The Artist as Design Scientist

This chapter opens with the author noting how his discussion thus far has excluded many works of art that are of the, what I like to call, “film and play” variety – works that are centered around the aspects of drama, plot and story. He names a few notable films such as Citizen Kane, L’Avventura, Pierrot le Fou, 8 ½ and even Beauty and the Beast, and mentions that although these works are dramatic plot films, they are still considered great because of their ability to remain aesthetically valuable while operating entirely within parameters of the human condition. Youngblood is trying to convey that the design of these stories- the act of designing and putting together these stories- is what is remarkable as opposed to the plots themselves. The opening paragraphs are summarized by a quote from Susan Sontag, "If there is any 'knowledge' to be gained through art, it is the experience of the form or style of knowing the subject, rather than a knowledge of the subject itself." This tells us that the technique and process of creation and design is more enlightening than achieving the final goal.

            In the next section, Youngblood starts off by saying that art and science are essentially the same thing – in their broadest implications. This is further supported by assimilating “Eddington’s classic definition of science” – “The earnest attempt to set in order the facts of experience” with Bronowskis “view of science” – “The organization of knowledge in such a way that it commands more of the hidden potential in nature… all science is the search for unity in hidden likenesses." The way science is being compared in these quotes can also be applied to Art. To set in order the facts of experience is to expose the relation between man and his surrounding universe with all its hidden potential. In a way, art represents our surroundings, which in turn helps our creative minds to understand the encompassing world. Artists establish these representations of surroundings by becoming aware of new aspects of reality and by representing his or her consciousness in shapely or poetic form.

            Youngblood continues on to note that the word “design” can be broken down into “de” and “design”. This indicates that as design artists, we must deconstruct the world around us as we know it and simply go off of experience. We are expected to get as close to the reality of human nature as possible through technology. This will allow us to separate the symbols of our surroundings from their official meaning, and reveal their hidden potential – to really encapture the experience and reality of the subject we are working with.  As a design scientist, the artist discovers and perfects language that corresponds more directly to experience. I believe Youngblood is trying to convey that coordinating the creative ideas of the artist with the technologically conversant scientist requires this common “language” to express ideas through logic, reasoning, analysis and the formulation of goals and objectives, as well as a semiotic structure for recording the result.  

            Youngblood then goes on to discuss some theories, specifically the “auteur theory” which outlines how a director’s piece basically reflects his or her aesthetic vision. However, cybernetics has demonstrated that the conceptual design of a movie determines the variety and amount of information we’re likely to obtain from it. Since this amount of information is directly proportional to the degree of available choices and since, according to Youngblood, drama, story, and plot restrict choice, these films also restrict information. This therefore leads the auteur to develop new designs for old information, which can be immensely instructive. This allows the designer to run wild with new ways of working with material that has been seen and done before. An example of this is the Disney movie Mary Poppins. A woman pouring her deep personal tragedies and experiences into a novel was the original writer of Mary Poppins – there was originally no dancing penguins, or flying nannies. Walt Disney, an imaginative pioneer, took this old tale and gave it a fresh makeover, bringing it to life with the use of animation and technology. Although Disney did not create the storyline, he explored its true aesthetic potential, and brought it to life once again in a way we never thought possible. According to Youngblood, “The design of commercial entertainment is neither a science nor an art; it answers only to the common taste, the accepted vision, for fear of disturbing the viewer's reaction to the formula. The viewer's taste is conditioned by a profit-motivated architecture, which has forgotten that a house is a machine to live in, a service environment.”

In conclusion, the function of the design scientist is to blur the distinction between art and life. According to Youngblood life becomes art when there is no difference between what we are and what we do. This is what forces cinema to expand and become more complex. Mass media entertainment dulls people's minds because it is a closed, entropic system, adding nothing new. (pp59–65) Entertainment dwells on the pas and we live in future shock so art should be an invention of a future (pp66–69). New systems need to be designed for old information. The artist is a design scientist and “where beauty ends is where the artists begins” (John Cage).