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FICTIONAL JOURNAL
ISSUE 02. PROPAGANDA
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
OPEN CALL 02. PROPAGANDA
On Friday 24 June 2016, Europe woke up into a new
reality. Against all odds, Great Britain had voted in a
referendum to leave the European Union. Stock markets
plummeted, and both traditional and social media
exploded in disbelief. In the following days, ‘what is EU’
became one of the most popular online searches in the
UK. Leaders of the Brexit movement admitted that some
of the arguments for leaving the EU were exaggerated,
half-truths or outright lies. Many of those who had voted
to leave, regretted and pleaded for a new referendum,
admitting that they voted based on loose promises,
nostalgia and rebellion against the current state of affairs
without even believing that their votes would actually
matter much.
Questions of propaganda[1] have become urgent. In
addition to Brexit, phenomena such as the success of
Donald Trump, rise of populist politics or the aftermath
of the coup in Turkey in the summer 2016 have created
situations that affect the lives of millions. In the design
field, events such as What Design Can Do Refugee
Challenge[2] or questions of design authorship in the case
of designer Daan Roosegaarde[3], have created fierce
argumentation about the communicative role of design
and a designer.
Propagation of movements, ideologies and opinions is
assisted by the development of algorithms, online news
media and social media. These contribute to formation
of ever-differentiating echo chambers in which
information, ideas and beliefs are amplified and repeated
in increasingly enclosed systems. These echo chambers,
which recognize the behaviour of an individual, disallow
and underrepresent competing views and opinions.
Design bears a strong communicative power and a long
common journey with both commercial and political
propaganda in terms of graphic or product design. As
design traditionally carries an aura of exclusivity and
desire, it has been used as a tool for commercialism
for decades. Advertising, fairs and design weeks are
perhaps the most striking distribution channels for the
‘propaganda.’ Today, design is increasingly becoming a
tool for social change. As counterterrorism analyst Artur
Beifuss states, “design, advertising and counterterrorism
are fields that should work together.”
Design is a medium that propagates through material and
immaterial forms, such as objects, furniture, environment,
graphics, systems or services. How can design
interventions respond to the current societal phenomenon
and state of propaganda? How does design contribute
to the structuring of flows of propaganda? What is the
current state of propaganda in the design field? What does
design propagate – and what should it propagate?
The word ‘propaganda’ [https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/propaganda] bears
a religious origin with a meaning of setting an ideology or a movement forward. As a
political action, propaganda became strongly associated with warfare after the World
War I. Soon after, methods of propaganda became the foundation for the 20th century
commercial marketing and promotion.
[1]
Pater, Ruben. 21 April 2016. “Treating the refugee crisis as a design problem is
problematic.” Dezeen Opinion. www.dezeen.com/2016/04/21/ruben-pater-opinion-whatdesign-can-do-refugee-crisis-problematic-design/ (28 Oct 2016).
[2]
Schouwenberg, Louise. 26 February 2016. “It’s about time we rethink the notion of
authorship.” Dezeen Opinion. www.dezeen.com/2016/02/26/louise-schouwenberg-opiniondan-roosegaarde-rethinking-authorship-ownership-collaboration-design-architecture/
(28 Oct 2016)
[3]
PROPAGANDA #01
SURFACE. AESTHETICS™
Statement. In an increasingly image-based world,
reading is becoming seeing. How we consume and relate
to information is becoming increasingly performative,
immersive and experiential. Within design practice, is
forming aesthetics around content becoming as important
as the content itself? Have aesthetics become content?
Reference. In 1959, designers Charles and Ray Eames
were commissioned by the United States Information
Agency USIA to make a film about a day in the life of the
United States as part of the cultural exchange between the
Soviet Union and the USA. The film ‘Glimpses of the USA’[1]
was projected onto seven screens in one of Buckminster
Fuller’s geodesic domes inside the Sokolniki Park
in Moscow, USSR.
Article. Metahaven. Sprawl Space, 2015–16.
http://sprawl.space (25 Oct 2016).
Eames, Charles and Ray 1959. Glimpses of the USA.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob0aSyDUK4A (25 Oct 2016).
[1]
PROPAGANDA #02
INFRASTRUCTURE. SOFT MANEUVERS
Statement. Built environments create messages that affect
human behaviour. How space and materials are constructed
has consequence on how people encounter themselves
and each other. This construction also signifies whether an
environment is inclusive or exclusive. Built structures act as
ways to facilitate the opening up of parts of the city to new
cultural landscapes and thought, yet they can also radically
gentrify existing communities. How does and how
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FICTIONAL JOURNAL
ISSUE 02. PROPAGANDA
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
should design act within these existing structures?
Is materiality propaganda?
What is the responsibility of designers in relation to how
they present their work?
Reference. Oslo Opera House, 2007. The Oslo Opera
House designed by Snøhetta was built in 2007 in Oslo,
Norway. The building is as much landscape as architecture
in design and creates new, commonly used public space in
a previously inaccessible seashore.
Reference. Salone Internazionale del Mobile di Milano
(Milan Furniture Fair or Milan Design Fair) is the largest trade
fair of its kind in the world. Launched in 1961 and originally
sponsored by the furniture manufacturers FederelegnoArredo trade association, the fair originally focused on
creating a market for Italian furniture design.
Article. Lambert, Léopold 2015. When Walls Tighten on
Bodies. Avery Review, Issue 11 – November 2015.
www.averyreview.com/issues/11/the-politics-ofnarrowness-when-walls-tighten-on-bodies (25 Oct 2016).
Wainwright, Oliver 18 August 2016. The Guardian, 18
August. ‘The Worst Place on Earth’: Inside Assad’s
Brutal Saydnaya Prison. www.theguardian.com/
artanddesign/2016/aug/18/saydnaya-prison-syria-assadamnesty-reconstruction (25 Oct 2016).
PROPAGANDA #03
OBJECT. ACCIDENTAL TRANSMISSIONS
Statement. Objects have been used for centuries by
religions to propagate faith. It is well known that objects
program how we interact with the everyday world. They
shape our gestures, interactions with other people and
spatial understanding. How do objects transfer unconscious
meaning, accidentally or on purpose? What is the relation
between matter and image?
Reference. IBM Billboards, 2016. Three different billboards
that promote the company’s ‘People for Smarter Cities’
campaign are designed to sit on, to take cover under when
it rains or to pull your bags over instead of carrying them.
The campaign initiated and implemented by advertising
agency Ogilvy & Matter France that collaborated with IBM to
inspire people to think smarter about their neighbourhood.
Article. Cochrane, Lauren 20 April 2016. Scam or
subversion? How a DHL T-shirt became this year’s musthave. The Guardian. www.theguardian.com/fashion/2016/
apr/19/dhl-t-shirt-vetements-fashion-paris-catwalk (25 Oct
2016).
PROPAGANDA #04
INSTITUTION. HYPERTUTION
Statement. Design fairs have traditionally facilitated a
relationship between design and industry, communicating
design with an aura of glossy consumerism. Moreover,
these institutions have the power to validate work. The
validation of certain design works rather than others, is a
way to create an image of what design is. On one hand,
this validation shapes the work of a designer wanting to be
a part of the institution, and on the other, it shapes images
that affect how an audience perceives design. In the recent
years, platforms for showcasing design are becoming
increasingly participatory, durational, critical and subversive,
yet an ‘aura’ of consumerism remains. What could or should
be an alternative to traditional design institutions?
Article. Fairs, Marcus 14 April 2016. This Year Milan
Stopped Being A Furniture Fair And Became Something
More Interesting. Dezeen. www.dezeen.com/2016/04/14/
milan-design-week-2016-megabrands-nike-audi-marcusfairs-opinion (15 Oct 2016).
Wainwright, Oliver 26 May 2016. Alejandro Aravena’s Venice
Architecture Biennale: ‘We Can’t Forget Beauty in Our
Battles.’ www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/may/26/
venice-architecture-biennale-alejandro-aravena
(25 Oct 2016).
PROPAGANDA #05
METHOD. RELIABLE FORMING
Statement. Design processes amplify the transmittal
of certain values from human to human. The process of
designing an object, system, technology, interface or urban
space is often a top-down process structured by the use of
defined methodologies that collect, analyse, conceptualise
and implement human behaviour. These methodologies –
qualitative, quantitative or experimental – are used by global
conglomerates, design consultancies and taught within
design educational institutions. They are seen as a way to
rationalise the intricacies and nuances of human behaviour
into palatable data that can be translated to sellable product
or optimise workflow. How do the processes and
methodologies of design shape user behaviour? Should
designers take part in global methodologies or anchor
themselves in specific contexts? How do or how should
design methodologies transmit values of a designer
or a company?
Reference. IDEO Method Cards[1] are a collection of 51
cards representing diverse ways that design teams can
understand the people they are designing for. They are used
to make a number of different methods accessible to all
members of a design team, to explain how and when the
methods are best used, and to demonstrate how they have
been applied to real design projects.
Article. Harris, Tristan 18 May 2016. How Technology
Hijacks People’s Minds – from a Magician and Google’s
Design Ethicist. Medium.com. https://medium.com/swlh/
how-technology-hijacks-peoples-minds-from-a-magicianand-google-s-design-ethicist-56d62ef5edf3#.oy5kei9ty (25
Oct 2016).
Curtis, Adam 2002. The Century of the Self. www.youtube.
com/watch?v=eJ3RzGoQC4s (25 Oct 2016).
[1]
www.ideo.com/work/method-cards
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FICTIONAL JOURNAL
ISSUE 02. PROPAGANDA
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Fictional Journal’s Open Call 02. Propaganda welcomes proposals by designers, writers, sociologists, researchers,
visionaries and thinkers, who constructively approach the phenomenon of propaganda from design perspective.
Fictional Journal is looking for reflective, experimental and speculative approaches, but also practical proposals are
very welcome.
Contributor of each selected contribution will be provided with a € 500 (+ VAT, if applicable) fee.
Selected contributions can be considered as first steps in chains of thought and action with potential to grow into
a practical design project.
Deadline for submissions is 30 November 2016.
OPEN CALL.
1 – The proposed contributions must respond to the
open call. Each proposed contribution must be new (not
published elsewhere prior to Fictional Journal) or be a clear
new branch, spin-off or further step to an existing project.
2 – Each submitted proposal can, but doesn’t have to,
respond to one of the sub-themes of the open call.
3 – Medium of contributions is free as long as it can be
translated to digital and spatial media. A contribution can
be an object, collection, system, real or imagined service,
installation, speculative vision, research, essay, image
essay, film, audio, illustration, performance, proposed (new)
media or services to create or prevent new or different echo
chambers, or other.
4 – Proposals must be submitted in English.
5 – Proposals must be submitted through an online form on
www.fictional-journal.com/open-call-propaganda. Images
and possible film of the proposals must be uploaded to
Dropbox (www.dropbox.com), WeTransfer (www.wetransfer.
com) or equivalent – only links to images or film will be
copypasted to the submissions form.
6 – Deadline for the submissions is 30 November 2016.
SELECTED CONTRIBUTIONS.
7 – Final selection of contributions will be made by an
editorial board consisting of Fictional Journal editorial /
curatorial board and two external advisors: editor Nick Axel
(www.nickaxel.net) and another advisor (tbc).
8 – The contributions selected from an open call will
respond to the following criteria:
• Provides a fresh perspective to one of the sub-themes
or otherwise clearly responds to and provides insight to the
issue; the proposal includes a vision of how the contribution
contributes to the theme or design discourse around ‘design
as communication’
• Is technically (re)presentable on an online publication,
and includes a vision of how the contributors envisions
the contribution online
• Provides a vision of the contribution in a spatial medium;
as an installation, talk, workshop, performance etc. that will
develop the contribution further, provide a new perspective
to it and open it up to new audiences
• Is comprehensible within the given time frame
9 – Contributor of each selected contribution will receive
a € 500 fee (+ VAT, if the contributor is VAT eligible). Each
selected contributor has to be able to invoice Fictional
Journal.
10 – Fictional Journal is a digital-spatial publication to
publish commissioned individual or group projects. Each
of the published projects remain an individual work of the
maker. Fictional Journal encourages the contributors to
continue developing the works / projects commissioned by
Fictional Journal, and exhibit them also outside Fictional
Journal.
11 – Each contributor is responsible for copyrights of the
content of the contribution.
12 – Contributions can be in another language apart from
English for a well-founded reason, however contributions
must be also translated into English by the contributor; a
film can also be subtitled into English.
13 – Selected contributors will be informed by
15 December 2016.
14 – Deadline for final contributions will be 31 January 2017.
The issue will be launched in April 2017.
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