Bruce Cadle - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Bruce Cadle
Africa Today, Sep 1, 2022
South African Journal of Art History, 2015
Design occupies a position of ambivalence bestriding the concerns of culture and capital, yet it ... more Design occupies a position of ambivalence bestriding the concerns of culture and capital, yet it accounts for a great deal of personal and economic meaning. In The Culture of Design, Guy Julier introduces design culture as a ubiquitous signifier of modernity: defining it as the study of the shifting interrelationships between producers, designers and consumers. When exploring how these agents interrelate both a material and symbolic understanding of the world of consumption becomes apparent. Design begins to account for more than economic markets, including the more intangible production of values and ideas. According to Bourdieu, producing, designing and consuming, pivots on competition. Bourdieu's sociological field model when applied to this study suggests that design culture can be allocated to two symbolic fields of competitive struggle located in cultural and commercial hierarchies. Design is problematised by the criticisms of Theodor Adorno and Hal Foster, who believe that the social agency of practices, on the critical edge of these prevalent cultural and commercial fields can better explore value creation. Designers seeking to assign new meaning to what they produce have a capacity to reimagine the economic and cultural worlds that design inhabits. This article intends to demonstrate how design as social agency can reimagine current socio-cultural conditions of production, intervening in fields of culture and commerce. Design proposals are presented as evidence of shifts towards this challenge of design's symbolic production inhabiting a space between dominant fields, superseding concepts of commercial-interest and cultural marginalisation. Die ruimte tussen handel en kultuur: ontwerp as sosiale agentskap Ontwerp beklee 'n teenstrydige posisie wat kultuur- en kapitaalaangeleenthede beskry en tog verleen dit baie betekenis aan persoonlike en ekonomiese belange. In The Culture of Design lei Guy Julier "ontwerpkultuur" in as 'n alomteenwoordige aanduier van nuwerwetsheid deur dit as 'n studie van veranderlike verbande wat onderling tussen vervaardigers, ontwerpers en verbruikers bestaan, bekend te stel. Wanneer die onderlinge verbande tussen hierdie agente ontdek word, word die materiele en simboliese interpretasie van die verbuikerswereld duidelik. Ontwerp begin om aan meer as ekonomiese markte, insluitende die meer ontasbare vervaardiging van waardes en idees, rekenskap te gee. Bourdieu meen dat vervaardiging, ontwerp en verbruik om kompetisie draai. Bourdieu se sosiologiese veldmodel, toegepas op hierdie studie, stel voor dat die ontwerpkultuur aan twee simboliese velde van 'n mededingende stryd wat in kulturele en kommersiele hierargiee gelee is, toegewys kan word. Ontwerp word deur Theodor Adorno en Hal Foster problematies gekritiseer, wie glo dat die sosiale praktykagentskappe op die kritiese rand van hierdie ontwakende kulturele en kommersiele velde die waardeskepping beter kan ontgin. Ontwerpers wat 'n nuwe betekenis soek in wat hulle vervaardig, het die vermoe om die ekonomiese en kulturele wereld van ontwerp weer voor te stel. Hierdie referaat beoog om te demonstreer hoe ontwerp as 'n sosiale agentskap huidige sosiokulturele produksievoorwaardes kan voorstel deur in die kulturele en kommersiele velde in te gryp. Verskeie ontwerpvoorstelle word as bewys van die verskuiwing na hierdie uitdaging voorgele waarin ontwerp se simboliese produksie 'n ruimte tussen oorheersende velde beslaan en wat konsepte van kommersiele belang en kulturele marginalisasie vervang.
The international journal of visual design, 2019
The international journal of designed objects, 2022
The International Journal of the Humanities: Annual Review, 2012
The demand for graduates with more competencies, more knowledge, a broader world view and value s... more The demand for graduates with more competencies, more knowledge, a broader world view and value system, liberated minds and rapidly evolving job descriptions and competitiveness in the marketplace, plus internationalisation in education and competition for status, students and funding at universities, should inform curriculum development in the 21st century. The pursuit of best-practice in teaching and learning is thus paramount to successful higher education and concomitantly it should inform curriculum development. Pursuant to the views of educational theorists and the author’s practice, this paper will present a visualisation of a framework for an ‘Ideal Curriculum’. The model thus presented is a flowchart intended for use as a tool for reviewing learning programmes to establish whether they have best practice credentials, but is also intended for use as a guideline for developing curricula that are a balance of modalities: formal and hidden learning, with vocational and academic tracks. The model has particular resonance to the visual arts programmes from former polytechnic-type universities, where emphasis has traditionally been on hand skills and vocational outcomes, but has since shifted on to encompass critical discourse, cultural awareness, social responsibility, environmental sensitivity and globalism, as these universities became subsumed into the broader tertiary network.
The international journal of social, political and community agendas in the arts, 2023
For many of the world's nations, one thing stands out: extreme sociopolitical devotion to... more For many of the world's nations, one thing stands out: extreme sociopolitical devotion to a Leader. This research seeks to show that cults of personality develop through identifiable mechanisms. Moreover, the modalities of visual communication employed to entrench the ideologies and omnipresence of the Leader can be defined by specific values that progress from a state of "emergence" to one of "entrenchment." This process is illustrated by the Value Progression Model, a nonempirical way of showing the cult of personality establishment, and the role played by cultural artifacts in maintaining visual saturation, and hence, perceptions of the Leader's omnipotence.
The International Journal of Social, Political and Community Agendas in the Arts, 2023
For many of the world's nations, one thing stands out: extreme sociopolitical devotion to a Leade... more For many of the world's nations, one thing stands out: extreme sociopolitical devotion to a Leader. This research seeks to show that cults of personality develop through identifiable mechanisms. Moreover, the modalities of visual communication employed to entrench the ideologies and omnipresence of the Leader can be defined by specific values that progress from a state of "emergence" to one of "entrenchment." This process is illustrated by the Value Progression Model, a nonempirical way of showing the cult of personality establishment, and the role played by cultural artifacts in maintaining visual saturation, and hence, perceptions of the Leader's omnipotence.
Africa Today, Sep 1, 2022
The International Journal of Designed Objects
The International Journal of the Humanities: Annual Review, 2012
The demand for graduates with more competencies, more knowledge, a broader world view and value s... more The demand for graduates with more competencies, more knowledge, a broader world view and value system, liberated minds and rapidly evolving job descriptions and competitiveness in the marketplace, plus internationalisation in education and competition for status, students and funding at universities, should inform curriculum development in the 21st century. The pursuit of best-practice in teaching and learning is thus paramount to successful higher education and concomitantly it should inform curriculum development. Pursuant to the views of educational theorists and the author’s practice, this paper will present a visualisation of a framework for an ‘Ideal Curriculum’. The model thus presented is a flowchart intended for use as a tool for reviewing learning programmes to establish whether they have best practice credentials, but is also intended for use as a guideline for developing curricula that are a balance of modalities: formal and hidden learning, with vocational and academic tracks. The model has particular resonance to the visual arts programmes from former polytechnic-type universities, where emphasis has traditionally been on hand skills and vocational outcomes, but has since shifted on to encompass critical discourse, cultural awareness, social responsibility, environmental sensitivity and globalism, as these universities became subsumed into the broader tertiary network.
The International Journal of Visual Design, 2019
Contemporary design practice (and theory) is growing up. There is evidence to support the emergen... more Contemporary design practice (and theory) is growing up. There is evidence to support the emergence of a new breed of designer who is able to reflect on her or his role in society, and to be critical of what they make and what the resultant consequences of that may be. Design is often used as a vehicle to criticise and comment on issues, highlight problems and shortcomings in society, and present views and perspectives. This suggests that design is at a distance and impartial, but the truth is otherwise. Design is ideological and an expression of the values mediated by the designer and commissioned by others. This is the status quo: affirmative design. When design steps away from this position and critiques itself, critical design is the result. Presenting alternative perspectives and reflecting on the role of design is its purpose. This paper will address this emerging phenomenon that originated in product design, and the discourse extant to the work of Dunne and Raby. By identifyi...
Design occupies a position of ambivalence bestriding the concerns of culture and capital, yet it ... more Design occupies a position of ambivalence bestriding the concerns of culture and capital, yet it accounts for a great deal of personal and economic meaning. In The Culture of Design, Guy Julier introduces design culture as a ubiquitous signifier of modernity: defining it as the study of the shifting interrelationships between producers, designers and consumers. When exploring how these agents interrelate both a material and symbolic understanding of the world of consumption becomes apparent. Design begins to account for more than economic markets, including the more intangible production of values and ideas. According to Bourdieu, producing, designing and consuming, pivots on competition. Bourdieu's sociological field model when applied to this study suggests that design culture can be allocated to two symbolic fields of competitive struggle located in cultural and commercial hierarchies. Design is problematised by the criticisms of Theodor Adorno and Hal Foster, who believe tha...
The International Journal of Visual Design
South African Journal of Art History, 2020
Achille Mbembe posits the radical notion that, in the twenty-first century, Africa will constitut... more Achille Mbembe posits the radical notion that, in the twenty-first century, Africa will constitute the planet’s main cultural and philosophical event, as the diaspora of the post-colony embraces its African voice and disassembles the dominant Western narratives that were imposed upon it. Creative thinkers and practitioners like Sunu Gonera, Okwui Enwezor, Oswald Macharia, Azu Nwagbogu and Wanuri Kahiu, among many others across the continent, are reimagining the traditional with future awareness and a sense of opportunity. Afrofuturism, in its contemporary incarnation, has become one important trajectory in this regard, that incorporates a range of elements that include culture, tradition, language, aspiration, fantasy and technology. This paper interrogates how the work of certain creative people in Africa are expressing this by developing innovative ways to help address aspects of the issues facing Africa. Further, it proposes that this transformative process exemplifies how the mechanisms of social design are employed as spaces of inclusivity that are not subject to the whims only of consumerism. The paper contextualises African creative thinking as made manifest in the work of a selection of African creatives, followed by presenting views of extant African creativity. The link to Afrofuturism, speculation and cultural significance is proffered, a model is developed and then deployed, and extended into the space of social design proposing how this inclusive design and engagement approach might redefine Africanity and cultural ownership.
South African Journal of Art History, 2015
Design occupies a position of ambivalence bestriding the concerns of culture and capital, yet it ... more Design occupies a position of ambivalence bestriding the concerns of culture and capital, yet it accounts for a great deal of personal and economic meaning. In The Culture of Design, Guy Julier introduces design culture as a ubiquitous signifier of modernity: defining it as the study of the shifting interrelationships between producers, designers and consumers. When exploring how these agents interrelate both a material and symbolic understanding of the world of consumption becomes apparent. Design begins to account for more than economic markets, including the more intangible production of values and ideas. According to Bourdieu, producing, designing and consuming, pivots on competition. Bourdieu’s sociological field model when applied to this study suggests that design culture can be allocated to two symbolic fields of competitive struggle located in cultural and commercial hierarchies. Design is problematised by the criticisms of Theodor Adorno and Hal Foster, who believe that the social agency of practices, on the critical edge of these prevalent cultural and commercial fields can better explore value creation. Designers seeking to assign new meaning to what they produce have a capacity to reimagine the economic and cultural worlds that design inhabits. This article intends to demonstrate how design as social agency can reimagine current socio-cultural conditions of production, intervening in fields of culture and commerce. Design proposals are presented as evidence of shifts towards this challenge of design’s symbolic production inhabiting a space between dominant fields, superseding concepts of commercial-interest and cultural marginalisation.
Design Education Forum of Southern Africa 8th International Conference, 2019
Critical design has been philosophically positioned as that which opposes the affirmative role of... more Critical design has been philosophically positioned as that which opposes the affirmative role of design as the status quo, offering itself as social critique located in the formalised spaces of museums and galleries. This paper contests that reasoning by firstly showing that in the contemporary sphere, criticality in design now resides in a more socially aware and humanistically engaged space. Design propositions can be expressed from the perspective of modes of enquiry that ask both What if? and How else? questions in the vein of Malpass and Slotnick. These then propose alternative ways of considering design not as a way of seeking answers but as a way of asking questions. Furthermore, participatory engagement and an understanding of the importance of community involvement in generating solutions have become normalised. This paper addresses this shift in thinking around the role of critical design, questioning how this may be addressed in design education such that it challenges affirmative design and foregrounds social awareness.
Africa Today, Sep 1, 2022
South African Journal of Art History, 2015
Design occupies a position of ambivalence bestriding the concerns of culture and capital, yet it ... more Design occupies a position of ambivalence bestriding the concerns of culture and capital, yet it accounts for a great deal of personal and economic meaning. In The Culture of Design, Guy Julier introduces design culture as a ubiquitous signifier of modernity: defining it as the study of the shifting interrelationships between producers, designers and consumers. When exploring how these agents interrelate both a material and symbolic understanding of the world of consumption becomes apparent. Design begins to account for more than economic markets, including the more intangible production of values and ideas. According to Bourdieu, producing, designing and consuming, pivots on competition. Bourdieu's sociological field model when applied to this study suggests that design culture can be allocated to two symbolic fields of competitive struggle located in cultural and commercial hierarchies. Design is problematised by the criticisms of Theodor Adorno and Hal Foster, who believe that the social agency of practices, on the critical edge of these prevalent cultural and commercial fields can better explore value creation. Designers seeking to assign new meaning to what they produce have a capacity to reimagine the economic and cultural worlds that design inhabits. This article intends to demonstrate how design as social agency can reimagine current socio-cultural conditions of production, intervening in fields of culture and commerce. Design proposals are presented as evidence of shifts towards this challenge of design's symbolic production inhabiting a space between dominant fields, superseding concepts of commercial-interest and cultural marginalisation. Die ruimte tussen handel en kultuur: ontwerp as sosiale agentskap Ontwerp beklee 'n teenstrydige posisie wat kultuur- en kapitaalaangeleenthede beskry en tog verleen dit baie betekenis aan persoonlike en ekonomiese belange. In The Culture of Design lei Guy Julier "ontwerpkultuur" in as 'n alomteenwoordige aanduier van nuwerwetsheid deur dit as 'n studie van veranderlike verbande wat onderling tussen vervaardigers, ontwerpers en verbruikers bestaan, bekend te stel. Wanneer die onderlinge verbande tussen hierdie agente ontdek word, word die materiele en simboliese interpretasie van die verbuikerswereld duidelik. Ontwerp begin om aan meer as ekonomiese markte, insluitende die meer ontasbare vervaardiging van waardes en idees, rekenskap te gee. Bourdieu meen dat vervaardiging, ontwerp en verbruik om kompetisie draai. Bourdieu se sosiologiese veldmodel, toegepas op hierdie studie, stel voor dat die ontwerpkultuur aan twee simboliese velde van 'n mededingende stryd wat in kulturele en kommersiele hierargiee gelee is, toegewys kan word. Ontwerp word deur Theodor Adorno en Hal Foster problematies gekritiseer, wie glo dat die sosiale praktykagentskappe op die kritiese rand van hierdie ontwakende kulturele en kommersiele velde die waardeskepping beter kan ontgin. Ontwerpers wat 'n nuwe betekenis soek in wat hulle vervaardig, het die vermoe om die ekonomiese en kulturele wereld van ontwerp weer voor te stel. Hierdie referaat beoog om te demonstreer hoe ontwerp as 'n sosiale agentskap huidige sosiokulturele produksievoorwaardes kan voorstel deur in die kulturele en kommersiele velde in te gryp. Verskeie ontwerpvoorstelle word as bewys van die verskuiwing na hierdie uitdaging voorgele waarin ontwerp se simboliese produksie 'n ruimte tussen oorheersende velde beslaan en wat konsepte van kommersiele belang en kulturele marginalisasie vervang.
The international journal of visual design, 2019
The international journal of designed objects, 2022
The International Journal of the Humanities: Annual Review, 2012
The demand for graduates with more competencies, more knowledge, a broader world view and value s... more The demand for graduates with more competencies, more knowledge, a broader world view and value system, liberated minds and rapidly evolving job descriptions and competitiveness in the marketplace, plus internationalisation in education and competition for status, students and funding at universities, should inform curriculum development in the 21st century. The pursuit of best-practice in teaching and learning is thus paramount to successful higher education and concomitantly it should inform curriculum development. Pursuant to the views of educational theorists and the author’s practice, this paper will present a visualisation of a framework for an ‘Ideal Curriculum’. The model thus presented is a flowchart intended for use as a tool for reviewing learning programmes to establish whether they have best practice credentials, but is also intended for use as a guideline for developing curricula that are a balance of modalities: formal and hidden learning, with vocational and academic tracks. The model has particular resonance to the visual arts programmes from former polytechnic-type universities, where emphasis has traditionally been on hand skills and vocational outcomes, but has since shifted on to encompass critical discourse, cultural awareness, social responsibility, environmental sensitivity and globalism, as these universities became subsumed into the broader tertiary network.
The international journal of social, political and community agendas in the arts, 2023
For many of the world's nations, one thing stands out: extreme sociopolitical devotion to... more For many of the world's nations, one thing stands out: extreme sociopolitical devotion to a Leader. This research seeks to show that cults of personality develop through identifiable mechanisms. Moreover, the modalities of visual communication employed to entrench the ideologies and omnipresence of the Leader can be defined by specific values that progress from a state of "emergence" to one of "entrenchment." This process is illustrated by the Value Progression Model, a nonempirical way of showing the cult of personality establishment, and the role played by cultural artifacts in maintaining visual saturation, and hence, perceptions of the Leader's omnipotence.
The International Journal of Social, Political and Community Agendas in the Arts, 2023
For many of the world's nations, one thing stands out: extreme sociopolitical devotion to a Leade... more For many of the world's nations, one thing stands out: extreme sociopolitical devotion to a Leader. This research seeks to show that cults of personality develop through identifiable mechanisms. Moreover, the modalities of visual communication employed to entrench the ideologies and omnipresence of the Leader can be defined by specific values that progress from a state of "emergence" to one of "entrenchment." This process is illustrated by the Value Progression Model, a nonempirical way of showing the cult of personality establishment, and the role played by cultural artifacts in maintaining visual saturation, and hence, perceptions of the Leader's omnipotence.
Africa Today, Sep 1, 2022
The International Journal of Designed Objects
The International Journal of the Humanities: Annual Review, 2012
The demand for graduates with more competencies, more knowledge, a broader world view and value s... more The demand for graduates with more competencies, more knowledge, a broader world view and value system, liberated minds and rapidly evolving job descriptions and competitiveness in the marketplace, plus internationalisation in education and competition for status, students and funding at universities, should inform curriculum development in the 21st century. The pursuit of best-practice in teaching and learning is thus paramount to successful higher education and concomitantly it should inform curriculum development. Pursuant to the views of educational theorists and the author’s practice, this paper will present a visualisation of a framework for an ‘Ideal Curriculum’. The model thus presented is a flowchart intended for use as a tool for reviewing learning programmes to establish whether they have best practice credentials, but is also intended for use as a guideline for developing curricula that are a balance of modalities: formal and hidden learning, with vocational and academic tracks. The model has particular resonance to the visual arts programmes from former polytechnic-type universities, where emphasis has traditionally been on hand skills and vocational outcomes, but has since shifted on to encompass critical discourse, cultural awareness, social responsibility, environmental sensitivity and globalism, as these universities became subsumed into the broader tertiary network.
The International Journal of Visual Design, 2019
Contemporary design practice (and theory) is growing up. There is evidence to support the emergen... more Contemporary design practice (and theory) is growing up. There is evidence to support the emergence of a new breed of designer who is able to reflect on her or his role in society, and to be critical of what they make and what the resultant consequences of that may be. Design is often used as a vehicle to criticise and comment on issues, highlight problems and shortcomings in society, and present views and perspectives. This suggests that design is at a distance and impartial, but the truth is otherwise. Design is ideological and an expression of the values mediated by the designer and commissioned by others. This is the status quo: affirmative design. When design steps away from this position and critiques itself, critical design is the result. Presenting alternative perspectives and reflecting on the role of design is its purpose. This paper will address this emerging phenomenon that originated in product design, and the discourse extant to the work of Dunne and Raby. By identifyi...
Design occupies a position of ambivalence bestriding the concerns of culture and capital, yet it ... more Design occupies a position of ambivalence bestriding the concerns of culture and capital, yet it accounts for a great deal of personal and economic meaning. In The Culture of Design, Guy Julier introduces design culture as a ubiquitous signifier of modernity: defining it as the study of the shifting interrelationships between producers, designers and consumers. When exploring how these agents interrelate both a material and symbolic understanding of the world of consumption becomes apparent. Design begins to account for more than economic markets, including the more intangible production of values and ideas. According to Bourdieu, producing, designing and consuming, pivots on competition. Bourdieu's sociological field model when applied to this study suggests that design culture can be allocated to two symbolic fields of competitive struggle located in cultural and commercial hierarchies. Design is problematised by the criticisms of Theodor Adorno and Hal Foster, who believe tha...
The International Journal of Visual Design
South African Journal of Art History, 2020
Achille Mbembe posits the radical notion that, in the twenty-first century, Africa will constitut... more Achille Mbembe posits the radical notion that, in the twenty-first century, Africa will constitute the planet’s main cultural and philosophical event, as the diaspora of the post-colony embraces its African voice and disassembles the dominant Western narratives that were imposed upon it. Creative thinkers and practitioners like Sunu Gonera, Okwui Enwezor, Oswald Macharia, Azu Nwagbogu and Wanuri Kahiu, among many others across the continent, are reimagining the traditional with future awareness and a sense of opportunity. Afrofuturism, in its contemporary incarnation, has become one important trajectory in this regard, that incorporates a range of elements that include culture, tradition, language, aspiration, fantasy and technology. This paper interrogates how the work of certain creative people in Africa are expressing this by developing innovative ways to help address aspects of the issues facing Africa. Further, it proposes that this transformative process exemplifies how the mechanisms of social design are employed as spaces of inclusivity that are not subject to the whims only of consumerism. The paper contextualises African creative thinking as made manifest in the work of a selection of African creatives, followed by presenting views of extant African creativity. The link to Afrofuturism, speculation and cultural significance is proffered, a model is developed and then deployed, and extended into the space of social design proposing how this inclusive design and engagement approach might redefine Africanity and cultural ownership.
South African Journal of Art History, 2015
Design occupies a position of ambivalence bestriding the concerns of culture and capital, yet it ... more Design occupies a position of ambivalence bestriding the concerns of culture and capital, yet it accounts for a great deal of personal and economic meaning. In The Culture of Design, Guy Julier introduces design culture as a ubiquitous signifier of modernity: defining it as the study of the shifting interrelationships between producers, designers and consumers. When exploring how these agents interrelate both a material and symbolic understanding of the world of consumption becomes apparent. Design begins to account for more than economic markets, including the more intangible production of values and ideas. According to Bourdieu, producing, designing and consuming, pivots on competition. Bourdieu’s sociological field model when applied to this study suggests that design culture can be allocated to two symbolic fields of competitive struggle located in cultural and commercial hierarchies. Design is problematised by the criticisms of Theodor Adorno and Hal Foster, who believe that the social agency of practices, on the critical edge of these prevalent cultural and commercial fields can better explore value creation. Designers seeking to assign new meaning to what they produce have a capacity to reimagine the economic and cultural worlds that design inhabits. This article intends to demonstrate how design as social agency can reimagine current socio-cultural conditions of production, intervening in fields of culture and commerce. Design proposals are presented as evidence of shifts towards this challenge of design’s symbolic production inhabiting a space between dominant fields, superseding concepts of commercial-interest and cultural marginalisation.
Design Education Forum of Southern Africa 8th International Conference, 2019
Critical design has been philosophically positioned as that which opposes the affirmative role of... more Critical design has been philosophically positioned as that which opposes the affirmative role of design as the status quo, offering itself as social critique located in the formalised spaces of museums and galleries. This paper contests that reasoning by firstly showing that in the contemporary sphere, criticality in design now resides in a more socially aware and humanistically engaged space. Design propositions can be expressed from the perspective of modes of enquiry that ask both What if? and How else? questions in the vein of Malpass and Slotnick. These then propose alternative ways of considering design not as a way of seeking answers but as a way of asking questions. Furthermore, participatory engagement and an understanding of the importance of community involvement in generating solutions have become normalised. This paper addresses this shift in thinking around the role of critical design, questioning how this may be addressed in design education such that it challenges affirmative design and foregrounds social awareness.