c. 6Io-}"ìß 2 University of Adelaide A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Design in candidacy for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Dean Bruton Adelaide, South Australia November 1997 Contents iv Abstract vi Acknowledgments vii Statement of Originality viii Preface 10 L lntroduction 33 2 Grammars and Contingency 68 3 Grammatical Views of Art Work L09 4 Reflection on Grammars: An Experimental Journal 167 5 A Contingent Sense of Grammar 187 References 2O0 Volume II Appendices 202 Appendix A: Interview Transcripts 203 Bill Barminski 207 Larry Becker 208 Scott Chase 217 Philip Cox 228 Richard Coyne 238 Julie Eizenberg 245 William Fawcett 259 Neil Hanson 273 ]oan and Russell Kirsch 2U Terry Knight 290 John Lansdown; Gregory Moore 302 Raymond Lauzzana 306 Lionel March 327 Philip Pearlstein 336 Alvy Ray-Smith 350 Paul Richens 351 )ohn Rollo 357 Sid Sachs 361. Thomas Seebohm 375 George Stiny 3U Mark Tapia 387 Catherine Teeling 398 Robert Venturi; Denise Scott Brown 415 David Walker 425 Robert Woodbury 4v ]ohn Woods 442 Marco Zanini 452 Appendix B: Grammars and Art: A Contingent Sense of Rules 464 Appendix C: Relating Computers to Designers']udgement of Goocl Design 483 Appendix D: Excess and Distress: Design Principles in Context 491. Appendix E: Design Theory Hypermedia Studio Abstract This thesis investigates the contingenl senses in which concepts of grnmmnrs and grammatical design apply in the practice of form mak- ing in art and design. It uses three complementary research strate- gies: a literature review, the examination through a perspective of grammatical design of some selected bodies of art work, including interviews with artists, theorists and some designers; and the reflec- tive practice of image making with computer media in my own work as an artist. The major hypothesis is that a deaeloped contingent sense of grammar can facilitate the understanding, creation, and discussion of form-møking in art and design. The sub-hypotheses are that (1) An understanding of grammatical design can snhance a reflectiae Qesign actioity, and that (2) Rnealing the contingency of grammars cnn expose moments of inspiration and redirection in a reflectiae design actiaity. Chapter 1 describes the key concerns, background and scope of the thesis. Chapter 2 reviews some ways in which "gtamma{' is used in art and design discourse and posits "contingency" as a key concept in understanding the nature of grammars. Grammars are described as a metaphor, as a computational scheme and as a description of a kind of computer program. The contingent nature of rules and graÍunars in art and design is discussed. Chapter 3 examines work by some selected artists from a perspective of grammars through some writings by and discussions with theorists and artists. Chapter 4 describes some reflective experiments in which senses of gram- mars and grammatical design are traced in image making with com- puter media. These experiments demonstrate how the development of images can be seen to follow from the contingent operation of transformational grammatical ideas in hermeneutical reflective tv action. Chapter 5 draws together these separate studies, discusses how they support the major hypothesis and two sub-hypotheses set out above, and suggests some ways in which a contingent sense of grarunar may empower art and design novices. v Acknowledgments Sincere thanks to all those participants, both nationally and interna- tionally who contributed to this project. Special thanks to Anthony Radford for his kind, patient and persistent supervision and to his colleagues at the University of Adelaide, particularly Robert Woodbury who supported me through a part-time candidature. From the University of Sydney, Adrian Snodgrass and Richard Coyne (now University of Edinburgh) sparked new philosophical directions in the early years. I also wish to thank Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology Íor the 1993 Domus Academy Winter School scholarship that enabled me to establish new friends and colleagues in the design field. I wish to acknowledge the special assistance and advice of those international participants that contributed to my successful study tour of Australia, USA, Britain and ltaly. The list of interviewees included: Lionel March, Mark Tapia, Bill Barminski, Raymond Lauzzana, Tom Seebohm, George Stiny, Terry Knight, Philip Pearlstein, Sid Sachs, Larry Becker, Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, Scott Chase, Joan Kirsch, Russell Kirsch, Marco Zanini, ]ohn Wood, John Rollo, Catherine Teeling, Paul Richens, William Fawcett, John Lansdown, Gregory Moore, David Walker, Paul Margerisory Richard Wentworth, Alvy Ray-Smith, Philip Cox, Richard Coyne, Robert Woodbury, Adrian Snodgrass and Neil Hanson. Thankyou all for stimulating, productive and most pleasant encounters. I am grateful to the Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design, of the University of South Australia who assisted me through the provi- sion of a Cathie Scholarship for study leave. Finally a warm thanks to my family, friends for their support, and, especially to my partner Judith for her understanding and encouragement. vl Statement of Originality This work contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university or other ter- tiary institution and, to the best of my knowledge and beliel con- tains no material previously published or written by another per- son, except where due reference has been made in the text. I give my consent to this copy of my thesis, when deposited in the University library, being available for loan and photocopying. Signed Date J .ß ,?8 " vil Preface As both a practising artist and design educator within the art, archi- tecture and design fields, my work has been concemed with under- standing and knowledge of the visual world. My experience sug- gests that: o art and design theory needs clear articulation to be effective in education; . philosophy contributes to better understanding of art, design and designing; . systematic, pragmatic and contingent views of design are all rele- vant for scholars and practitioners of art and design. This thesis began in response to the assertion of a colleague that design had rules where art appeared to have none. It attempts in an hermeneutical mode to open a space, to unsettle thinking about rules, grammars, language, vision, design theory and practice, in art and design. It outlines a particular conception of form making in design: the view that while judgments in art and design are variable and contingent, there is considerable force and significant function for a strong sense of graÍunars and grammatical design. Early work was initiated through the observation that patterns of behaviour in the design domain reflected those I had encountered vill during my research into the theoretical foundations of art museums. My previous Masters thesis, Personal Taste and Public Office (Bruton L988) concerned the nature of art and the quality of judgements about art in public institutions. The work researched the nature of decision-making in relation to curatorial judgement of art excel- lence. The criteria for judgement sometimes espoused by experts in the curatorial field was found to often conflict with institutional charters and public policy. The lack of theoretical consistency in the fields of art and curator- ship developed a corresponding curiosity about theoretical dis- course concerning qualities of design excellence. This interest devel- oped to foster strategies for rigorous theoretical discourse in a tradi- tionally pragmatic environment. Grammars appeared to offer a cer- tainty which was attractive in this uncertain world, but it proved to be not as simple as that-in fact any sense of grarrunars appears to operate contextually and contingently. The subject of this research became, then, a contingent sense of grarilnars: the hypothesis that contingency can make the ideas of grafrunars and grammatical design more, not less, interesting and productive as ways of looking at form making in art and design. tx 1 lntroduction This thesis investigates the contingent sense in which grammars and grammatical design apply in the practice of form making in art and design'. Form'making is the definition and modelling of spatial ele- ments and objects in two or three dimensions, as both abstract or representative art, and in a design as some functional object'. The terms gramffiar and grammatical design are used in the literature of art and design in several senses as: I The term art is problematic. For example, Brook (Brook 1983) would argue that a concentration on form-making indi- cates a view that subscribes to the theory of aft as craft or design. It will be argued here that through a grammatical under- standing of art "so-called", one can more readily encounter art "properly so-called". Similar qualifications apply to archi- tecture. 2 Paul Duro and Michael Greenhalgh descrlbe form in a broader sense than that used here: "That part of a painting, sculp- ture or artefact that may be described purely through the configuration of line, mass, volume and colour. In practice, it is almost impossible to separate form from content, even in the works that appear rigorously abstract. Form is best consid- ered as a constituent part of an art work that needs to be considered in relation to a work's iconography, social and histori- cal context" (Duro and Greenhalgh 1992,24). This thesis concentrates on formal issues that are tangibly opaque, thatis, issues of iconography, social and