ITAP2: Protest Design

In this itap lecture, we were shown a more rebellious themed artist who used design in protest; a far different element of design from which other lectures were based around. The key figures for this theme were Adrian Piper (1948) and Jenny Holzer (1950). Both were of similar time periods and protested highly political views with public design. 

Adrian Piper is considered to be a first generation philosopher/conceptual artist, using art as a form of demonstration containing strong moral messages. Some of her work includes 'self portraits' in which she describes to exaggerate her Negroid features in attempt to deliberately make the viewer uncomfortable and aware of racial stereotypes. This racial point was hammered forward with what can be referred to as call cards (seen below) and installation art for galleries where a screen displaying her face was cornered by an aggressively arrow shaped arrangement of chairs so signify the feeling she is trapped and cornered by others.

Her work also includes 'psychedelic art' of early LSD paintings, and public displays such as her on modes of transport with her mouth stuffed by a piece of material symbolising her inability to talk out as well as causing shock value.

Looking at her work, it ranges hugely in style and media platform but remains to hold a consistent moral message.















Jenny Holzer on the other hand, displays her work on far larger scales. Born two years after Piper, Holzer fights political battles too, only rather than a more specific 'race' theme, chooses to send messages out about various elements of politics as well as feminism; 'a voice to the people'. To display these messages in public, she originally used street posters, but also moved to use projections onto walls which can range in size, LED light signs and billboards; all extremely eye catching platforms. In time this range grew to even more obscure and broad mediums, by spreading her message in things such as; Painted signs, bronze plaques, footstools, benches, t-shirts, condoms, stickers, photographs, video, sound the internet, and even a le-mans racing car. This made her a renowned protester and has shown me various new platform medias and mediums to consider for future projects.

A final artist to bare in mind when looking at this progression in creativity on protest/looking at things from a different perspective and experimenting with styles is the 1970/80 new wave band Devo; a contraction for 'Devolve', or to un evolve. Below is their song 'Freedom of Choice'. In this video, the experimentation of media styles and message content is heavy, as well as the inclusive symbolism and metaphors to add to the protesting theme.

hSp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jVoroHx3IU&feature=related