Hi it’s me again. I really enjoyed the MFA Design Studies 2nd year students’ presentations of their thesis experimentation this morning. Currently I’m reading the essays they’ve written which detail precedents for the kinds of work they are exploring. Later this week I’ll report back on the themes and implications that are emerging there.<\/p>\n
Provocation #1 still remains. I’ve extended the deadline until the end of the week to allow for more responses. But now it’s time for our next challenge. Today it’s all about books. More specifically, how we arrange our books, which, according to the French essayist and filmmaker Georges Perec, is a two-fold problem concerning ‘space’ and ‘order’. In his essay ‘The Art and Manner of Arranging One’s Books’ Perec proposes the following list as the most common ways of arranging books, although he admits that in practice most libraries use a combination of these modes:<\/p>\n
ordered alphabetically PROVOCATION #2: How do you currently arrange your books? Rearrange your books in a new way.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n You could either take a picture, make sketch, or describe your current and your new arrangements. If you use a visual means to document this project you may need to add a caption to explain your former rationale for arrangement and your new one. Thesis students among you may wish to use this opportunity to organize and thematically sort their thesis literature.<\/p>\n And lest you think this provocation not particularly ‘critical’, I would urge you to consider the ordering of books through more political lenses such as ‘non-traditional views,’ ‘books I disagree with’, ‘harmful books’, ‘wasteful books’, ‘luscious books I wish would go on for ever’ etc.<\/p>\n Some background reading: I look forward to your images and descriptions and your new categorizations. You can post them here as comments, or add links to your own blogs, or paste them on my door. Remember, there’s an exhibition to be made out of this by next week!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hi it’s me again. I really enjoyed the MFA Design Studies 2nd year students’ presentations of their thesis experimentation this morning. Currently I’m reading the essays they’ve written which detail precedents for the kinds of work they are exploring. Later … Continue reading
\nordered by continent or country
\nordered by colour<\/a>
\nordered by date of acquisition
\nordered by date of publication
\nordered by format
\nordered by genre
\nordered by major periods of literary history
\nordered by language
\nordered by priority for future reading
\nordered by binding
\nordered by series<\/p>\n
\nGeorges Perec, ‘The Art and Manner of Arranging One’s Books<\/a>‘, 1978
\nWalter Benjamin, ‘Unpacking My Library<\/a>‘, 1968
\nDesignersandbooks.com<\/a><\/p>\n