RELATED TERMS: Theoretical practice Open system theory was initially developed by Ludwig von Bertanlanffy in the 1950s. Although conceived in the context of biology, the theory is applicable in other disciplines. The theory defines systems as being “characterized by an assemblage or combination of parts whose relations make them interdependent” (Scott, 1992: 77). As oneContinue reading “Open Systems Theory”
Author Archives: aparsons474
Emergence
RELATED TERMS: Heterarchy; Open Systems Theory The concepts of complexity, emergence and relationality were introduced in 20th century science and philosophy as means of counteracting the effects of positivism and reductionism. They are crucial for understanding the operation of designed outputs as material, semiotic phenomena and therefore important to consider in conceptualisation and design processes.Continue reading “Emergence”
Ecology and Economy
RELATED TERMS: Human Ecosystem; Lifeworld – Lebenswelt – Umwelt; Systems Theory “The economist Kate Raworth believes she has a solution. It is possible, she argues, to design an economy that allows humans and the environment to thrive.” (O’Brien, 2023) The Greek word oikos, meaning whole house or household, lies at the root of both the notionsContinue reading “Ecology and Economy”
Dramatic Conflict
RELATED TERMS: Actantial model – Greimas; Agon; Agonism and avant-gardism; Antagonist; Focalisation; Protagonist; Telos and Teleology; Theatre and Drama Theory The dramatic conflict is the persistent tension, the driving force, from which the content of the story is gestated and produced. According to Robert McKee (1999: 210): “Nothing moves forward in a story except throughContinue reading “Dramatic Conflict”
Distribution of the Sensible – Ranciere
RELATED TERMS: Agonism and avant-gardism; Agonistic Politics – Mouffe; Apparatus – Dispositif; Arendt; Avant-garde movements; Dissensus – Ranciere; Politics and the Political A narrative environment could be conceived of as a ‘distribution of the sensible’; or, if it is a political act, a disruption of a ‘distribution of the sensible’. Ranciere’s phrase, partage du sensible, isContinue reading “Distribution of the Sensible – Ranciere”
Dissensus – Ranciere
RELATED TERMS: Agon; Agonism and avant-gardism; Avant-garde movements; Defamiliarisation; Design of Narrative Environments; Distribution of the sensible – Ranciere; Methodology and Method; Modernism and avant-garde art practice; Politics and the Political Some designed narrative environments may be said to constitute a form of dissensus or, “a dissensual re-configuration of the common experience of the sensible,”Continue reading “Dissensus – Ranciere”
Semiotic Square
RELATED TERMS: Actantial Model – Greimas; In Medias Res The kind of use that is made of Greimas’ semiotic square in the design of narrative environments is similar to that of Donna Haraway (1992: 304) in ‘The Promises of Monsters’. She notes that, in alliance with Bruno Latour, she will use “this clackety, structuralist meaning-making machine”Continue reading “Semiotic Square”
Tragic Theatre – Aristotle
RELATED TERMS: Analepsis and Prolepsis; Arendt; Epic theatre – Brecht; Mimesis and Diegesis; Story (fabula) and Plot (sjuzet); Theatre; Theatre of Cruelty; The importance of tragic theatre for design practices is threefold. First, it places great importance on plot construction and the effects upon the audience that such plotting can achieve. Second, it emphasisesContinue reading “Tragic Theatre – Aristotle”
Telos and Teleology
RELATED TERMS: Narratology; Philosophy “The study of design is linked, historically and conceptually, to teleology. Since Plato and Aristotle, the apparent orderliness of sensible objects has inspired reflection upon first principles. As William Paley suggested in his proof of God’s existence, whatever appears to have been designed – whether natural or artificial – provides anContinue reading “Telos and Teleology”
Disciplinary Societies and Societies of Control
RELATED TERMS: Affordances; Apparatus – Dispositif; Biopolitics and Biopower; Body; Burnout Society; Fordism and Post-Fordism; Libidinal Economy Environmental design outputs, such as narrative environments, could be said to form domains or territories with their own characteristic habits, rules, regulations and laws, a kind of ‘world’ or ‘universe’. In order to develop a sense of howContinue reading “Disciplinary Societies and Societies of Control”
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