Undiszipliniert / Undisciplined

The Phenomenon of Space in Art, Architecture and Design

"Undisciplined" is a synonym here for the term "interdisciplinary", which has become rather unfashionable nowadays, and – as the title suggests – describes an occupation across various disciplines with the subject of space in art, architecture and design. The book is a collection of texts which have arisen out of an exhibition and a symposium which took place in Vienna in the autumn. The texts are all very different, with some of them representing pure 'Germlish' conceptual talk, while others deal seriously with aesthetics, function, the everyday, expectations, senses and feelings and are very much worth reading and thinking about. A real highlight is the interview featuring the "Neigungsgruppe Design" with Paola Antonelli, Francois Burkhardt, Elke Krystufek and Rianne Makkink, who take the slogan "If you celebrate it, it is art, if not, is it not" and use it as the basis for a number of questions, such as " Is design an artistic expression?", "Is design an artisan craft for industrial purposes?" "Does this make the (awful) saying 'design is art that is useful’ true in this form?", "Is it an issue of attitude, career or of context (museum or department store), that classifies some things as art and others as design?", or "Why does the compulsory consolidation of disciplines, as in this case of 'Kunst am Bau' seem to be such an unfortunate construction?" Discuss!