Meaning
The quality without a name
The meaning of objects
The meaning of music
A creature of bones, not words
The shape of the sentence
To build a folly
- ââDesigned to be ruinsââ
- ââFolliesââ
- ââThermal aediculaeââ
Let the meaning choose the word
Taboo your words
The arbitrariness of the sign
- ââGods of the Wordââ
The eye does not see
The utter nothingness of being
Whereof one cannot speak
Not knowing quite what they mean
Things cannot be other than as they are
50 reds
No words to describe
That is not it at all
A soft and fitful luster
Reference and Is-ness
The demand of a new word
Apparency
Fish and water
The word invents itself
AI-art isnât art
The Future Is Not Only Useless, Itâs Expensive
The Gifted Listener: Composer Aaron Copland on Honing Your Talent for Listening to Music
On 'The Master and His Emissary'
A brief foray into vectorial semantics
The way an oyster does
The primacy of interpretation over sensation
The body image
Meaningness
The ABC's of â˛â â: The Bauhaus and Design Theory
The cultivation of inherent faculties
The basic course
It is a little world
See how many a pretty thing
I always from the cube can bring:
Chair and sofa, bench and table,
Desk to write at when Iâm able,
All the household furniture,
Even babyâs bed Iâm sure;
Not a few such things I see;
Stove and sideboard here can be.
Many things, both old and new,
My dear cube brings into view;
So my cube much pleases me,
Because through it so much I see.
It is a little world.- ââCubedââ
A universal correspondence
In 1923 Kandinsky proposed a universal correspondence between the three elementary shapes and the three primary colors: the dynamic triangle is inherently yellow, the static square is intrinsically red, and the serene circle is naturally blue.
The series â˛â â represents Kandinskyâs attempt to prove a universal correlation between color and geometry; it has become one of the most famous icons of the Bauhaus. Kandinsky conceived of these colors and shapes as a series of oppositions: yellow and blue represent the extremes of hot/cold, light/dark, and active/passive, while red is the intermediary between them. The triangle, square, and circle are graphic equivalents of the same polarities.
The arbitrariness of the sign
A key difference between verbal language and the modernist ideal of a visual âlanguageâ is the arbitrariness of a verbal sign, which has no natural, inherent relationship to the concept it represents. The sound of the word âhorseâ, for example, does not innately resemble the concept of a horse. Ferdinand de Saussure called this arbitrariness the fundamental feature of the verbal sign. The meaning of a sign is generated by its relationship to other signs in the language: the signâs legibility lies in its difference from other signs.
- ââGods of the Wordââ
Reduced to an act of selection
âThe more exact and complete the criteria are, the more creative the work becomes. The creative act is reduced to an act of selection.â
â Karl Gerstner, Designing Programmes (1963)
Separation of surface and structure
The nineteenth century saw an increasing separation between the treatment of the surface and the structure of designed objects. Mass production and a mobile market economy encouraged the production of heavily ornamented yet cheaply fabricated products. Affordable manufacture allowed the burgeoning middle class to acquire âluxuryâ goods fashioned after objects formerly reserved for an elite.
- ââThe drop pressââ
Gifts and occupations
Between 1835 and 1850 Froebel worked on his âGifts and Occupationsâ â a set of geometric blocks (Gifts) and basic craft activities (Occupations), that would become the centerpiece of his pedagogical theory. The Gifts and Occupations were introduced in a highly ordered sequence, which began in the childâs second month and concluded in the last year of kindergarten.
Typographic grid
Just one of many examples of beautiful typography and layout throughout the book. Love the page design.