We, however, are satisfied if in our bookthe lyric and epic evolution of our times is given shape.

We will glorify war—the world’s only hygiene—militarism, patriotism, thedestructive gesture of freedom-bringers, beautiful ideas worth dying for, andscorn for woman

previously—Engineers relaxed with artnow—Artists relax with technology1 For a detailed discussion ofRodchenko’s belief in theideal Soviet citizen, see VictorMargolin, The Struggle forUtopia: Rodchenko, Lissitzky,Moholy-Nagy, 1917–1946(Chicago: university of ChicagoPress, 1998).

zeppelin

upheaval

unabashedly

1. we processedthe human being2. we organizetechnology1. we discovered2. propagate3. clean out4. mergepreviously—Engineers relaxed with artnow—Artists relax with technology

We will destroy the museums, libraries, academies of every kind, will fightmoralism, feminism, every opportunistic or utilitarian cowardice

aleKsanDr roDchenKo Was The son oF a propMan anD a launDress. aT TheBeGinninG oF The sovieT revoluTion, he TransForMeD hiMselF FroM a painTerinTo soMeThinG enTirely neW.

Free jazz

Behind Eno stand John Cage, Marcel Duchamp, and Erik Satie, but those guys didn’t make pop records.

Such radical compositional approaches arecontemporaneous with the Surrealist use of montage, but predateBurrough’s cut-up-fold-in technique, and ‘put[...] the avant-gardeclaims of hyperfiction to shame’ (Krapp, 2006: 362).

Digital technology puts creation, production, and distribution into the hands of the designer, enabling such bold assertions of artistic presence. These acts of graphic authorship fit within a broader evolving model of collective author-ship that is fundamentally changing the producer-consumer relationship.

Today some graphic designers continue to champion ideals of neutrality and objectivity that were essential to the early formation of their field. Such designers see the client’s message as the central component of their work. They strive to communicate this message clearly, although now their post-postmodern eyes are open to the impossibility of neutrality and objectivity.

Looking back across the history of design through the minds of these influential designers, one can identify pervasive themes like those discussed in this introduction. Issues like authorship, universality, and social responsi-bility, so key to avant-garde ideology, remain crucial to contemporary critical and theoretical discussions of the field.

polyphonic

primordial

The Cuteness of the Avant-Garde