
enlightened, the student is better able to
select and effectively employ language to
their advantage.
£27.50