JULY 22, 2008: SPORTS
On Tuesday, July 22, Design Criticism enthusiasts congregated for an evening of sports-fueled design criticism. The New York Times car critic, Phil Patton considered the curious conflation of celebrity athlete shoes and cars. Metropolis contributing editor Jennifer Kabat scrutinized Nike's new uniforms for the Chinese Olympics team. Michael Bierut, co-founder of Design Observer, questioned stadium architecture's tendency to nostalgia. Finally, ESPN sports uniform critic Paul Lukas explored the cultural history of the humble baseball cap.
Reading Night Transcripts:
Phil Patton, "Ur Jordan"
Michael Bierut, "The (Faux) Old Ball Game"
Jennifer Kabat
Paul Lukas, "The Evolution of the Baseball Cap"
MARCH 27, 2008: FOOD
On Thursday, May 29, D-Crit devotees gathered for an evening of food-related design criticism. Design curator extraordinaire Paola Antonelli deconstructed the art and science of the pasta shell. Design essayist and author Akiko Busch treated the crowd to her delicious musings on the vegetable peeler which, when seen through Busch's eyes, reveals the poetry of the kitchen. And Paul Lukas, who recently blasted Heinz EZ Squirt Blastin' Green Ketchup, took us on a lo-fi historical tour of butcher-chart design.
Reading Night Transcripts:
Paola Antonelli, "Design Bites"
Akiko Busch, "The Vegetable Peeler"
Paul Lukas, "A Brief History of Butchery Charts"
MARCH 27, 2008: EVIL
On Thursday, March 27th, readers looked at design through the murky lens of evil: Editor and writer Andrea Codrington examined Modernist design as a signifier of malice in Hollywood films; D-Crit co-founder and SVA MFA Design co-chair Steven Heller reflected on the Swastika and its potential for redemption as a symbol; and Metropolis columnist Philip Nobel read an open letter he wrote shortly after the death of the architect Philip Johnson.
Reading Night Transcripts:
Andrea Codrington, "Modernist Malice"
Steve Heller, "The Swastika: A Symbol Beyond Redemption?"
Philip Nobel, "A Letter to the Dean"
JANUARY 23, 2008: MUSIC
At D-Crit's second reading night on January 23, 2008 at KGB bar, readers explored the spaces where music and design converge. Sasha Frere Jones read a lyrical piece about the dance music productions of cellist Arthur Russell, one of the first columns he wrote as pop-music critic at The New Yorker. Stuart Bailey, founder and editor of dot-dot-dot, read his essay about the Vorticist artist Wyndham Lewis, which uses another essay about Mark E. Smith of The Fall as its narrative counterweight. Principal at the New York design firm Giampietro+Smith, Rob Giampietro ruminated on an imaginary packaging design for a piece of Arvo Pärt's orchestral music. And Slate's music critic Jody Rosen brought us an essay he had almost finished writing for Slate about his obsession with turn of the century sheet music.
Reading Night Transcripts:
Rob Giampietro, "Part Notes"
Stuart Bailey, "Wyndham Lewis"
Jody Rosen, "On Sheet Music"
Sasha Frere-Jones, "Let's Go Swimming: Arthur Russell's gentle revolutions."
NOVEMBER 29, 2007: HOME
On November 29, 2007 the SVA MFA Design Criticism department hosted its first reading night at KGB Bar in the East Village. Addressing the concept of "home" from different angles were: Metropolis magazine columnist Karrie Jacobs (faculty), design, technology and culture writer David Womack, and conceptual artist Elizabeth Demaray.
Jacobs read an excerpt from her 2006 book, The Perfect $100,000 House, which chronicles her nationwide search for a place to call home; Demaray spoke about a project in which she created alternative plastic housing for homeless hermit crabs; and Womack recounted the virtues of lightweight living, a revelation received while backpacking in the Sierra Nevadas.
Reading Night Transcripts:
Karrie Jacobs, "I Am the Uncool Hunter: Do "factory-like" subdivisions spell the end of the loft as a meaningful cultural symbol?"
David Womack, "An Uphill Struggle"
Elizabeth Demaray, "The Hand Up Project: Attempting to Meet the New Needs of Natural Life-Forms"