Play the System
Information Close

/

is a platform for parametric design in graphic design. It documents the work of students and teachers at the Department of Design at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW), who are investigating the significance of the system as a conceptual model and design method under the title “Parametric Design in Graphic Design.”

Design is less about intuitive, even ingenious “strokes of genius” and more about a holistic and rule-based (systemic and systematic) process of gaining knowledge and shaping form. It is becoming increasingly important to be able to design dynamic systems that both guide and inspire the design process.

Parametric design refers to this design in and of systems—with rules, their modes of operation, and systematic manipulability. The research project, led by Prof. Heike Grebin, is an integral part of teaching and aims to raise awareness of design as a performative process.

Play the System brings together selected study projects in which the system plays an important role as a design method – whether analog or digital. The works are created in a fruitful symbiosis of theory, design, and technology. Socially relevant issues and positions from philosophy, art, and avant-garde design from around 1900 to the present day are repeatedly discussed.

Play the System is an invitation to become aware of the systemic competence of graphic design and to gain the maturity to use the tools of digital design critically.

DE
EN

Press F to search

Play the System Projects /

p362 The Discovery of the Waterling

DE
EN

Aboard the Voyager 1 spacecraft in the 1970s, a golden disc containing images and sound from Earth was sent into space. The hope of a response was fulfilled when an alien entity discovered the message. Intrigued by the extraordinary content of the disc, the aliens set off in search of our home planet. When they finally found it, they took a close look at our species.

The result is a documentary short film with various sequences and curiosities from everyday human life. The text is narrated by an AI that allows the viewer to balance a sense of familiarity and strangeness. The change of perspective shows that the visual material is not only enlightening for aliens but can also amaze us. After all, the human (or rather the waterling?) is a very strange creature...