How do we learn about the objects that surround us? As well as gathering sensory information by viewing and using objects; we also learn about objects through the written and spoken word - from shop labels to friends recommendations and from magazines to patents. But; even as design commentators have become increasingly preoccupied with issues of mediation; the intersection of design and language remains under-explored.Writing Design provides a unique examination of what is at stake when we convert the material properties of designed goods into verbal or textual description. Issues discussed include the role of text in informing design consumption; designing with and through language; and the challenges and opportunities raised by design without language. Bringing together a wide range of scholars and practitioners; Writing Design reveals the difficulties; ethics and politics of writing about design.
#3078582 in eBooks 2013-08-09 2013-08-09File Name: B00ECGO0GS
Review
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. more antropology than CIBy Marcio Rocha PereiraIm about to finish this book but ill read it again. The layers of meaning have not really settled on my mind. There are many issues being dealt with here; and they are not clearly split. Like a CI performance; it is a big jumble of meaning happening at once.There are other 2 books about CI available; and having just practiced the form for about a month i skipped them in favour of this one; because it does not seem to teach almost anything about the technique itself; instead focusing in CI as a social process.Novack states that "In the course of talking to many people; seeing performances; and participating in classes presented by dancers from all over the country; I realized that the contact improvisers constituted a clear social and artistic group; distinct from all the other improvisers at the conference. I began to perceive that contact improvisation formed a discrete; self-defined unit that could be studied by itself and that to do so would not be inventing an artificial category." And then; like your proverbial ethnographer; she goes living with the indians and comes back and tells the story. More precisely; this is a study of the people; of the dancers; and of their culture. It is not about Contact Improvisation; it is about culture.Of course; if this means there is almost no "know-how" in this book; the approach also allows her to deal with many abstract; ambiguous issues. How much culture there is in a body? What are the ideas of "Nature" and "Movement" that shape our daily lives? How do our values and pulls permeate from the very direct --- our sense of motion and weight and touch --- to the very abstract --- our organization into groups or "forms"? All of those are tangled in rich and complex patterns in the practice of CI and; i believe; beautifully represented in this book.Being an overentusiastic novice at CI; i must confess that the book also strikes me as overly shy; i keep on wishing she will be more incisive and lay out in plain terms that she thinks CI is a much more pleasant way-of-life than mainstream America; and why; sometimes she almost seems to want to say it. But this is probably a quality of the work; that it tries to remain objective; and its probably the fanboy inside of me that looks for anything else.That said; the historical perspective she lays out has definitely allowed me to grasp new layers of meaning in the exercises i had been practicing; to glimpse how and why they come about; and to put words to some of the bodily percepts that the exercises awaken in me; and to put it all in perspective. Its a very serious book about a very important matter.And; of course; there is also the unicorn. This whatever-it-is in CI that is almost impossible to talk about but also almost impossible to miss. Novack antropological approach does; i feel; bring together most of the components of the issue --- culture; meaning; leadership. Maybe there is still a unicorn to be looked after; but Novacks book at least gives us the vocabulary to discuss it.2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. a must read for the serious contact improviserBy love grenadeI would strongly recommend any one who is considering teaching contact improvisation to read this thorough account of the history and cultural influences of CI. Since this book has been written; CI has seen exponential growth through out the world. Cynthia Novak does an excellent job going into detail about the development of this revolutionary movement form and social dance.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Social and historical perspective on Contact ImprovisationBy CleaA brilliant; honest and thorough thesis on the history and magnitude of the dance form; contact improvisation. Gorgeous photographs seem to jump off the page and document the movement explorations of the dedicated pioneers of the form.