Italian Radicals and Dutch conceptuals: the sensation of affect in two movements
KEULEMANS, Guy / The College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales / Australia.
Experimental / Conceptual / Radical / Design / Affect and part of the Modernist movement against which the Radicals were reacting. However, his Modernist work was not orthodox. The Italian Radical movement of the 60s and 70s and Dutch His Valentine typewriter is clearly influenced from the Bauhaus, conceptual design from the 90s and 2000s share in common yet biographer Barbara Radice says that he never full accepted the concern for experimental practices. However, their differ- Bauhaus ideals just as they were. Instead he sought to produce ences in organization and ethics are notable and inform the a “transplant operation” which re-arranged the ratios, distances conceptualisation of their aesthetic experiments. This paper and weights that he saw in the Bauhaus style into an “irony of uses Deleuze and Guattari’s theory of affect to investigate this dis-proportion” (Radice 1993: 142). Sottsass remarked upon his process. early career:
“When I began designing machines I also began to think that these objects…. …can touch the nerves, the blood, the muscles, the 1. Introduction eyes and the moods of people. Since then I have never designed Concern for various forms of experimental and conceptual think- a product in the same way as I would design a sculpture, and I have been utterly obsessed with the idea that… …I was setting off ing has long been important to product designers (Antonelli, a chain reaction of which I understood very little.” (Radice 1993: 2011). In the second half of the 20th century, two of the more 109) important movements engaged with such methodologies are the Italian Radicals from the 1960s and 70s, and Dutch conceptual designers from the 90s and 2000s. Despite being sometimes marginal in regards to actual penetration of the product land- scape, both continue to have sustained influence on the field and in the design discourse. The vast majority of the critical writing on these movements is, perhaps quite rightly, concerned with topics such as social agenda and historical influence. Aesthet- ics are of course considered, however conventionally aesthetics are critiqued as resulting from stated or perceived conceptual, ethical or idealogical positions. It is proposed that the relation- ship between concepts and aesthetics is actually inversted, and instead designers (and critics and market forces) develop a con- ceptualisation of the work subsequent to aesthetic experimenta- tion. This paper explores how an understanding of Deleuze and Guattari’s notion of the affect and concept can interrogate this proposition. In turn, these can notions can be used by design- ers wishing to work affectively to build stronger, robust or more flexible concepts. Figure 1. Valentine Typewriter by Ettore Sottsass (1969)
2. Ratio and Mood His work as a Radical did not replace this playful form of Modern- Italian Radicalism can be introduced through the work and ex- ism, but instead sough to create social and conceptual mean- perience of one its most notable practitioners Ettore Sottsass. ings through aesthetic experimentation. His quote above calls to Educated prior to WW2, Sottsass took advantage of the post- mind the philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari’s notion war boom and built up his practice with a number of important of affect; a non-reducible mediator that uses force and energy to commissions from companies such as Olivetti, from whom transmit intensities of sensation. For Deleuze and Guattari, art is he designed the famous Valentine typewriter (1969) (Fig. 1). the composition of materials into tools for the experience of sen- However as early as the late 50s he became suspicious of the sation. Affect is transmitted in waves, producing “compounds of consumer society and began to work in a counter-propositional sensation” (Deleuze and Guattari, 1994: 187). It is through af- style that sought to invest meaning back into objects, whilst fect that Sottsass is able to “touch the nerves” and “moods” of simultaneously working as a serious Modernist industrial de- people. By re-arranging the visual qualities established by the signer. So Sottsass is both one of the earliest Radical designers Bauhaus, Sottsass alters the transmission of affect and creates
KEULEMANS, Guy 2012. Italian Radicals and Dutch conceptuals: the sensation of affect in two movements. In Farias, Priscila Lena; Calvera, Anna; Braga, Marcos da Costa & Schincariol, Zuleica (Eds.). Design frontiers: territories, concepts, technologies [=ICDHS 2012 - 8th Conference of the International Committee for Design History & Design Studies]. São Paulo: Blucher, 2012. ISBN 978-85-212-0692-7 DOI 10.5151/design-icdhs-108 KEULEMANS, Guy
the unexpected. The quote suggests Sottsass is recalling a rev- Casabella magazine. It is variably interpreted that Mendini was elation or meta-awareness of his role as a designer, which may being iconoclastic as a point of defeatism, a recognition of the have influenced the creation of his subsequent Superboxes (fig. pointlessness of the Radical struggle, or at least as a sign that 2). the movement needed to progress to the next level, à la the ris- ing phoenix metaphor (Kristal). Given that Mendini subsequent- ly described work from that period as not “crystalized” (Cowell), 3. The Superboxes can it be asked: did Mendini just burn the chair because it was a visually exciting thing to do?
Figure 2. various Superboxes by Ettore Sottsass (circa 1965 - 1968)
The Superarchitettura exhibition of 1966, introducing the work of Superstudio and Archizoom, has been marked as the beginning of the Italian Radical movement (Pettena: 2004) I propose that construction of the first Superboxes in 1965, as novel objects which broke the form the established design discourse, serve just as well. The Superboxes were large, colourful wardrobes cov- ered in custom laminates in various blocky and striped patterns. Sottsass’ use of laminates is more closely associated with his later Memphis work, but its interesting to note that the Superbox- es predate Memphis by about 15 years. The objects are a conflu- ence of many of Sottsass experiences, such as his exposure to American pop art, travel in India and as a kind of pumped up, super-saturated derivation of his early work on super-computer Figure 3. Lassú chair burnt by Alessandro Mendini in 1975 chassis design for Olivetti. Radice writes that their ultimate ef- fect was to consume and dominate the room in which they were placed as if “dropped into the cosmos.” This was an effect Sott- sass learnt from his experiences in India, where he found a very different engagement with objects, compared to that produced by capitalist society in Europe. Sottsass said many years later, “they were such crazy things they were hard to imagine,” though he did not shy away from conceptual explanation (Radice 1993: 148). For Sottsass, his Superboxes was an attempt to invest intensity and spirituality into domestic objects as a reaction to the status driven consumption of objects in post WW2 Western society. Sottsass saw the Superboxes as “tools to slow down the consumption of existence” (Radice 1993: 36).
4. A Chair on Fire If I can argue that creation of the Superboxes began the Italian Radical movement, I would like to propose that it was likewise ended by the destruction of Alessandro Mendini’s Lassú chair in 1975 (fig. 3). This chair was built a year earlier as a similar pro- Figure 4. Monumentino da casa (Small Monument for the Home) (1975) posal to the Superboxes from a decade prior. Strong, archetypal and elevated upon a pyramid, the chair eschews functionalism In Deleuze and Guattari’s theory, affect activates the construc- for the elevation of the product as a human centred, spiritual tion of concepts as it passes through the liminal threshold i.e conduit; a means to restore significance to life in the domestic thoughts are produced by sensation. Fire is especially capable society; a theme is reflected in the title of Mendini’s drawings of producing a potent compound of sensations that activates of the chair (Fig. 4) (Mendini: 48). A year later he set it alight deep memories and feeling. Concepts such as fear and warmth and placed the photo of its burning sacrifice on the front cover of are felt; these are common, persistent and also conflicting con-
Design Frontiers: Territiories, Concepts, Technologies 558 Italian Radicals and Dutch Conceptuals: the Sensation of Affect in Two Movements.
cepts, so fire can be said to be both potent and alluringly non- mentations of the can be compared to that of the Italian Radicals, specific. According to Deleuzian theorist Brian Massumi, affects but in absence of theory do not conceptualise into a common can create deep and prolonged sensations from the vibration of ethical ideology. As such, their work is adaptable to various in- feedback mechanisms within the senses, which are otherwise terests. Droog, an organisation engaged in marketing Dutch de- broken or interrupted by the construction of language, and hence sign, is one such interest. And a particular criticism of Droog is concepts (Massumi, 2002: 23-25). Deleuze’s own explanation that the organisation is engaged in the production of concepts of the vibratory nature of sensation, consisting of amplitudes reducible to a sales pitch, as noted by Catherine Geel. Geel also and thresholds defining that point in which a sense is felt or no proclaims this is a hijacking of the concept by marketing forces, longer felt correlates well to this feedback mechanism (Deleuze, pre-emptively identified and lamented by the Deleuze and Guat- 2003: 45). So in the image of Mendini’s burning chair there is an tari (Deleuze & Guattari 1994: 10) at about the same time Droog intensity, but signification is constructed subsequently. Affect was founded (Geel, 2010). does not connect in a straightforward way to conceptual con- tent. It should also be considered that Mendini burnt his chair simply because of this, because of affect - he had a magazine cover to produce - and that its conceptual significance was con- structed by Mendini and others later with historical perspective relative to the end of the Radical Movement.
5. Obscurity to Plurality Of course, the end of the Italian Radicals has been marked by other events, such as the subsequent departure of Mendini and his editorial team from Casabella, or the dissolution of Global
Tools. Global Tools (1973 - 1975) included many of the luminaries Figure 5. Maarten Baas: left, Smoke (2002) and right, Where’s There Smoke (2004) of the Radical scene coming together on the basis of their shared ideology and opposition to Modernism. However, its failure to co- ordinate a shared methodology has been seen as an indication of the failure of the movement as a whole (Moline 2012). The lack 6. Smoking Wood of a shared design language was previously recognised by Enzo Maarten Baas’ Smoke series (2002) is a good example of how Mari and used as an excuse for not contributing a project to the experimental and affective practise can be co-opted in this man- seminal exhibition Italy the New Domestic Landscape at MOMA. ner. Baas, while still a student at the Design Academy Eindhoven, The essay he wrote instead decries the obscurity and value of was interested in wear and tear as a signifier of value in prod- the “personal” voice (Mari, in Ambasz 1972: 263-265). ucts. He experimented with “crushing, melting and soaking”, and even throwing chairs of a building (Fairs). When he had the idea Mari’s position is interesting because it is personal voice, repre- of controlled burning he finally achieved the dramatic affect he sented via a plurality of concepts, themes, and what could best was looking for, but at this point he had left his original concept be called micro-movements, which define the period of Dutch of the value of wear and tear far behind. It was replaced by a pro- conceptual design starting from the creation of Droog in 1993. cess far more intense and ambiguous in meaning. The Smoke se- Co-founder Renny Ramakers describes Droog as experimental ries was thus retrospectively conceptualised. Predictably icono- and flexible in content and style, but with one fundamental; the clastic interpretations persist; a protest against historical design clarity of the concept (Ramakers 1998: 9). This does not exclude perhaps, be it Baroque (fig. 4, left) or Modernist (fig. 4, right). aesthetic consistences, and many of the early products were Baas and others claim it is re-branding, though Baas is honest dry and austere, but Paola Antonelli argues that Droog present- about his general lack of strategy. He claims, ‘I just think: “Hey. ed a new force of morality where ethics become as important This or that should be nice to make.” Then I find a way to make as aesthetics (Antonelli in Ramakers 1998: 13). However, the it...’ (Rawsthorn 2006) movement is also compromised by lack of consistency. Droog designers, and Dutch conceptual designers in general, work His gallerist Murray Moss’ interpretation of Smoke is interest- from personally defined interests and agenda which can be, and ing, for it touches upon the very nature of affect. Explaining how often are, ethically driven, but as a group in potential opposition. Baas manipulates the surface of the furniture with his blowtorch, Interestingly, this form of individualism and plurality was pre- Moss says: dicted to occur in the post-Radical period by the Italian theorist “You take something and you actually caress it with your hands, Andrea Branzi (Buchanan 1995). with flame. You actually alter it chemically, like eating it, ingesting it”. (Moss 2007) Droog, however, has been noted to be absent of theory (de Rijk 2010). This can be assumed this generally also true for Dutch This chemical and thus molecular based transformation he de- conceptual design of the same period. Their aesthetic experi- scribes its not unlike the action of affect in mediating sensation.
Design Frontiers: Territiories, Concepts, Technologies 559 KEULEMANS, Guy
Affects, as the product of the arts, are always on the outer sur- within us at speed. Affect is working in two movements, from face of the senses, like a skin through which everything must without, producing concepts from sensation and from within, pass (Bogue 2004: 2) As we ingest them we feel; mapping the sensations from concepts. Van de Poll’s intelligence with this affects into compounds, forming concepts and changing our design is that our conceptualisations are perfectly legitimised thoughts. In this case, Baas, working affectively, produces a by his invitation to smash the chair ourselves. As a result, the model or simulation of affect. concepts produced by the chair are open and mutable, freely changing shape and connecting through through affects to an Moss continues to explain that this chemical alteration is re- extended set of concepts. branding. The flame of the blowtorch ingests the authorship and transfers/transforms it to Baas, marked onto the furniture. As Baas’ gallerist, this is intelligently self-serving and in positive contrast to the alternative and conceivably self-wounding inter- pretation of burning design icons as an angry, iconoclastic act.
7. Destruction and Mockery The use of destructive forces in design is, in a way, a kind of cheap shot because of the powerful sensations they cause. Per-
haps especially so if the result is to conceptualise them into a Figure 6. Marijn van der Poll: left, Do Hit Chair (2000) and right, from “Droog 10+3” marketing system. However, there are examples of destructive (2004) design from the Droog catalogue which communicate robust, sophisticated concepts which are not co-opted by marketing, and in fact are somewhat at odds with their sales pitch. The Do 8. Conclusion Hit Chair by Marijn van der Poll (2000) (fig. 6) is described by Its not true to say that the conceptual value of the Do Hit Chair is Droog as a chair you ‘co-design’ by smashing it, sledgehammer greater or less than that of the Smoke series or that together the included. This is laughably unlikely to occur - surely considered individualistic plurality of Dutch conceptual design is more or knowing the dry sense of humour prevalent in the Netherlands. less attractive than the shared ideology of the Italian Radicals. Instead the chair is offered for sale pre-smashed, which is of Such suppositions probably correspond to personal values. How- course of primary interest to museums: one such sale was to ever, there is something to say about the the relative affective the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. Smashing power of these works and the robustness of the concepts they it yourself has no appeal, at least because it looks like a sweaty produce which may be of interest to designers and researchers job, but not least because it lacks authenticity. Despite its fram- i.e. the intensity of their affects or their conceptual strength in ing as co-design, in no way is it a successor to the Whole Earth the face of critical or marketing force. The Deleuzian perspective Catalogue, or DIY design, nor does it preempt open-source de- also gives insight into the processes of experimental design sign. In fact, it mocks the seriousness of those movements. practise and order of conceptual and aesthestic production.
However, the value of the design is not in the idea that you actu- Acknowledgment ally could or would smash out a chair yourself, but in the idea Thanks to the University of New South Wales for research assis- that you consider it virtually. The photo of the chair taken for tance. the 2004 book Droog 10+3 (despite the pretentiousness of the white garmented models, or perhaps because of it) suggests References this quite well by presenting the chair in both its pristine and Ambasz, E. & Museum Of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.). 1972. Italy: brutalised states. The physicality of the steel is not nuanced; it the new domestic landscape; achievements and problems of is crushed by aggressive force, the violence of the hammer upon Italian design. New York, Distributed by New York Graphic Soci- the metal palpable in the jagged steel. Heavy metal becomes ar- ety, Greenwich, Conn. mature. When we interpret these sensations, we are led to the concept of a chair, a physical structure supporting the body. The Antonelli, P. 2011. States of Design 04: Critical Design: A design body is an intuitive concept, so the sense of our own body in report from New York , Domus.
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