Living Room, Berkeley California home - Christopher Alexander
Below is a post I wrote on Christopher Alexander at my Camera Lucida blog in 2008 (slightly modified here).
After part time courses in textile design (4 in total) at Ontario College of Art and Design, I gained sufficient knowledge that I continued my own investigations and research in textiles and design. I also took drawing and painting courses (including botanical painting). I did two works (among others) a couple of years after I left the OCAD program - my trillium and my dove rose designs.
I was especially interested in architecture, reading books and articles on the subject. I found Alexander's books this way, including his Pattern Language, which was also the title of his website. I followed his postings, and was generally influenced by his "philosophy" of design.
I recently learned that Alexander died just this year, on March 17.
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Here's a revealing comment by Christopher Alexander:
[F]orms must arise that come from the technology and economics and social circumstances of that era. So that if one sets out a program where you're essentially sort of copying old forms in any version, you're liable to be in a hell of a lot of trouble...But [people] don't know what to do about it...And I think that it is necessary to spend time - I would say major amounts of time - thinking only about form and geometry. Thinking about the language of form that is appropriate now.This puts a lot of things into perspective, which I had only subconsciously understood until now.
Almost all of my colleagues, professors and acquaintances in the art and design fields seem to be stuck on this search for "the language of form that is appropriate now."
Hence:
- The name "experimental" for the avant-garde group of current filmmakers, of which I was a member for a few years. There was (is) great emphasis on finding new techniques, and even branching into non-film media such as digital and computerized manipulations. Thus calling themselves "experimental."
- A recent bizarre project by fellow board-member (at a post I had at Trinity Square Video) who uses jello to simulate water in a fountain. In trying to find a new way to design fountains, she tried to redesign the water instead!
- A textile "artist" who has been experimenting with the very ugly, thick - in all aspects - fiber felt to try and come up with sculptural elements. The problem is that felt is not solid, unless stuffed. Trying to find this intrinsic sculptural element in a non-sculptural material hinders the real emphasis. Which should be representing the object itself.
- Textile designer Looolo makes biodegradable, organic and toxin-free home accessories. The simple pillows range from a steep $100-$150. The price is for the dubious material. Design not included. Also, biodegradable fabric! Isn't the idea that it last as long as possible, and not get tossed in the green bin when a little worn? And aren't cotton, silk and wool naturally biodegradable?
What's going wrong here?
As film theorist Siegfried Kracauer quotes avant-garde filmmaker Jacques Brunius: "The cinema [of the avant-garde] is the least realistic of arts."
This holds true for the three examples I've given above. In the single-minded effort to find "the language of form that is appropriate now", these designers, artists and filmmakers have given up on reality!
It's as simple as that.
There is something noble in this experimental, almost scientific, attempt at finding the right form. But, I think where they are made their fundamental error is in their disengagement with reality. Form comes from the real world. Trying to find form without the real will only give us deflating sculptures and giant jello for water.
Left: Chung-Im Kim's undecipherable object (worm, horn, shell, ice cream cone?) made with sewn pieces of felt with a hollow inside. One clutch and the object is flattened
Kim's title for this object is "Cycas", which appears to be a cone or a pod for a palm plant. I wasn't far wrong with my attempt to understand this foreign object - horn/shell - cone/pod.
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Right: Gwen MacGregor's "Blue." The wading water is made from jello as part of an "installation"project with wading pools. Even the project is misdirected, looking at the pools instead of the structures. The kids don't look too much like they're enjoying themselves.
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Left, "Fly" at $140; Center, "Janthur" at $190; Right, "Windows" at $140
The Fly and Janthur pillows defy leaning back on their irregular surface. Isn't that what pillows are for? And design is wanting in Windows.
Photo still from image gallery at Bruce Elder's website for his experimental film "The Young Prince"
[KPA: The film preview of The Young Prince on my original post is no longer available, and I have posted the above image instead]