Shape of Things: A Philosophy of Design

by Flusser, Vilem

• ISBN13: 9781861890559
• ISBN10: 1861890559
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-11-01
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

This book presents for the first time in English an array of essays on design by the seminal media critic and philosopher Vileacute;m Flusser. It puts forward the view that our future depends on design. In a series of insightful essays on such ordinary "things" as wheels, carpets, pots, umbrellas and tents, Flusser emphasizes the interrelationships between art and science, theology and technology, and archaeology and architecture. Just as formal creativity has produced both weapons of destruction and great works of art, Flusser believed that the shape of things (and the designs behind them) represents both a threat and an opportunity for designers of the future.

Author Biography

Vilem Flusser was born in Prague in 1920. After emigrating to Brazil and then to France, he embarked on an influential career as a lecturer and writer on language, design, and communication. He died in 1991.

Table of Contents

Introduction

About the Word

Design

Form and Material

War and the State of Things

About Forms and Formulae

The Designer's Way of Seeing

The Factory

The Lever Strikes Back

Shelters, Screens and Tents

Design: Obstacle for/to the Removal of Obstacles

Why Do Typewriters Go 'Click'?

The Ethics of Industrial Design?

Design as Theology

Wittgenstein's Architecture

Bare Walls

With As Many Holes As a Swiss Cheese

The Non-Thing 1

The Non-Thing 2

Carpets

Pots

Shamans and Dancers with Masks

The Submarine

Wheels

Biographical Note

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.