Introduction: The Paradox of the Grid
Clara Zarza & Carmen Van Bruggen
Creativity is often understood to be intrinsically linked to the breaking of the norms and aesthetic systems that constitute the canons of artistic practices. Yet, can creativity still be understood that way, in a world where breaking the norm seems to have become the norm? What traditional patterns are there left to break with, after so many years of iconoclasm?
The grid in its simplicity, purity and harmonious structure was a key basis in the development of new forms of representation, abstract art and modern design. It was about leaving behind ornamentation, symbols loaded with meaning and everything curvy and organic. However, this aesthetic of straight clear lines, emptied of any traditional connotations soon became as systematic and as normative as the pre-existing canons.
In her infamous essay The Originality of the Avant-Garde and Other Modernist Myths (1985) Rosalind Krauss looks back at the avant-garde search for the essence of painting. In the grid, she finds a stereotype of purity and originality that is at the same time “a prison in which the caged artist feels at liberty.” (Krauss, 9). This quote full of contradictions shows the dynamic of creativity: every new idea can convert into a new set of restricting norms. However, in order to create, one has to start from somewhere. A grid is needed first, before one can break with it. Therefore, Krauss claims that originality should not be understood in opposition to the grid, but rather as a continuous process of appropriation, critique and re-evaluation.
The architect Rem Koolhaas reflects on the consequence of this constant play with previously cultivated forms for design. Instead of sketching a romantic image of innovation, he introduces the word ‘junkspace’. It is a word to describe what gets lost in this game of appropriation. An icon loses its sacredness in the form of a fridge magnet, imitations of gold and silver make gold and silver look cheap and the juxtaposition of several cultural styles obscures the presence of a specific culture. Koolhaas summarizes this with another paradoxical sentence: ‘Junkspace thrives on design, but design dies in Junkspace’ (Koolhaas).
In Breaking the Grid, the second issue of the Bachelor in Design’s Annual Journal, students critically reflect on these dynamics. The journal brings together a selection of the best essays written during the first and second year of the Bachelor in Design for the courses ‘History of Design’, ‘Design and Criticism’ and ‘Writing Skills’. They can each be seen as individual challenges and revisions that show the rich possibilities to be found in looking again at something that has been taken for granted for long. Besides, a talented team worked very hard on the graphic design of the magazine. With this issue they show that thinking is not only expressed in words, but also in form — images, empty spaces and layout choices.
