I have always focused on just graphic design or visual arts. However, sometimes, it could be refreshing experience to find a different field of creative industries. I think plays(or performances) are one of the most important parts in creative industries, as a synthetic art.
MURMURS :At Queen Elizabeth Hall
A tour of whirlwind romance, city confusion, undersea encounters and dining-room debacles told through a blend of theatre, illusion and dance by director and designer Victoria Thierrée Chaplin with Aurélia Thierrée.
– Southbank Centre.
It was one of the best plays that I ever seen before. I think it is not enough to describe this just a play, since ‘Murmur’ shows not only performance but also dance, mime, and even playing music.
The main actress, Aurélia Thierrée, captivated audiences with perfect performances. Personally, I have quite interested in surrealism, dreamlike and some sort of odd stage mode was definitely enjoyable.
If you are interested in this, just find concessions for full time students which offers 50% off.
‘Creative industries‘ are defined as those requiring creativity, skill and talent, with potential for wealth and job creation through the exploitation of their intellectual property.
(United Kingdom Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), 2001)
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The UNCTAD approach the creative industries to “any economic activity producing symbolic products with a heavy reliance on intellectual property and for as wide a market as possible”.
(UNCTAD, 2004)
UNCTAD definition of the creative industries
The creative industries:
are the cycles of creation, production and distribution of goods and services that use creativity and intellectual capital as primary inputs.
constitute a set of knowledge-based activities, focused on but not limited to arts, potentially generating revenues from trade and intellectual property rights.
comprise tangible products and intangible intellectual or artistic services with creative content, economic value and market objectives.
stand at the crossroads of the artisan, services and industrial sectors; and
constitute a new dynamic sector in world trade.
(Creative economy report 2010 . United Nations. p.8)
As a part of the knowledge economy, creative industries have increasingly interested by people, it is expected to impact both economically and socially.
As Mellander said, there needs further researches in a more systematic way.(International small business journal 2010 28: p.127) There is probably a need to define the creative industries based on the processes within the industries.
Studying creative economy, I should have more concern about its definition and also have to explore. How can we define the Creative economy in today’s diverse industries.
Since the Internet revolution, google has become one of the most important leading media beyond the mass media such as television, radio and newspaper. After that, the Internet has evolved from laptop to the hand, as noticeable development of technology. Twitter might be a crucial milestone of the Internet in terms of media.
When it comes to Social Network Service(SNS), people can communicate anyone who they follow. It is well known that South Korea is, evidently, one of the leading countries of online media and twitter as well. The reason why SNS, especially twitter, is spreading rapidly to the whole country is that people can express their idea since the mass media is politically conservative.
It is generally agreed that twitter is one of the best ways to communicate and suggest issues to the world. However, in fact, there appeared to be a complete absence of communication among twitterers. The problem seems how people resolve different opinions rather than what they are saying(throwing, twitting).
Recently, some people have quit twitting in South Korea. It is not because of the invasion of privacy but because of there are no more open place for debate. According to report conducted by Hankyoreh journal, twitter become a political hot potato in society of South Korea. However, sometimes(or very frequently) indiscriminate majoritarianism has generated online collectivism or group egoism. Based on this report, Twitter is quite frequently abused to form public opinion and it might has manipulated. For instance, as we saw London riot in las August, people can move to the biased opinion.
Obviously, it is true that twitter has played one of the significant role to communicate in todays society. However, I think we should consider whether it is overused or not, which means twitter could not be a good marketing or communication tool anymore.
To what extent does your country or your area concern about the SNS as a communication tool?
The primary idea of this post is based on the column written by Eunju Nam of The Hankyoreh.
Reference: Eunju Nam(2011) ‘People who saying good bye to twitter in Korea’, The Hankyoreh 21, 886(Nov 17th), South Korea
Only one problem about TYPO conference is that my mind is full of ideas and inspirations while my body is quite exhausted. However, there were still so many sessions that I have to see, I just kept going. One of the most inspiring session was Jonathan Barnbrook, founder of Virusfonts. Barnbrook is famous for not to work with big company. He has conducted projects with cultural institutions, activist groups and charities. I have met him before in South Korea at the conference for his Exhibition in 2004. I remember that almost all of my graphic works in the university were inspired from him.
“Style is a virus. If we didn’t need style, we’d only have one typeface”.
I got impression that his works are quite rebellious and sometimes just for his own interests such as globalisation or consumerism. He said, ” If we all worked for someone else and never for ourselves we’d be in a miserable state.”
Just before the session with Jonathan Barnbrook.
On top of that, there were three big designers’ session; Neville Brody, Michael Bierut and Chip Kidd for the last session of the conference.Chip Kidd is New York-based designer who Having done book cover designs for 25 years. According to Time Out New York(2005), “The history of book design can be split into two eras: before graphic designer Chip Kidd and after.” It was quite valuable experience to see his different kinds of draft works. Moreover, I could refresh my fatigue since his presentation was exciting and humorous from start to finish.
TYPO conference has started 16 years ago, in Berlin as the biggest and most important design event in Europe. This year, TYPO held in London and fortunately I was there! Two different sessions held simultaneously in Logan Hall and Jeffery Hall. The problem was that I should choose one if I interested in both. However, thanks to technology, I can check some information in real time using twitter(official #typo11 hashtag). Moreover, I could catch up some sessions that I missed, through TYPO London blog. If you want to see more about the event, just click the following link, they offer reviews about all sessions. http://typolondon.com/blog/
On second day of conference, I would like to more focus on ‘typography’ issues. One interesting session was ‘Introducing London Typographica’ presented by Antony Harrington, digital director and founding partner of OPX.
He started with asking that ‘how to make typography in retro-way’. If we try to simplify everything such as the way we speak or reducing the basic elements, we can clarify the objects. On top of that, his approach to capturing urban typography was quite interesting, in terms of finding typography in London area with historical back ground. Since London has crucial typographic history, I think these back grounds trigger him to develop <London Typograhica>. According to Antony “London Typograhica aims to enable type-enthusiasts to photograph and give context to public type as they find it, creating the typographic landscape of London which will be launched soon.
Next coming session was Independent film maker Gary Hustwit who made documentary film ‘Helvetica’ and ‘Objectified'(these film was quite popular among graphic designers).
I had a chance to see some part of his new film ‘Urbanized’ and its making process and relating some brilliant ideas as well, such as idea of a gardens project in Detroit and poster pocket plants in Toronto(below image).
Public space artist, Candy Chang’s ‘I wish This Was‘ was introduced in this film. The project give a message that ‘what is really important to a community, not just being sold to the highest bidder.’ If you interested in this, you can participate in the project!
Gary Hustwit suggests to designers that we(designers) have skills, so just participate little bit in community that can change our society.
Tom Uglow, Google Europe’s Creative Director, showed his team works on new ideas and global brand projects for Google and YouTube, such as Life in a Day, Art Project, the YouTubeSymphony Orchestra. He said, “the world is really digital”, so I think the most important thing in today’s digitalised world is that how to build awareness to the public in the creative industries.
Most of all, the highlight of second day was obviously, one of Britains most influential graphic designers, Neville Brody, who recently became head of Communication Art & Design at the Royal College of Art. Brody has created sensational one and discovered new boundaries. I think he has suggested to designers not just answering old one but ask new question. I could see this throughout the whole presentation, from his past editions of Fuse to work for Converse and Off Canvas Project. You can check this on website of Research Studio.
“Making luxury so appealing designers are in part responsible for causing ‘misery and unhappiness’ in the world, promoting excess and consumption beyond most means.”
As a educator he said that “Despite 8% of the countries GDP coming from creative industries, the next generation of designers and design thinkers are not being supported.” I understand that there could be still reduced awareness of creative industry and I would like to explore about this issue for the future.
Typo London is obviously one of the biggest events in communication design world. I have believed that typography is an unparalleled part in graphic design history. So I was really excited at the prospect of seeing great Design-Meisters.
Sign posts designed as Event Identity.
Traditionally, as typography(might include font design) has concerned essential element of communication design, I expected that I might be overwhelmed by great typography works and experience more detailed typo world. However, after three session of the morning, I felt it is slightly different from that I expected. I think the graphic design industry in the world has recognised importance of new media.
When it comes to typography, Typo London 2011 expand the concept, as meaning of typography can include communication. For graphic designers, it might be inevitable factor that to broaden medium in noticeably changing today’s visual environment.
The first session starts with Dale Herigstad who founded interactive agency Schematic. As I mentioned above, digital media is crucial in every design field as well. He pointed that we should expand our view from rectangle surface to space, since media consumption of the screen increasingly rich in the future.
“When you attach meaning to a space, it is becoming a place.”
The second session was quite interesting for me as I recently studied about story telling. A creative director of Airside, Nat Hunter, talked about ‘Telling the right story’. She said, “As a company our skill is in taking away difficult information and distilling it and making a very simple story out of it that people can understand.” When we design information, it is the most important to put organised data into narrative that can connect each illustrated sequence. Here is one of Airside’s works as an example.
Since I have worked as a graphic designer, mostly based on printed media, the last two session were the most interesting parts. Tony Brook, creative director of well-known design studio Spin. As he grew up in West Yorkshire, he described his own innate desire to economic visual language. According to his idea, most Northern people are minimalist and he is no exception. One of interesting points was a sort of creative approach such as a notion of graphic archaeology. He demonstrated this with cricket song from lancashire and Yorkshire. It was quite simple but effectively attractive.
Michael Bierut, a member of creative directors of legendary design group Pentagram, was the last talker, likebig stars have always popped up at the last scene. He said, ‘The only important decision is the choice of typeface’ in terms of the creative lexicon. Bierut described ten projects that conducted in recent years. Since his works in Pentagram were famous in the field that I already have seen before, such as identity for Museum of arts and design, whole processes of works were more interesting for me, concerning mainly typographic decisions. As we can see in Gary Hustwit’s documentary film ‘Helvetica’, I verified that Bierut is real Helvetica lover. Moreover, it is evident that he is not only good creative director but also best presenter as all audiences were captivated by his story.
Before looking into Frieze Art Fair, I think we should search a bit about its background, which is Frieze magazine. Frieze magazine launched in 1991, starting as a minor bi-monthly magazine. However, their brand value is enhanced as time goes on, and became one of the most important art fairs not just in Britain but also in the world. On top of that Frieze has tried to expand their area to the diverse media, which might be the driving force of its brand value. It is generally believed that the most crucial success point of Frieze is the Art Fair.
Frieze Art Fair has been held for the first time in October 2003, under the slogan of helping the contemporary art market. With gathering so many kinds of experimental and unique artists, it is definitely differentiating itself from other big art fairs such as Art Basel and Armory Show in New York. Frieze Art Fair has emerged as a Mecca for the young artist’s and galleries in the world. Let’s have a look at Frieze Art Fair of this year.
Jonathan Monk ‘Used Car (Jaguar XJ XJ6…’ / Jepp Hein ‘Two-way Mirror Mobile’
Do-ho Suh ‘Cause and Effect’
I could easily find one of the most famous Korean contemporary artists Do-ho Suh! We can see his another work(Staircase-III 2010) in TATE modern.
As can be seen from the pictures above, there were many kinds of buyers such as collectors, investors(maybe) and dealers. From my experience, the Arts Fair is more like a market as it is quite difficult to appreciate and enjoy arts in that atmosphere. However, evidently, a number of interesting contemporary art works(although some of them were obscure or even grotesque) overwhelmed me.
Darren Lago ‘Mickey de Balzac’
There were some interesting parody works, Mickey de Balzac is one of them that inspired from Auguste Rodin. Let’s compare with original one(click the link).
Lastly I would like to show my favourite one in Frieze which is ‘Light bulb to Stimulate Moonlight’ by Katie Paterson(2008).
Katie Paterson ‘Light bulb to Stimulate Moonlight’
Pipilotti Rist is a visual artist and film director from Switzerland. She is famous for the intense colours of her work, the speed of distortion and visual impact. As critics said, she has radically changed the way we look at and experience moving images.
“When I close my eyes, my imagination roams free. In the same way I want to create spaces for video art that rethink the very nature of the medium itself. I want to discover new ways of configuring the world, both the world outside and the world within.” –Pipilotti Rist
When I entered the exhibition in the Hayward gallery, I overwhelmed by diverse moving images showing over the wall and floor. I think she intended to change the way of viewing of audiences.
When we see a work of contemporary arts, sometimes various scenes and images can be separated from its own context. Then, it might generate quite different feedback from audiences. I believe, that is why many people have increasingly riveted on contemporary arts, as we can see more in-depth of our mundane life.
A debate at the Saatchi Gallery on October 7th, it was issued that whether the art market is the best judge of good art or not. According to the introduction of this event, even though Picasso’s Nude, Green Leaves and Bust sold for £65 million, the high prices are not always reflect artistic merit.
It is generally concerned that some of contemporary arts are over-priced. However, I believe that its bubble might be bursted and it will vitalise the art market as one of the biggest creative industries.
When it comes to the art markets, I think we MACE(and MAIBME) members might more concern about the money, as we see the arts from standpoint of the Creative economy. Before visiting Frieze Art Fair this coming Friday, I would like to think about this issue together and share some ideas.
Lecturer: Holly Becker(Founder & Editor of decor8blog.com)
“If you are not online, no one will know your exist”
When I visited 100%design there were not only exhibitions but also many kinds of communication programmes such as seminar. I attended some interesting seminars in 100%design and I would like to share one of them which is about ‘blogging’ by Holly Becker. In the seminar, she suggested 25 steps to make the best blog, but I reorganise 10 interesting points that might be helpful for the next blogging activities of MACE.
Who you want to speak to? : Target audience.
What do you want to talk in your blog? : Make a list.
Ways of Seeing 