Critical Daily    Critical practice in graphic design

Many students have expressed the problem with open discussions, mostly the psyche plays the role. On average, We are afraid to speak up because we are afraid of embarrassement and therefore we seek anonymity in the online environment. We can hide behind aliases and lose the psychological barrier. We feel more comfortable and more relaxed while beeing virtual. My goal was to simulate the online environment and use it in the real life. I created a set of paper sheets with empty chat headers, chat windows, empty frames for profile images and nicknames. I took them on a lecture on philosophy with an attempt to unleash a secret, anonymous, quiet debate, while the tutor was taking.

I started the chat first. I drew a profile picture, wrote my nickname and asked the question: "Why is philosophy important to artists? What would happen and what would be different if we would not learn it at school?". My expectation was that I leave this sheet to go around the room full of students, and when I get back, it will not be empty. What I did not expect, however, was nearly empty lecture room with about six students. When I left the paper circulating, the first student pointed with words: “Sorry, but don’t interrupt me, if I play this game, I will understood nothing of what he is explaining”. 

For this reason, just a few students who attended the lectures took part at this quite debate, so I got some answers. This project is seemed to have failed, because the choice of lecture was not a right one,I really underestimated the fact, that philosophy requires a full attention. But I think that if I left the sheets with chat to circulate any mandatory lecture, participants would be much more participative and I would get more interesting interaction.

This poster was created during the course Critic – Critical practice in Graphic Design at Department of Visual Communication at Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava. Tutored by Katarna Balážiková. The course foucuses on practicing and developing individual or collaborative critical projects.