ARK-E1021 - Studio Spring, Emergent Design Methodologies, Lecture, 12.1.2024-12.4.2024

David Carson 2019

3 groups (5 + 5 + 4 students)

In this assignment, you are an art historian with an interest in the applicability of collage ideas to building design.

It is amazing how little there is deeper analysis of collage in art history, considering how widely known the concept is. 

The history of collage in art however usually includes such authors as Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Kurt Schwitters, Max Ernst, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Frank Stella and David Salle. They may have experimented with mixed media, three-dimensional collage and other types of collage. In addition, collage has been widely used in graphic design for example by such authors as David Carson. 

Your task is to create a classification of different types of collage which would be adaptable to architecture and especially building design. Please develop a list and description of different types of collage from your analysis of historical and contemporary art in order to get applicable concepts and ideas for your own design work.

Method

1 Please read the introductory document on collage from the background material section of this course’s Mycourses pages and collect your own favourite collage art - this can be from any field of visual arts: painting, sculpture, graphic design etc., but not from architecture. You need to include also work by other artists than were mentioned in the background document.

2 Describe (facts - what you see)

3 Analyse (through formal analysis, which is a technique for organising visual information. In other words, use a strategy to translate what you see into written words and especially diagrams)

4 Classify (divide collages into different groups according to their type) to at least five types, but preferably 10

5 Interpret the types for the context of architecture (for example with diagrams or reference examples)

6 Evaluate (value based on imagination, skill, contribution/significance, for their usability for building design

7 Simplify your classification into five categories and represent them with words, diagrams and possible reference images

Object of study

Collage is a combination of different visual or spatial systems (visual languages) based on their a) contrast and b) variations in individual instances where they meet within the artwork. Therefore, the primary object of study is the c) differences between these systems of entities and d) the different types of relationships between them and in the instances. Other possible objects of study in collage include:

• technique
  
• shape 
  
• volume
  
• structure
  
• rhythm
  
• space 
  
• colour
  
• material
  
• mass
  
• solid/void
• border/line
  
• composition
  
• balance/contrast
  
• style
  
• feeling

Even though there are numerous possible characteristics to be analysed, the aim of this task is to eventually classify different types of collages into maximum five different classes or types. All of these should be useful for applications in architecture and motivational for your design work. Each group should produce their own classification.

End result: Powerpoint / Acrobat presentation, max 20 min.