Dissolving Cultural Borders
Lucía de la Torre
Influential designer Victor Papanek once stated that nowadays design has become a powerful tool for humans to shape their surroundings, consequently shaping society and themselves. For this reason, he argued that designers should acknowledge their “high social and moral responsibility” (Papanek in Keitsch 182), and “instead focus on producing products with ‘real’ benefits for people, and by doing so contribute to the societal and moral needs of society.” (Papanek in Keitsch 181). Given the strong impact design can have on a society and its individuals, it is highly important for designers to work in a socially conscious and responsible manner. The posters made by the design studio OPEN for the Mekudeshet festival of 2017 are an example that tackle this issue. This festival is celebrated in Jerusalem, a place divided by multiple and conflicting religions and cultural backgrounds, resulting in tensions and chaos that often create a negative perception of Jerusalem in the eyes of the outsider. Therefore, the purpose of the design is to represent the unification of all of these cultural groups and thus help dissolve the invisible borders constructed by the identities dividing Jerusalem (open.co). The design mainly achieves this through its process, which faithfully represents Jerusalem’s diversity. However, given that the resulting image is a highly abstract one, the process is not made apparent, which raises the concern of whether its social value is partially lost in the ambiguity of the final image.
The process behind this design may be the main factor providing its social value, as every step was carefully considered in order to transmit the concept of dissolving boundaries in a socially mindful way. In his talk “Chaos” Saar Friedman (OPEN’s creative director) mentions how Jerusalem seems to be divided by borders between the areas inhabited by different religious and cultural groups. He states that the centre of the city is mainly occupied by Muslims, the westside by ultra religious Jews, and the rest of the city by a variety of other groups. This creates a strong debate regarding “what belongs to whom” and “what are the real borders of the city” (“Saar”). However, a person must cross these immaterial borders on a daily basis in order to access essential goods and services. Moving on from this, the studio decided to GPS track the daily routes of ten influential artists and activists as they moved through the city (“Saar”). The resulting image directly represented the crossing and dissolving of these borders as the visualized paths crossed and intertwined with each other, expanding over the entire city. Furthermore, these ten participants varied in cultural and religious backgrounds, and were chosen because they themselves had dissolved cultural boundaries within their own lives. A transgender woman and a Christian man married to a Jewish woman were among them, demonstrating the importance of overcoming boundaries set by societal taboos that can harm the individual and consequently the society’s progress and wellbeing. In order to faithfully portray the cultural diversity of Jerusalem, each participant was given a specific brushstroke design to illustrate their tracked paths, based on visual elements from their different backgrounds, like the stroke of traditional writing, or a distinct tiles design (Under Consideration). In his talk, Friedman also expresses how, in this city conflicted by different backgrounds and mindsets, “every person is sure that the whole city belongs to them, and sees Jerusalem from their own perspective” (“Saar”). However it is interesting that the poster does not take the point of view of a person moving through Jerusalem (floor level), but an unbiased approach from a satellite or air perspective, like an outside spectator observing the behaviour of these people. It almost implies that the city belongs to everyone, as it is filled with the movement of a diverse range of people that have to cross these cultural borders daily. A second concept that adds social value to the design is its embrace of the notion of chaos as associated with Jerusalem. In his talk, Friedman describes the chaos that fills the city as seen through the notion of contrasts and conflict.
A city where gay parades happen alongside extremist religious manifestations and advanced technology meets decaying infrastructure (“Saar”).
Oftentimes this chaotic perception of Jerusalem becomes unappealing and overwhelming to an outsider’s eye, but it is also part of the city’s beauty (“Saar”). Therefore, with the purpose of changing people’s negative perception of this aspect of Jerusalem, Friedman embraces this chaos and translates it into the design’s process as well as its outcome. In the case of the process, chaos is present in the form of improvisation, and the fact that the design relies on circumstantial, human behaviour. It is the people’s distinct movements through the city that create the design, and not the designer’s, and this lack of control is what leads to an unexpected and unique outcome. This aspect makes the design socially inclusive because it transfers the power to the hands of the user or targeted audience. In a sense, through relying on those ten citizens as part of the process, the posters become designed by and for the people of Jerusalem.
The visual result is what seems like:
a living organism of chaotic brushstrokes, of different cultural backgrounds intertwining and blending with each other, an image of one beautiful chaos.
Although the graphic choices all have a complex purpose, the visual result is very abstract, barely revealing the process behind it. Given the importance of the process to demonstrate the social value, the question arises of whether this is lost in the ambiguity of the outcome. If the process is not apparent, does it still effectively communicate its social message to the viewer? Fortunately, more aspects of the design ensure its social responsibility. An example would be the socially inclusive detail of writing the Festival’s name in the three different languages spoken in Jerusalem: Hebrew, Arabic and English. It does this as a reference to the format of all street signs in Jerusalem. Another one would be the fact that the posters designed for each event are each made in a single different color (“Saar”). However, the poster announcing the final, most important event uses all the colors of the previous posters. Given that each of the events bring art and music from different places and cultures, this choice further reinforces the idea of bringing together the diverse backgrounds that build the festival. Lastly, the main posters announcing the overall event are made using only black and white. The use of these as the two most basic and contrasting colors does not only serve to represent the city’s contrasts (“Saar”), but brings attention to the most essential element of the design: the brushstrokes and its patterns. Instead of distracting the viewer with many colors, the poster brings focus to its most intriguing element, creating interest on what its meaning might be.
Nevertheless a very significant aspect of the design is its purpose of advertising the festival, thus functioning as publicity, but a socially responsible one: it sells an experience, a feeling and a mentality, not an object. A possibly negative aspect of publicity as described by visual theorist John Berger in his book Ways of Seeing (2008) is that it creates desire for an improved, enviable version of one’s self (131). In Berger’s analysis it does so by making the viewers feel unsatisfied with their current state of being, convincing them that if they acquire what is being advertised, their lives will become better (142). However, in this case, the desire to go to the festival is achieved by creating interest in the viewer. The abstract and complex image created by the brushstrokes along with the lack of context information (only includes name and date) sparks curiosity and intrigue in the viewer to discover the meaning of the poster and consequently the process behind it. Therefore, the social value inherent to the design’s process isn’t lost as a result of its visual ambiguity, it is rediscovered. Furthermore, Berger explains how publicity uses photography to achieve the same tangible quality of oil paintings, making the things advertised seem more reachable to the viewer (Berger 141). In this case, instead of advertising the event by displaying an image of people enjoying themselves, the posters present an abstract one. Therefore, instead of offering the public a prefixed image of the festival, it actually encourages them to create their own, transforming them into active observers by stimulating their curiosity and imagination, thus becoming part of the design.
As it was seen, a significant aspect that makes OPEN’s design of the Mekudeshet festival posters (2017) socially responsible is that it gives agency to its target audience by integrating them into every aspect of the design. Going from a process that relies on people’s movement through the city of Jerusalem, to an abstract outcome that triggers the viewers’ imagination for them to build their own perception of the festival. This possibility of being open to interpretation consequently enables a dialogue between the design and the viewer, reinforcing the importance of the relationship between both to build the design’s value.
