“Everything is in motion. There is no such thing as standing still.” (Jean Tinguely, Für Statik, 1968) Tinguely’s 1959 performance was as spectacular as its accounts are speculative: allegedly, the artist dropped 150,000 leaflets of his manifesto over Düsseldorf. There is photographic evidence, but it is still uncertain as to whether the public action actually took place.
Almost as spectacular, but certainly better documented by this publication, are the graphic performances created under the slogan Type out Loud. Although the students did not abandon their physical orientation, they did set the classic elements of graphic design in motion—charged by methodological research and current political discourse. Letters and shapes are staged not only on paper, but also in the space as augmented reality.
In workshops they developed themselves, the students invited each other to examine design methods and ethical positions under the aspects of deconstruction, construction, and affirmation. The students formulated critical, emancipatory statements in a playful and provocative way. Socially critical issues were reflected based on personal experiences: Why is Erich Fromm’s To Have or to Be? of interest to readers (again)? What do feminist texts like Donna Haraway’s essay “A Cyborg Manifesto” or Legacy L. Russell’s book Glitch Feminism have to do with us? How can ideas from Hartmut Rosa’s Frenetic Standstill be translated graphically? Students assumed their own positions and discussed the need for a “new radicalism”—not just in design.