Philipp Zitzlsperger (German edition): Das Design-Dilemma zwischen Kunst und Problemlösung - full text online

Design Reconsidered

The design dilemma is based on the historic separation of design and art since the late Middle Ages. It describes the transformation of design from an art discipline to a problem-solving discipline. On the one hand, this great divergence is accompanied by myths that construct opposites of free art and unfree design, of aura and loss of aura, or of distance and touch. On the other hand, the avant-gardes have often invoked the unity of art and design, which museums or marketing also take up again today. In order to better understand design's wandering between art and non-art, its 600-year history of ideas is now traced for the first time in the fields of art and industrial history as well as the philosophy of pragmatism since about 1900. Special attention is paid to the original ideas and their overformation by technicism, capitalism, functionalism or Darwinism. They create the design dilemma that shapes the "attitude" of its actors.

Philipp Zitzlsperger (*1965) is Professor of the History of Art and Design and Vice Dean for Research at the Department of Design at the Fresenius University of Applied Sciences, as well as a private lecturer at the Institute for Art and Image History at the Humboldt University in Berlin.

Design neu gedacht

Das Design-Dilemma gründet auf der Trennungsgeschichte von Design und Kunst seit dem Spätmittelalter. Es beschreibt den Wandel des Designs von einer Kunst- zur Problemlösungsdisziplin. Diese große Divergenz wird einerseits begleitet von Mythen, die Gegensätze von freier Kunst und unfreiem Design, von Aura und Auraverlust oder von Distanz und Berührung konstruieren. Andererseits haben die Avantgarden die Einheit von Kunst und Design vielfach beschworen, die auch Museen oder Marketing heute wieder aufgreifen. Um das Irrlichtern des Designs zwischen Kunst und Nicht-Kunst besser zu verstehen, wird nun erstmals seine 600-jährige Ideengeschichte in den Bereichen der Kunst- und Industriegeschichte sowie der Philosophie des Pragmatismus seit etwa 1900 nachgezeichnet. Besondere Beachtung finden die Ursprungsideen und ihre Überformung durch Technizismus, Kapitalismus, Funktionalismus oder Darwinismus. Sie führen in das Design-Dilemma, das die „Haltung“ seiner Akteure prägt.

PHILIPP ZITZLSPERGER (*1965) ist Professor für Kunst- und Designgeschichte und Prodekan für Forschung am Fachbereich Design der Hochschule Fresenius (University of Applied Sciences) sowie Privatdozent am Institut für Kunst- und Bildgeschichte der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

The relationship between art and design has always been the subject of controversial discussion, not just since the Arts and Crafts movement began. The relationship between the two genres can look back on a long history of different positions, approaches, and new distinctions. A change in perspective is therefore urgently required. Zitzelsperger’s argumentation is a historical one that traces the points where art and design meet or repel each other from the Renaissance onward. Zitzelsperger locates the decisive turning point toward the end of the nineteenth century, when design became closely connected to the newly emerging philosophy of American pragmatism. Beyond ontology and the aesthetics of production, the author brings to light a new horizon that is open to the intentions underlying design and its practical realization.