Manifestos

‘A manifesto is a published verbal declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government. A manifesto usually accepts a previously published opinion or public consensus and/or promotes a new idea with prescriptive notions for carrying out changes the author believes should be made. It often is political or artistic in nature, but may present an individual's life stance.’ 

              Manifestos was the focus of the first seminar following the introduction to the new lecture series for this term. Above is a general description of what a manifesto is and what it aims to do, but we specifically were interested in looking at art and design manifestos- a set of rules or guidelines that define and declare the views of a design practitioner. One example being the manifesto of artist Claes Oldenburg: 


I Am For… (Statement, 1961)

I am for an art that is political-erotical-mystical, that does something other than sit on its ass in a museum.
I am for an art that grows up not knowing it is art at all, an art given the chance of having a starting point of zero.
I am for an art that embroils itself with the everyday crap and still comes out on top.
I am for an art that imitates the human, that is comic, if necessary, or violent, or whatever is necessary.
I am for all art that takes its form from the lines of life itself, that twists and extends and accumulates and spits and drips, and is heavy and coarse and blunt and sweet and stupid as life itself.

I am for an artist who vanishes, turning up in a white cap painting signs or hallways.

This excerpt shows the manifesto declaring Claus' Oldenburg's stance on art at the time, and tells us what it is he thinks art should be, and what it means to him personally, which is why the things he lists are quite abstract, and not just mundane, achievable goals that he is setting for himself.

Another example of a manifesto is Daniel Eatock's Conceptual Design Manifesto:

Begin with ideas

Embrace chance 

Celebrate coincidence 

Ad-lib and make things up

Eliminate superfluous elements

Subvert expectation

Make something difficult look easy

Be first or last 

Believe complex ideas can produce simple things

Trust the process

Allow concepts to determine form

Reduce material and production to their essence

Sustain the integrity of an idea 

Propose honesty as a solution 

This manifesto is a bit more straightforward than Oldenburg's and shows clear definitive "guidelines" to follow when designing, however some of the statements are still quite ambiguous, for example, 'Be first or last' - first or last in what? Both of these manifestos reflect the individuals approach to design/art and say something about the practitioner themselves. 

After looking at these manifestos we were asked to create our own design manifesto, to consider what is important to us in our studio practice – personally, professionally, stylistically and in relation to processes and practices. If we were to come up with a set of ‘rules’ or guidelines for our way of working, what might these look like? Thinking about how and why we make the work that we make (or aspire to make).