ESSAY TOPIC:
The value of a work of art today depends in large part on the name and reputation of the artist. Explain why this would be an error in a traditional society?
The designer Charles Ray Eames famously described design as ¡°a plan for arranging elements in such a way as to best accomplish a particular purpose¡± a synonymous view with the central view of this course that ¡°design is the designation of things and nothings for a purpose.¡± This is to show that this is neither a new view nor an invalid one today. Yet what is at fault is the understanding of this statement. The very idea of problem solving is the most common interpretation or misinterpretation of the statement. By problem solving there is an obvious emphasis placed on the nature of the problem and requiring a specialist within a particular field. This creates the elitist view that designers are a special kind of person someone that is gifted or a genius. This myth I believe is at the center of the essay topic.
In a primitive or traditional society, the lack of social institutional systems and artificial realities and regulations makes them pure and yet to be invaded by consumerism, global economy and the pressure to be different. The lack of social divide or need for it generated the traditional view of the designer as not a special kind of person but every person is a special kind of designer. In a primitive world they valued the contribution of each individual and worked with the whole of the human condition. They created designs not of personal expression or for personal taste but aimed to benefit the whole community and stayed true to the natural world around them. The value of the work is thus not of the individual who created it but what the artifact it self stands for or e ...