مرحبا VCU Qatar! (Provocation #1)

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Hi, I am Alice Twemlow, Critic-in-Residence  in the VCU Qatar MFA Design Studies department. Normally, I am the Chair of the SVA MFA in Design Criticism in New York.

But for the next few days, I’ll be based here, to bring an outside perspective to bear on the ways students are thinking, writing, and making to ask lots of questions, and probably to get in the way in bit! Feel free to contact me any time. If you want to see me in person for a chat about anything, my office is the one between Paolo’s and Thomas’s. It’s rather bland-looking right now, so if you drop by please bring me a piece of your work to put on the wall or the window sill to help brighten up the space. I will return it to you afterwards, I promise!

While I am here, I will be participating in classes to help stimulate critical discussion, working with 2nd years as a group, and individually, on their thesis formulation, and for everyone I’ll be running this blog of DAILY PROVOCATIONS.

Each day, I’ll post a new provocation, with a little bit of background reading. I’m hoping that you will respond to the provocation and post the results here and/or ITRW, as specified. The provocations are intended to be fun, but also to make you think critically about different aspects of design practice and criticism. If you are interested in any of the topics and would like more to read about it, just let me know and I can provide the links. At the end of my time here, I’ll gather together all the work produced through this blog, and make an exhibition of it. So, let’s going shall we?

PROVOCATION #1: WHAT SHOULD DESIGN CRITICISM LOOK LIKE?

Design criticism has an image problem. Designers think critics are mean, and the public thinks critics are too close to design, and don’t have sufficient critical distance. I need a brand identity while I am here so that people know who I am, and have a more positive conception of what design criticism is. This might comprise: a label or device for me to wear (hat? sandwich board? badge? T-shirt?); signage for the door of my office door; a way-finding system for people to find my office. Your definitions can be long or short, personal or not, visual or written, theoretical or using concrete examples. Mainly, I want to find out what you think design criticism could be, and what it could be used for. Go for it!

Deadline: Thursday November 7, 5:00 p.m.

For some background reading try these:
Reyner Banham, ‘Industrial Design and Popular Art,’ 1955
Massimo Vignelli, ‘Call for Criticism’, 1983
Naomi Stead, ‘Three Complaints about Architectural Criticism‘, 2003
Alexandra Lange, ‘An Anatomy of Uncriticism,’ 2012

9 comments on “مرحبا VCU Qatar! (Provocation #1)”

  1. Hi Alice,

    Thanks for providing this opportunity.

    I look at design criticism as a spring board for investigation, or like a side car for further exploration and introspection. We have the driver leading the way and we are along for the ride. The driver has to pay attention to the road in front of them and we the passenger can do that as well but we can look at the things on either side or behind us. Students and professionals can use this as a way to assist them in the definition they choose for themselves. It can be a source of awareness…to get us thinking about issues that relate to our day to day routine.

    • Hi Leland. I LOVE the sidecar/passenger analogy. So we critics can look either side of us (at context) and behind us (at historical precedent). We can also use the Googlemap function on our iphone to see the traffic jam a few miles ahead. So, let’s say we have some important insight to impart, gathered from our sideways and backwards observations. How do we get the designer/driver’s attention while she is driving/designing?

  2. In many a self-help publication the notion of ‘wearing different hats’ is raised, asking one to symbolically ‘wear’ a particular hat, depending on the context of the task or setting one is involved with.

    Perhaps this could here be interpreted literarily, and, when you’re involved/ immersed in the ‘act’ of design/ art criticism you could declare your intent, and state of mind, by wearing a rendition of the Lithuanian Sauna Hat (see: http://lithuaniantouch.lt/sauna-hat-AAB1013 ) proclaiming, loudly & proudly, that Alice is in town, eager to get critical, and is ready & willing to engage with any fierce and blazing – organically arisen or induced – polemic discourse…

  3. THINK • WRITE • SHARE
    Words that provoke an action states the value of the process of writing. I like the idea that writing and reading/understanding/responding actually build a community that leaves an indelible mark on each other. Good criticism needs the circle to be complete and continuos.

  4. Hi Alice, and welcome back!
    As much as I personally enjoy the sort of edgy sharpness in the word Critic, I do believe it to be a provocation in itself. I believe a lot of my students thinks it sounds like something scrutinizing and un-comfortable that might “put you on the spot”. Quite interesting actually how a professional title can radiate skepticism, almost as these very descriptive words that are made by mimicking sounds, such as “crash”, “bam”. Maybe the title Critic is too literal in describing the activity that takes place in the work you do… I am trying to make a point of that a dentist is called a dentist and not a “tooth driller”….

    • It IS a sharp word. I never thought of it like that. Right, so the new brand for design criticism needs a new title as well. I’m open to suggestions…