The designer as author, Micheal Rock

Notes by Tia Joshi, Scarlett Dunn, Akash Tamang

Article 1: The designer as author By Michael Rock - various designers

Are a designer and author/is an author a designer (both have similarities on how to structure and contextualise a foundation before beginning a project.
“Text became a kind of private property, owned by the author, and a critical theory developed which reinforced that relationship, searching for keys to the text in the life and intention of its writer.”
Authorship could also mean poster and book covers inspired by the 1970s ‘Propaganda’ and branch out into the foreign affairs of external politics and content.
Liner narrative, mathematical thinking from Müller-Brockmann.”- “Uncover a pre-existing order and form in the way a scientist reveals ‘truth’.” He’s doing research on something that isn’t his as most people think in a logical stance in comparison to him.
“were moving away from authorless, scientific texts” - People no longer have an Auter, only extensive research can result in you know who it was crafted by, even then things are often anonymous to which works can be related to one another.
“The idea of a decentred message does not necessarily sit well in a professional relationship in which the client is paying the designer to convey specific information or emotions. In addition, most design is done in a collaborative setting, either within a client relationship or in the context of a studio that utilises the talents of numerous creative people, with the result that the origin of any particular idea is uncertain. The ever-present pressure of technology and electronic communication only muddies the water further.” - People know what they want, resulting in collaborative ownership as they get ideas from social media and this is probably authorless. There’s no longer ownership over a lot of things and most are through references of other people: consists of many like Kanye west a lot of collaborative things in one setting.
“The call for the overthrow of authority in the form of the author in favour of the reader” - “But to lose power you must have already worn a mantle, which is perhaps why designers had a problem in trying to overthrow a power which they never possessed.” - The power of overthrowing the value of designers or what is known to be had a problem to lose the p - ID got their name after WW2 1968. At this point, the designer recognised and wanted the same level of respect and equality as engineers and architects not labelled as decorators. Feminism also plays a part in this.
“totalitarian control over the creative activity and seemed an essential ingredient of high art.” “The solution was to determine a set of criteria that allowed a critic to define certain directors as auteurs. In order to establish the film as a work of art, auteur theory held that the director”, “director, writer and cinematographer – had ultimate control over the entire project.”- They have more control, more authority. Directors had to prove that it was his work: for him to have complete authorship he had to do everything in order to prove the authenticity of his ideas works. (Progression)
“directors must meet three criteria in order to pass into the sacred hall of auteurs.”- They have to have a style like Picasso. Like a designer, you should have your own sense of style, be unique in order to be established as an auteur. Works interlinked with one another. “As a result, any inner meaning must come from aesthetic treatment as much as from content.”
“The designers who fulfil these criteria will be familiar to any Eye reader; many of them have been featured in the magazine.” - Wider Designers such as Alfred Hitchcock for example in the “rear window” constructs a setting where the main character could visibly see the interiors of the neighbour’s homes through his window. For example, Alfred appears in all his films which makes him an auteur.
“Whose voice is speaking? Not an individual, but some kind of unified community. Is this work open for interpretation or is its point the brutal transmission of a specific message? The rise of activist authorship has complicated the whole idea of authorship as a kind of free self-expression.”

WEEK TWO : The emergence of the interior designer

Confirm copying