TEXTS ON REACT | 12
STEREOGRAPH #01 REACT We want to launch the series with an issue devoted to reactive graphics: in other words, those graphic works that express a reaction to a situation of injustice or defend a particular culture against the domination of more global languages. Quite simply, it is a question of celebrating the critical or dissident potential of graphic designers and visual communicators, the effectiveness of their tools and the intrinsic value of their independent proposals, with an evident capacity to innovate and stimulate reflection. We believe there is a better alternative to the passive dérive of an environment so absorbing and asphyxiating that it obliges us to rebel against it, in the form of a reaction to the imposition of a uniform homogeneity on our distinctive local models and references, resulting in the disappearance of situations and actions unique to autochthonous cultures: scenarios peopled by Frankenstein-like hybrids fashioned from the merging of vernacular references and other, more ‘globalized’ models. We also find scenarios in which to rebel against social injustice, whose origins are in most cases political: wars, dictatorships, oppressive regimes... Of course, this is not a new phenomenon; such critiques have always found expression, from the old broadsheets and pamphlets to the present-day weblogs, but there is no denying that the latest high-tech tools have given a new dimension to such movements, far more global, with a much stronger media presence. Another, related aspect that we will be looking at in this first issue is the importance of the Internet as a medium of diffusion, and of the information technologies tools and programmes, graphic environments and the rest at the disposal of today’s graphic designers. All of these things have provided the basis for a huge variety of responses, from groups asserting that another world is possible and anti-global movements that oppose the present the system to works by individual designers and visual communicators who, moved by an awareness of injustices or as a tool of protest, voice their critiques in independent, personal creations that in many cases are not commissioned by a client. Happening in the world. Certain designers would be the subject of in-depth studies, while other would be given a more cursory treatment. Possible participants: Doma, Masa, Stefan Sagmeister, Jonathan Barnbrook, Kenneth Tin Kin Hung, Nuevos Ricos… In relation to the above, we would look at teams such as Adbusters, Worldchanging, Bureau d’études, moveon, etc., some of which would be the subject of detailed analysis. We would compare presentday groups, which primarily operate on the Internet as a platform, with more traditional formations such as NGOs or historic movements of revolt, and on this basis explore the duality between the activism of diffusion and the activism of action. Urban dissidence, culture jamming: Rotor, Billboard Liberation Front, Martin Bricelj, Joystick… In the field of music, rap and hip-hop provide a very powerful example of radical social protest. With their lyrics, groups like Public Enemy react against the system in the same way as graphic designers do with their visual language. Another interesting phenomenon here is the free distribution of music and texts, a concept that is being developed by Platoniq and others. Look inside Copyleft. The issue will necessarily have a significant amount of texts and articles that will both structure and provide a counterpoint to the more visual part. The texts will serve to contextualize the different sections. TEXTS ON REACT | 13