Designblog

Dexter Sinister (Stuart Bailey, David Reinfurt and Sarah Crowner) call their project a “Just-In-Time Workshop & Occasional Bookstore”1. Their workshop deals with the classical production scheme of publications and the different roles of designer, publisher, producer, editor, curator and distributer. The twice a year published culture (“art-design-music-language-literature-architecture”3) magazine Dot Dot Dot is an example for the redefinition of traditional ideas of publishing.

They also take part at this year Whitney Biennial in New York.
“Dexter Sinister’s proposal for the Whitney takes the form of an extended poem titled True Mirror, a composite of excerpts from writings and artworks derived from a variety of artists and authors. Loosely based on ideas of reflecting and shadowing, the manifestations of this abstract proposal remain necessarily open until the Biennial begins. Dexter Sinister will occupy a former colonel’s dressing room at New York’s uptown Armory, from which they will explore various channels of distribution alongside the rest of the show. These activities are prefaced by a typically oblique double motto: “Quality is merely the distribution aspect of Quantity” (or vice versa).”2

A reasonable but rather long interview about things can be found at www.bombsite.com.

More information about the project, contributers and their releases can be found at Dexter Sinisters True Mirror website or Whitney Biennial
posting prepared by jan (group f)

Last Sunday afternoon E-Group went back to the basics in the “Cooking and Constructing” exhibiting-event organised by Platform 21. Together with students from the Textile department and Heleen Klopper we tried to use vegetables as a source for printing and making.

This event took place after an introducing visit and small lecture on “text and textile” by Erik Wong and a visit and guided tour into the wonderfull World of Vlisco (Garenteed Dutch Wax) printed designs (dessins) exhibited in the Volkenkundig Museum in Leiden.
Textile can be used as a medium for direct communication as these examples clearly show.

(Katharine Hamnett T-shirt, Vlisco print, WW2 japanese kimono)

We present a new set of links: Design teacher Veronica Ditting recommended LinedandUnlined >a portfolio of writing, resources, and ideas by Rob Giampietro< and Showstudio >the legendary blog by Peter Saville+Nick Knight.
Our Brasilian design connection Ricardo (ex Sandberg Master) suggest you take a look at the all visual Collective Perception blog >where forward thinking terrestrials exchange ideas and information about the state of the species, there planet and the universe<.

Henk Groenendijk suggest you spend some time with Design Observer >a huge database on design subjects and articles< or UBU Web >an independent resource dedicated to all strains of the avant-garde<. Towards the future have a lok at Koert Mensvoort’s Next Nature blog. Out of Dot Dot Dot magazine grew The Serving Library and New Design Websites and Blogs can be found in Design Observer a great platform with >writings on design and visual culture by Michael Beirut, Jessica Helfand and William Drenttel<. Erik Mathijsen adds the link to the overwhelming MOMA website.
Finally for all the students of group D desperately trying to make there presentation deadline PlayPlayPlay by American designer Rick Valicenti
[investigate links]

After many month we finally present the research results into 25 selected books from the “Collections Groenendijk”. During a one-hour event every student was presented with the opportunity to start-up a research into the manifest art or design concepts presented in these unique book designs. Designers Julia Born and Will Holder were presented through an interview-DVD made by the graduate program of the “Werkplaats Typografie Arnhem” for the Chaumont festival workshop 2005. Others projects, by Richard Niessen or Andy Warhol, were presented at an visit to the Stedelijk CS, where their books were displayed in context. Coralie Vogelaar (a Sandberg Master) came to visit us in person to give insight in her work and ideas and lecture on the concept behind her latest publication “Masters of Rietveld: design in the 21st Century” published recently by the Sandberg Insitute /Design [above: Niessen TM-City / Warhol Index-Book

Caetano de Carvalho on “A New Art World” by Richard Niessen + Ad de Jong

Research material was edited down to A4 sized guided tours into these subjects. All subjects presented in this list are also available as hard copy prints at the Research Folders at the library. The investigation focussed on the following book titles: Ed van der Elsken’s “Love Story in St Germain“, Irma Boom’s Grafisch Nederland 2005 on Color, “Start A New Art World”(published above), the acclaimed cooperation between photographer Geert van Kesteren and designer Linda van Deursen “Why Mister Why“, “Hhalo” by Julia Born and Rebecca Stephany’s “Archiving Today”project. Last 3 ladies all teaching at graphic design department.

Daniel Spoerrie “An Anecdoted Topography of Chance“(extra info), Dieter Roth’s “Dieter Roth Band 10“, “S M L XL“by Koolhaas, Sandbergs “Experimenta Typographica“: Mens Sana in Corpore Sano and “Counterprint” by Karel Martens. “The Thing” by Norm designstudio, Andy Warhols classic 1967 “Index-Book”, Will Holder’s “Catalogue“: starring Gijs Muller, Edward Ruscha’s “Colored Peolple”, Richard Niessen’s piece de résistance TM-City.

Sandberg Institute Master: Coralie Vogelaar with “The Photoshop” and “De Hedendaagse Ontwerper”, Gerald van der Kaap’s original ” HoverHover” and the monumental cooperation between Jonathan Barnbrook and Damien Hirst “I want to spend the rest of my life everywhere, with everyone, one to one, always, forever, now”.

Finaly some highly conceptual magazine concepts like, the 1980’s I-D magazine 2, Jop van Bennekom with Re-magazine: ‘Hester‘, Permanent Food or Stuart Bailey’s “Dot Dot Dot” magazine.

The International Institute of Social History (IISH) is the world’s largest documentation and research centre in the field of social history. Since its foundation in 1935, the institute has dedicated itself to the collection, preservation and availability of the heritage of social movements worldwide.

Situationist Pamphlet 1967

The  publication “Reviewed Printed Matter” is the outcome of a review assignment which was part of the theory program Critique & Actuality in the graphic design department of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, 2007. The eleven-day program was compiled by Kasper Andreasen and was based on studying and understanding different methodologies of reviewing and analyzing printed matter; selected posters, pamphlets, cards and books from the archives of the Institute of Social History in Amsterdam.

Nieuwe Realisten Poster 1964 - poster archive - Letter for Iris- Number of silence

The International Institute of Social History holds over 3,000 archival collections, some 1 million printed volumes and about as many audio-visual items. The available Collections are accessible through an online catalogue, an online index of archives and inventories. The IISH is also home to a number of other documentary institutions, most notably the Netherlands Economic History Archive (NEHA) and the Press Museum. Both offer supplementary collections and services. Their material is included in the IISH catalogue. Visitors can consult the collections for reference and research in the reading room.

download this research reader: Reviewed Printed Matter

[initiated by Kasper Andreasen]

Thomas Ruff at Haus Esters Haus lange

The Design Trip to Germany took us to Insel Hombroich in Neuss Germany. On the way we stopped at the Museums Haus Esters and Haus Lange, Mies van der Rohe’s first building experiments (1929) with -non supportive- brick housing. The buildings were clearly designed to look from inside out as we experienced while exploring the art and photography filled interiors. Especially the bathroom on the second floor gave us a sweet glimps in the past.

Top left > 1 Haus Esters • 2 Rietveld at Insel Hombroich • 3 Mies van de Rohe, Haus Esters Haus Lange • 4 Venician glass craft >< art in insel Hombroich

During a beautifull autumn day, we entered the magical Erwin Heerich‘s Pavilions followed by red and yellow leaves . Nowhere can daylight be experienced like this, looking at the art and craft as it realy is and was meant to be. The unique melting of architecture, art and craft can be enjoyed only at a few other places like..

Calder, Yves Klein, Buddha, China or Schwitters and Bart vd Leck, the sheer power of it made us enjoy this humbling moment.

Based on the general theme “Le Corbusier and Other Stories” we investigated a variety of subjects related to the content presented at this summers Corbusier Art and Architecture exhibit at NAi, Rotterdam. Research material was edited down to A4 sized guided tours/portals into these subject matters. All subjects presented in this list were available as hard copy prints at the Research Folder Archive at the library of the academy from November 2007 until January 2013 at which date we decided to have them only available as part of the online Designblog archive:

Primitivism, Le Poème de l’Angle Droit, Corbusier’s Christmas Gift, La Chapel de Notre Dame, Amedee Ozenfant, Corbusier in Istanbul, Varese’s Poème Electronique, The Candigarth Project, Modular, Language of Organic Form, Corbusier and Politics, The Bric, Ferdinand Léger, The Brasilia Project, Sandberg’s Experimenta Typografica 11, Koolhaas/Lagos, Nature Design Zurich, Constant’s New Babylon, Rietveld’s Academies, The Chaisse Longue

Design Researches available for everybody.

Hard copy prints of all researches from 2005 – 2009 are on file in the Library folders Vol#1-12. You can study them anytime during opening hours [Openingstijden: maandag t/m vrijdag van 11.00 tot 17.00 uur]. For example you could check out this beautiful research on Amedee Ozenfant in the context of “Le Corbusier Art and Architecture”. for more see X

Fransje Killaars Soft copies are available on line as jpeg’s or pdfs. You can download these pdfs and enjoy the content and its hyperlinked guided tour. Here is an example of such a tour into the work of “Fransje Killaars”. see for more X

On September 1, before the program of the Foundation year even started, G-group visited the exhibition “Le Corbusier Art and Architecture” on it’s last

exhibition day.

right > Corbusier in Istambul 1911

It was the beginning of a journey with Corbusier which showed us that art, design and nature are permanently interconnected. The Lecture on Le Corbusier’s sources of inspiration and his journey to the balkan and Istanbul (by Carla Boomkens) prepared us for the yearly FoundationYear’s International trip to the “Bienalle of Istanbul”.
We found out that the richness of Corbusier’s oeuvre, connected us to many classic and contemporary subjects from Primitivism and the “Foundations of Modern Art” to the “Nature Design “in Zürich fall 2007