For the past week I have been enjoying dipping in and out of Uncorporate Identity, the first book from design speculation office Metahaven. Although the book includes much of Metahaven’s design work and research, the book cannot be categorized as a monograph, it exists in a grey area that is particularly suitable, as the work of these designers rarely fits into a category that could easily be called ‘graphic design’.
Robert Smithson on laughter in his ‘Entropy and the New Monuments’ essay:
‘Fuller was told by certain scientists that the fourth dimension was “ha-ha,” in other words, that it is laughter. Perhaps it is… Laughter is in a sense of kind of entropic “verbalization.” How could artists translate this verbal entropy, that is “ha-ha,” into “solid-models”? ‘
I found Smithson’s alignment of minimalist sculpture movement with laughter surprising, as are his references to horror and science fiction. The latter is more easily explained by the difference in time and context. Of course, to see the work he refers to in 1966 would be a completely different experience than seeing them now. However, the idea that these sculptures have could have a humorous reading is an unexpected and welcome reminder that art, and art criticism does not need to be po-faced.
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This morning I read ‘Entropy and the New Monuments‘, an essay by Robert Smithson from 1966. ‘Instead of causing us to remember the past like the old monuments, the new monuments cause us to forget the future.’ The essay is filled with references, some familiar, such as to the ‘Jabberwocky’ and the work of Flavin, Le Witt, Judd etc, but there are also many others that are rather more obscure, I though I would collect some of these here. Firstly, the ‘Park Place Group’, a group of artists working together in New York from 1963 onwards. These included: Anthony Magar:
I seem to be developing a bad habit: reading books half way through and then starting on the next one.
“Walk on I’ve learned. I let my pen and the Die do what my mind boggles at doing. The falling Die and moving pen think for themselves and the interposition of ego, artistic conscience, style or organisaton usually weighs things down. These inhibiting forces removed, the ink flows freely, space is filled, words are formed, ideas spring full blown on the page page like giants from dragons’ teeth.” Rhinehart (Harper Collins, page 442). The Dice Man
