Radical and Anti Design

Radical Design was founded in 1968; a decade after the foundation of Pop Design in Great Britain. Although Radical and Anti Design are very similar to eachother, the former one was more theoretical, politicised and experimental. On the other hand Anti Design criticised the advancement of technology and consumerism. Anti Design also rejected the rational principles of the Modern Movement and with its liberation from formality and simplicity evolved into the Post Modernism later in time. 

The radical Design was founded in Florence by a group of young architects. Superstudio was at its best during this time until it broke down in the late 1970s. This is how they described the procedure of their works; 

"In the beginning we designed objects for production, designs to be turned into wood and steel, glass and brick or plastic - then we produced neutral and usable designs, then finally negative utopias, forewarning images of the horrors which architecture was laying in store for us with its scientific methods for the perpetuation of existing models", 1973.

Together with Archizoom, UFO and Gruppo Strum, Superstudio attacked notions of what constituted the "good taste" and made installations that questioned the rationalism and the advancement of technology once again.

One of the artists of this time was Alessandro Mendini who is a highly influential designer of the 1980s. Mendini was a designer, journalist and a teacher. He had also worked closely with architecture practices, art, philosophy and literature. His work can be understood in two basic ideas;

- design must be aware of its position within a nexus of existing ideas and images,

- it can only be expressed externally and on the surface of things

Infact this is what he did with the 'Proust Chair'. With this chair, Mendini began a series of redesigned furniture where he reinterpreted already existing designs and made them into his own ideas.

The Proust chair is originally a Neo-Baroque style of the 18th century which Mendini came across while hovering for a fabric pattern. He completely covered this chair with hand painted dots which reproduced an enlarged section of a painting by Paul Signac.

Proust Cahir, 1978                                                                                          The Papal Palace, 1900

Another artist who was popular during this period was Claes Oldenburg. Oldenburg rendered everyday objects into soft sculptures where he separated their form from their function and distorted their scale. Obviously I think the most sculpture that made fame is the soft toilet.

Soft Toilet, 1966

Soft Cigarette Butts, 1967

As the name speaks for itself 'Radical Design', the reason why designers came up with this style just because they were fed up of the previous works.

References:

Vitra, n.d. Poltrona di Proust. [online] Available at: http://www.design-museum.de/en/collection/100-masterpieces/detailseiten/poltrona-di-proust-alessandro-mendini.html [Accessed 3rd January 2014]

WikiPAintings, n.d. The Papal Palace, Avignon. [image online] Available at: http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/paul-signac/the-papal-palace-avignon-1900 [Accessed 3rd January 2014]

Tad Simons, 2013. Claes Oldenburg. [images online] Available at: http://blogs.mspmag.com/themorningafter/2013/09/23/review-claes-oldenburg-the-sixties-walker-art-center/ [Accessed 3rd January 2014]