Gesamtkunstwerk

‘The total art works’….  This project was dedicated to creating a multi-layered design piece that incorporated the design philosophy of Gesamtkunstwerk, using only tracing paper. this body of work symbolises the essence of design in a stripped back formation, incorporating multiple layers of work that form into one cohesive design outcome.

My approach to this work involved a process of experimentation and exploration, embracing the idea of radical presentation and aesthetics, and with the aim of challenging myself in my use of typography. 

It presented a response to my essay which was entitled ‘Nihil: The Pursuit of Meaninglessness’, in which I take semiotic and philosophical approaches to asking the question of how meaning is created in visual art and design, and whether pre-determined meanings can ‘pollute’ what might be regarded as the ’pure’ enjoyment of visual works.

This design work has dual functions; acting as a visual representation of the essay; making its themes accessible to a broader audience, as well as being a piece of design work in its own right. 

The work aims to embrace the ethos of gesamtkunstwerk; ‘the total work of art’, functioning as a multi-collaborative piece that embodies the pursuit of beauty in typography, taking Modern and Postmodern type design as its starting point, and paying homage to pioneers of type design including Herbert Bayer, Walter Dexel, Theo Ballmer and Jan Tschichold.

An exploration of form, structure and functionality, it takes the style of the traditional blueprint used in architectural design and engineering, using tracing paper to enable a layered, translucent effect as a means of addressing ideas of order and chaos, with multiple images from separate pages converging into a single, unified image when the work is seen as a whole.