Ethno-design: Art vs science

Abstract

The authors advocate a “pictorial turn” in science and consider the prospects of ethno-design. Judging by the history of design, in the era of modernism, this “practical art” covered many areas, from printing to architecture, experiencing competition from crafts and industry, aesthetics and pragmatics, creativity and consumerism. Appealing to the sphere of art, the design also intersected with science; and the design thinking has become a subject of study. Ethnography, born in the 18th century as a science of peoples, in fact started with an image. Later, in the 19th century, it was supplemented by European anthropology, which soon took a dominant position pushing ethnography to the background. Today in the West, ethnography is often perceived as a way of field communication. Ethnic design in the Russian-speaking space is focused on the ethnocultural heritage and ethnicity branding, in the English one — on the methods of “participatory design”. “Ethno” has become a commodity and come into fashion, just like design. The combination of “two fashions” in one motion creates a premise for resonance, but at the same time shakes the old foundations, by which, for example, ethnicity and its symbols were recently considered the innermost property of the people and were not thought of “for sale”. In a short time, in many places on the planet, commodification and souvenirization of ethnicity has taken place, and this effect is directly related to ethno-design.