Problems

1.0.0 Art Instruction
1.1.0 Teaches the idea of l'art pour l'art (art for art's sake), which is obsolete.
1.1.1 Artistic instruction that teaches students to be little Raphaels. (Gropius).
1.1.2 Art school students become drones for society. (Gropius)
1.1.3 Art suffers from debased academism. (Schlemmer)
1.2.0 The base of the current art school philosophy is too narrow and out of date
1.2.1 Art must be rooted in developing attitudes. (Gropius)
1.2.2 Russian experiments cited which unite art, literature and science. All are believed to spring from one source.
1.2.3 Art should be part of daily life, in that it should be part of industry and architecture.
1.2.4 Artists then attempting to widen the base of fine arts were beginning to be inspired by machinery. Gropius calls these works of Picasso, Braque, and Ozzenfant "useless machines".
2.0.0 The separation of arts and crafts.
2.1.0 Impossible to teach without combining these two.
2.1.1 Because art cannot be taught but crafts can.
2.1.2 Because, without combining these two, the art would be just an end to itself.
2.1.3 Because art should be in everything. "A piece of furniture today should be a work of art in its structure, not a skeleton to which a little art has been added." (Schlemmer)
2.1.4 Separating art from crafts separates "fine" artists from craftsmen and perpetuates class differences
between them.
3.0.0 Architecture and industrial design.
3.1.0 Architecture and design work with outdated forms.
3.1.1 Modern man, who no longer dresses in historical garments, but wears modern clothes, needs a modern home appropriate to him and his times.
3.1.2 As long as the engineer was bogged down in the style of past craft cultures the industrial product remained of inferior quality with respect to its design. The ornamental trimmings of the handicrafts did nothing to improve this shortcoming. (Muche)
3.2.0 Building and design are underdeveloped and unappreciated.
3.2.1 Building, as a concept, is unused. It can combine art and craft, and monumental and decorative art.
3.2.2 Why is it that we can appreciate equally well the form of a well-built automobile, an airplane, and a modern machine as individual works of art beautifully formed by creative hands? (Gropius)

Solutions

4.0.0 Reform instruction
4.1.0 See curriculum
5.0.0 Integrate arts and crafts
5.1.0 Stated functions
5.1.1 Builds a sense of the relationship of the materials used in creative art, and ultimately, architecture.
5.1.2 Introduces the craftsman in one discipline to the materials of the other discipline, and shows how they act together.
5.1.3 Removes class distinction between craftsman and artist.
5.1.4 Provides a broader range of commissionable products, greater range of possibilities for industrial design.
5.2.0 Unstated functions
5.2.1 Provides employment skills
5.2.2 Introduces students, through the curriculum, to a wider range of expressions, allowing them to realize hidden talents and weaknesses.
5.3.0 New functions are fulfilled.
5.3.1 Stated functions are fulfilled through curriculum, work is outside crafts shops, and emphasis on commissioned works.
5.3.2 Unstated functions are fulfilled through emphasis on preparation for journeyman's examination and
talent as a prerequisite for advancing the program, counseling, and the curriculum.
6.0.0 Intensify the relationship between art and architecture and art and industry.
6.1.0 Justifying the relationship.
6.1.1 By saying that art should be modern and useful on an everyday basis.
6.1.2 By seeing the "cathedral of socialism" as the key to synthesis of all the arts in building.
6.2.0 Developing the relationship.
6.2.1 Streamlining the curriculum in order that talented people go naturally into building.
6.2.2 Emphasis on the actual building projects.

Curriculum Synthesis

1.0.0 Two schools, the Grand Ducal Saxon School of Art, and the Grand Ducal Saxon School of Arts and Crafts, combined with a department of architecture.
2.0.0 Several different curricula.
2.1.0 In Weimar
2.1.1 Pre-instruction
2.1.2 Craft instruction (wide variety of crafts, many subgroups, end result was a journeyman's certificate and knowledge of materials)
2.1.3 Drawing and painting (prepared students for architecture and design as well as painting and sculpture)
2.1.4 Architecture
2.1.5 Arts, sciences, and some business principles
2.2.0 In Dessau
2.2.1 Pre-instruction emphasized, all instruction geared toward architecture and industrial design. All design lessons subdivided into lessons in form and practice.
2.2.2 Other schools allied with the Bauhaus, mainly engineering academies and building schools.
3.0.0 Several different types of expression.
3.1.0 Individual media expression.
3.1.1 In crafts workshops, different media used together, emphasis on relation between materials studied,
both at preliminary and crafts level.
3.2.0 Fine arts expression.
3.2.1 Materials were used to reproduce other materials. This was considered a valuable skill and the Old Masters, who, in the opinion of the Bauhaus Masters, did this well, were studied as examples.
3.2.2 Architectural instruction was the culmination of all other studies.
3.3.0 All other.
3.3.1 Well-designed theatrical parties and festivals.
3.3.2 Experimental theatre.
3.3.3 Experimental dance, studied in terms of form, movement, and color. Independence of thought and discipline in execution.
4.0.0 Ideas behind this
4.1.0 Tied to synthesis idea.
4.1.1 Art cannot be taught but crafts can.
4.1.2 Artistic expression is part of an individual's psychology, and not a process of education.
4.2.0 Tied to ideas of useful production rather than art for art's sake.
4.2.1 Discipline was necessary to master a craft or art.
4.2.2 Production necessitates steady work instead of occasional inspiration.
5.0.0 The place of this is in the curriculum and statutes.
5.1.0 Form of the curriculum
5.1.1 Preliminary course, compulsory, in which basics of materials are taught and much emphasis is placed on thinking about them in new ways.
5.1.2 Compulsory craft instruction, in which the "graduation" examination was administered by the government licensing board.
5.2.0 Implementation of the curriculum.
5.2.1 Freedom of expression encouraged by form masters, in classes, in communication between workshops on technical problems, and in theatre and dance activities.
5.2.2 Self-discipline encouraged, statutes are adamant over lack of motivation as reason for dismissal, and attention to work
5.2.2 Production discipline especially encouraged. Proposals had to be written for all work, and finished work criticized on matters of form and economy and not on the original idea.
Production Orientation
6.0.0 Training on actual projects.
6.1.0 In craft workshops, either Bauhaus workshops or outside commercial establishments.
6.2.0 In architecture, work was done on actual building projects.
7.0.0 Necessity for commissions.
7.1.0 Financial necessity.
7.1.1 In order to make Bauhaus economically self-sufficient.
7.1.2 In order to make instruction in the crafts part of the curriculum as inexpensive as possible.
7.2.0 Philosophical necessity. Convinced that they had the right artistic ideas they found commissions one of the more respectable ways of disseminating them.
7.3.0 Public necessity. In order to build support for the Bauhaus, it was necessary that the public know they were there, and that their works were popular.
7.4.0 Good for the students.
7.4.1 Gets them to think of other uses for art.
7.4.2 Gave them some money for education and the possibility of artistic recognition early in their careers.
7.4.3 Taught them a sense of artistic-economic reality.
8.0.0 Other product-related activities.
8.1.0 Art shows got the message out.
8.2.0 Public festivals, dances, and theatre focused attention on the Bauhaus.

2. Masters vs. Professors, Apprentices vs. Pupils controversy

Components of the Problem

1.0.0 The historical title of Master was thought to be inappropriate for the Bauhaus curriculum.
2.0.0 The government had designated them Masters, and since the Bauhaus was a state school, they felt they should keep the title they had been given.
3.0.0 There was concern over which title sounded more pretentious.
For and against the title Professor.
4.0.0 For the title change were Itten, Klee and Muche.
5.0.0 Against the change were Feininger, Marcks, Schlemmer, and Gropius.
Although at first this seems to be only a semantic problem, both sides had philosophical arguments to back themselves up. Some were personal permutations of Bauhaus philosophy and others had to do with political convictions or experiences.
6.0.0 On the validity of the title of Master for historical and traditional reasons and by virtue of the Bauhaus curriculum.
6.1.0 Some found the title appropriate because of the crafts instruction, the fact that students became licensed journeymen, and because of the Bauhaus philosophy that held only the crafts were teachable.
6.2.0 The argument for the title of professor noted that the Bauhaus masters were not craft masters but form masters. Therefore the title professor was more precise.
7.0.0 On the validity of the title of Master by virtue of government decree.
7.1.0 Those for the title of master found that it was appropriate because that was what the government had said, and believed that as good citizens, the Bauhaus masters should not become Bauhaus professors.
7.2.0 The anti-master viewpoint had no argument against this.
8.0.0 Some of the masters believed that "professor" sounded less pretentious than "master." No one wanted to come out in favor of pretentious titles, so the pro-professor arguments fell under three main categories.
8.1.0 All titles are misleading and should be banned.
8.2.0 The title situation can be corrected with a memo issued to the government.
8.3.0 Master sounds pretentious.
8.4.0 Having already dealt with this problem in the USSR, Kandinsky pointed out that switching from one name to another focuses unneeded attention on the name itself.
8.5.0 From the beginning the students were officially known as apprentices and were spared the problem of naming themselves.

3. Communication Theory

What do I find interesting about Communications Theory?

Having been involved in the communications process for a number of years without having a theoretical background, and being imbued with a pragmatic science approach to my profession, I approached the subject of communications theory with some skepticism. I also felt a degree of hostility and cynicism relative to the usefulness of theories in a world which I have perceived to be almost entirely conditioned to “Peirce’s “practical man” and materialism.

However, I have experienced a consistent and continuing attitude change throughout the semester and now understand more fully the ramifications of different theories. I can now also appreciate the constant struggle which communications theorists face in setting standards for measurement without having a concrete foundation of knowledge on which to build.

The use of scales to detect changes in cognitive processes particularly interests me, and I fully intend to study their use next semester and to use them as a tool in grading assignments executed by students taking my courses. It is extremely difficult to grade graphic art assignments without destroying the creative intuition of the student, when creativity has not been properly applied to the assignment. Perhaps by utilizing student perceptions, by means of self report, and backward inference, to record information that is not observable and by the careful design of complementary questionnaires for myself when grading the assignments, I will achieve a balanced appreciation of the thought processes and self expression that were used to produce the work. In addition the scales will help me to assess, by virtue of my own experience, the worth of the student’s work in the world at large. I am particularly interested in the use of the semantic differential methods as proposed by Liska and intend to pursue them exhaustively.

I now have a much better understanding of social science theories, and see the degrees of their importance to a variety of constructs and recognize that they are incunabula when compared to natural sciences theories. This leads me to be careful of acceptance of any one theory; and I am inclined to extrapolate on the basis of personal experience and form my own theories for my own special purposes. However, I am not sufficiently knowledgeable in social science theory to be able to structure a complete framework for use within my own peculiar discipline, which is a curious mixture of art, science and technology. I perceive that many of the theories propounded contain elements that will be extremely useful in the measurement of visual cognition, but I am not yet sure how to utilize them. I intend to consider them at a later time when I have established the direction of my effort to create a rationale and methodology for teaching the visual aspects of technical communication.

I am trying to keep an open mind on a particular topic for research for my dissertation. From a sociological aspect I am very interested in a comparison of racial, political, and industrial concerns in Germany in the post World War I period, with similar concerns in America in the 1980s. There appears to be correlation between the industrial design rationale and pedagogy of the Bauhaus period and the need to apply standards and disciplines to the pedagogy of high technology. If a set of rules is not established, then the same clouding of the issues experienced by the Bauhaus through the covert machinations of the system, could result in a similar demise, although in a modern idiom.

This could be an exciting topic to pursue, but may not be the right field for dissertation by a person without a sociological background, but stretching the metaphor, “out of the mouths . . . ”

In the technical communications arena, I see abysmal ignorance and a lack of any framework in which empirical research is being conducted. My frustration directs my attention to the subject and suggests that I endeavor to make some order out of the chaos. Some of the theories which my colleagues have presented and the methods to which this course has exposed me will be very valuable should I pursue this avenue.

Another idea with which I have been actively concerned is the preparation of rhetorical and graphical information in modular construct which involves writing material, subject to rules predetermined by an algorithm, and translating it into code strings for computerized composition. Such a procedure uses a system of generic encoding which reduces complex technical information to a comprehension level attainable by operatives. A comprehensive study would involve an understanding of linguistic structure and the anxiety patterns of operatives who use highly sophisticated computerized equipment. In addition, it would be imperative to analyze interactive human behavior and consider a number of ergonomic factors. It therefore follows that a particular communications rationale would have to be formulated and be useful to testing the hypotheses before embarking on what would be an expensive project.

On the other hand, I am now a teacher by profession and should possibly address myself to devising a theory and structure for curriculum development within the triad of writing, graphic design and computer science. This could possibly be a useful contribution to the department given the stated objectives for the graphics concentration which is to exploit the potential of computer systems designed to manipulate text and graphics simultaneously. It would be necessary to design a communications framework within which the three skills: writing, graphic design and computer technology could be taught simultaneously without destroying the traditional and essential emphasis on language.

The era of emerging technology is causing the polarization of the total communications process and placing the dialectic and dissemination of information into the hands of the “author.” If this catalyst is the sole arbiter of not only the content but also the process, then we will have achieved Orwellian proportions and tutorials could become instruments for propaganda. I perceive the department of Language, Literature and Communication at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to be more aware and actively involved in the improvement of communication pedagogy than similar technological institutions. Perhaps I should therefore confine my activities to developing theories for curriculum development and pragmatically structuring and implementing those constructs that are administratively acceptable.

Which brings me full circle to my thoughts on the Bauhaus and its pedagogical impact on Germany of the 1920s and the impact of Bauhaus masters on America during the 1930-1970 period. These masters were instrumental in the structuring of the rationale which is the foundation of modern graphic design and disseminative communications methodology. It may not be a bad idea for me to adopt a predictive stance based in pragmatic science, pedagogical and commercial experience, and extrapolation from a number of social science theories that lend themselves to technical communication.
Does this portend an interesting and harmonious swan song . . . . ?

4. Typothetae Gencode – Outline for Manual

This synopsis defines the structure of a manual on copy preparation, word processing, and typesetting, organized as a monograph with the intention of explaining how to capture keystrokes and generically encode and prepare data for electronic manipulation into digitized typesetting. Written for a general readership it will be designed to obviate some of the trepidation associated with the subject by users of word processing and other computerized equipment.

I propose the following organizational format which is by no means conclusive:

			CONTENTS PDF ContraCabal.net ContraCabal.org ContraCabal.com ContraCabal.us
			© Copyright 1986 by Paul Trummel All Rights Reserved: 18 Jan 86/12:00 GMT Edition: #610-09-04/09-0407-05:28 Feedback: Webspinner@ContraCabal.org