Books by Viviana Narotzky
La Barcelona del Diseño (Santa & Cole, 2007) looks at one of the most exciting periods of the cit... more La Barcelona del Diseño (Santa & Cole, 2007) looks at one of the most exciting periods of the city’s recent history: what came to be known as the ‘Barcelona design boom’, a cultural phenomenon that helped define the Spanish transition to democracy in the 1980s.
That collective outburst of design-led passion, that had started quietly in the midst of political turmoil in the late 1970s and peaked a decade later, left a profound mark on the city’s morphology and self-perception. For a few years and in sharp contrast to the preceding decades, design became one of the main cultural frameworks of Barcelona’s identity, both locally and abroad. Paired with architecture in a seemingly unavoidable partnership, it provided the seeds from which ultimately emerged the narrative of the city as it is seen today: that of a decaying post-industrial provincial capital miraculously transformed into a sophisticated European metropolis.
Highlighting the key moments in the history of local design, from its emergence in the 1960s, through the designer euphoria of the 1992 Olympics, to some of the most recent work being done by Barcelonese designers today, ‘La Barcelona del Diseño’ looks at various aspects of design in Barcelona, from professional practice, to manufacturing, retail, mediation, consumption and use. Initially addressing design and later embracing architecture as well, this book follows the way in which these disciplines turned ideas about local identity, modernity, social and cultural value into everyday material artefacts and spaces, placing them at the heart of the city’s popular culture. The city itself is presented as a public landscape where, within the framework of urban planning and architectural interventions, design and people came together in the use of urban furnishings, designer bars and the built environment.
Book Chapters by Viviana Narotzky
This essay explores the construction of the cultural system of design in Barcelona during late Fr... more This essay explores the construction of the cultural system of design in Barcelona during late Francoism and the early transition. It highlights the ways in which design embodied and represented ideas about modernity, progress and democracy. It does so by analyzing the local discourses of design developed by critics, scholars and professionals during that period. While Spain's recent past provided an intense contrast with the shifting present, it was also the bedrock from which sprung a narrative of design's role, its intrinsic qualities and even its political values.
In this chapter, I examine the impact of Rapid Manufacturing technologies and the rise of Open-So... more In this chapter, I examine the impact of Rapid Manufacturing technologies and the rise of Open-Source design on our changing relationship with mass-produced goods and the nature of the design profession.
This essay explores the success of TV domestic makeover shows as part of a culturally and histori... more This essay explores the success of TV domestic makeover shows as part of a culturally and historically framed discourse on the home, design and interiors. It locates the contemporary domestic makeover within the evolution of DIY and advice literature, while focusing on the role of multi-media representation in constructing a vicarious, shifting and essentially ‘spectacular’ experience of the contemporary domestic interior.
My interest here was to explore what happens when an existing network of commodity provision, ret... more My interest here was to explore what happens when an existing network of commodity provision, retail and maintenance breaks down, and is replaced by a whole set of alternative, informal practices that sustain consumption of a particular good. Its focus on car culture engaged with an emerging field of scholarship, linking it with more established approaches within design history in methodologically innovative ways.
Articles by Viviana Narotzky
In 2001 I was invited by the contemporary art curator Ute Meta Bauer and the artist Fareed Armaly... more In 2001 I was invited by the contemporary art curator Ute Meta Bauer and the artist Fareed Armaly to participate in the exhibition Architectures of Discourse at the Fundació Antoni Tàpies. My contribution, based both within the Foundation’s exhibition space and at the nearby shop Vinçon, explored the retailing of designer goods in Spain and the new social narratives emerging from the Barcelona model of urban regeneration. The idea of the footnote as a knowledge-generating tool and the chair as object of design were the main elements that structured the intervention, bridging the geographical divide. Together, they told a story about Barcelona, post Francoist design and Catalan identity. My text for the catalogue explored the concept of the ‘annotated city’, and the construction of discourse through objects, political agency and the city’s material environment.
Journal of Design History, 2000
At the inception of art and design as a degree subject in 1961, the 20% of historical and theoret... more At the inception of art and design as a degree subject in 1961, the 20% of historical and theoretical studies they incorporated was what was meant to give it its Honours status. Traditionally, then, design history, in particular at undergraduate level, has provided the contextualisation for research practice. Meanwhile design history itself has developed as an autonomous academic discipline. This in turn gave rise to the development of design history and the new art history in the early 1970s. By the the early 1980s design history had firmly established itself with the potential to be a stand-alone subject.
The result of this development has been that the preoccupations of design historians have increasingly divorced themselves from design practice. Meanwhile, design practice has sought a more complex and challenging set of paradigms. This paper contends that whilst this autonomy may be advantagous for its own terms, it renders the subject no longer viable as either the provider of useful empirical data for or theoretical approaches to design practice and research. In short, design practice both as a field of academic enquiry and as a profession has outstripped the paradigms and critiques of design history.
This paper was prompted by conversations with a member of the editorial board of a respected academic journal on design. He was dismayed to find that, according to the research we were presenting to the journal, no amount of radical design history was affecting the on-the-ground experience and practice of design undergraduates... Can the same be said for academic research in design at other levels?
Papers by Viviana Narotzky
The 1960s and 1970s had seen the creation of Barcelona’s basic network for the provision of desig... more The 1960s and 1970s had seen the creation of Barcelona’s basic network for the provision of design. A generation of architects had turned to furniture design and consolidated the recourse to small editing companies as the most appropriate local manufacturing structure, managing the distribution and creating some points of sale.
However, the network of production, distribution and retailing was still highly self- referential: it supplied the needs of those who had established it, was not supported or even acknowledged by the central government and was not embedded within previously existing industrial or commercial frameworks.
This started to change between 1975 and 1985, during the first decade of the Spanish political transition, when the main design retailers in Barcelona defined their profile and merchandise, their retail strategies and their own public persona.
Exhibition Catalogues by Viviana Narotzky
Industrial Design in Spain, 1960-2010. Exhibition catalogue.
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Books by Viviana Narotzky
That collective outburst of design-led passion, that had started quietly in the midst of political turmoil in the late 1970s and peaked a decade later, left a profound mark on the city’s morphology and self-perception. For a few years and in sharp contrast to the preceding decades, design became one of the main cultural frameworks of Barcelona’s identity, both locally and abroad. Paired with architecture in a seemingly unavoidable partnership, it provided the seeds from which ultimately emerged the narrative of the city as it is seen today: that of a decaying post-industrial provincial capital miraculously transformed into a sophisticated European metropolis.
Highlighting the key moments in the history of local design, from its emergence in the 1960s, through the designer euphoria of the 1992 Olympics, to some of the most recent work being done by Barcelonese designers today, ‘La Barcelona del Diseño’ looks at various aspects of design in Barcelona, from professional practice, to manufacturing, retail, mediation, consumption and use. Initially addressing design and later embracing architecture as well, this book follows the way in which these disciplines turned ideas about local identity, modernity, social and cultural value into everyday material artefacts and spaces, placing them at the heart of the city’s popular culture. The city itself is presented as a public landscape where, within the framework of urban planning and architectural interventions, design and people came together in the use of urban furnishings, designer bars and the built environment.
Book Chapters by Viviana Narotzky
Articles by Viviana Narotzky
The result of this development has been that the preoccupations of design historians have increasingly divorced themselves from design practice. Meanwhile, design practice has sought a more complex and challenging set of paradigms. This paper contends that whilst this autonomy may be advantagous for its own terms, it renders the subject no longer viable as either the provider of useful empirical data for or theoretical approaches to design practice and research. In short, design practice both as a field of academic enquiry and as a profession has outstripped the paradigms and critiques of design history.
This paper was prompted by conversations with a member of the editorial board of a respected academic journal on design. He was dismayed to find that, according to the research we were presenting to the journal, no amount of radical design history was affecting the on-the-ground experience and practice of design undergraduates... Can the same be said for academic research in design at other levels?
Papers by Viviana Narotzky
However, the network of production, distribution and retailing was still highly self- referential: it supplied the needs of those who had established it, was not supported or even acknowledged by the central government and was not embedded within previously existing industrial or commercial frameworks.
This started to change between 1975 and 1985, during the first decade of the Spanish political transition, when the main design retailers in Barcelona defined their profile and merchandise, their retail strategies and their own public persona.
Exhibition Catalogues by Viviana Narotzky
That collective outburst of design-led passion, that had started quietly in the midst of political turmoil in the late 1970s and peaked a decade later, left a profound mark on the city’s morphology and self-perception. For a few years and in sharp contrast to the preceding decades, design became one of the main cultural frameworks of Barcelona’s identity, both locally and abroad. Paired with architecture in a seemingly unavoidable partnership, it provided the seeds from which ultimately emerged the narrative of the city as it is seen today: that of a decaying post-industrial provincial capital miraculously transformed into a sophisticated European metropolis.
Highlighting the key moments in the history of local design, from its emergence in the 1960s, through the designer euphoria of the 1992 Olympics, to some of the most recent work being done by Barcelonese designers today, ‘La Barcelona del Diseño’ looks at various aspects of design in Barcelona, from professional practice, to manufacturing, retail, mediation, consumption and use. Initially addressing design and later embracing architecture as well, this book follows the way in which these disciplines turned ideas about local identity, modernity, social and cultural value into everyday material artefacts and spaces, placing them at the heart of the city’s popular culture. The city itself is presented as a public landscape where, within the framework of urban planning and architectural interventions, design and people came together in the use of urban furnishings, designer bars and the built environment.
The result of this development has been that the preoccupations of design historians have increasingly divorced themselves from design practice. Meanwhile, design practice has sought a more complex and challenging set of paradigms. This paper contends that whilst this autonomy may be advantagous for its own terms, it renders the subject no longer viable as either the provider of useful empirical data for or theoretical approaches to design practice and research. In short, design practice both as a field of academic enquiry and as a profession has outstripped the paradigms and critiques of design history.
This paper was prompted by conversations with a member of the editorial board of a respected academic journal on design. He was dismayed to find that, according to the research we were presenting to the journal, no amount of radical design history was affecting the on-the-ground experience and practice of design undergraduates... Can the same be said for academic research in design at other levels?
However, the network of production, distribution and retailing was still highly self- referential: it supplied the needs of those who had established it, was not supported or even acknowledged by the central government and was not embedded within previously existing industrial or commercial frameworks.
This started to change between 1975 and 1985, during the first decade of the Spanish political transition, when the main design retailers in Barcelona defined their profile and merchandise, their retail strategies and their own public persona.