Nowadays the barriers that once existed between different creative fields have been eroded. Artists have adopted icons associated with consumption and their work shows increasing influence of other subjects such as design and architecture.

It is not enough to consider design exclusively from the angle of style. This approach does not account for its conditions. It is important to study the political and economical context if we are to understand the reasons behind a certain culture of objects and professional practice. This is then the starting point for the development of a specific model for the analysis of design. This will hopefully avoid further confusion between art and design. Most magazines and journals dedicated to design focus on the analysis of different styles, movements and techniques. They normally place design within the larger context of history of art adopting the same theoretical models normally associated to this field. This approach does not take into account the specific nature of design because it ignores the macro-economical element. Although there are significant juxtapositions of these two "histories" they should not be seen as one and the same. Designers respond to orders that originate within the realm of production or manufacture as opposed to artists that create their own objects.

TOWARDS THE AUTONOMY OF ART AND THE BIRTH OF THE OBJECT

It has been five centuries since «mechanical arts» (as performed by artisans) were separated from «liberal arts» (as performed by artists). This happened at the same time that the foundations of Industrial Society were being laid. Until then Art as we understand it today did not exist (with the possible exception of Ancient Greece) and the production of objects included a number of different skills (painters, jewellers and ironmongers). They fulfilled a task with well-defined boundaries. Which does not mean to say that the objects did not bear the individual mark of a particular skill or master. However, value was not associated to those factors. Since the Renaissance and in the 20th Century in particular artists have become creators and works of art have freed themselves from social constraints (the notion of order, widespread ideas and power). This transformation occurs at the same time of the industrial division of labour. This is when the object in the modern sense is born.

ATELIER A: ARTISTS INTERVENE IN DESIGN

In this chapter I will be exploring two instances of «encounters» between art and design. Both examples are French. On one hand we have the adventure represented by Atelier A, on the other hand we have the chance encounter that brought together designer Roger Tallon and artists Yves Klein and César. Both experiences took place in the Sixties.

French painter François Arnal founded atelier A in 1969. Its main objective was to make items of furniture produced by artists such as Peter Klasen, César, Annette Messager, Robert Malaval, Arman, Mark Brusse or Roy Adzak. Around forty artists took part in this adventure that produced around one hundred items. Tables, chairs, lamps, large seats by Jean-Michel Sannejouand and Mark Brusse, the wire chairs and «stone lighting» by André Cazeneuve, neon lighting by Annette Messager and Malaval, aluminium ashtrays by César, Arnal, Jean-Pierre Raynaud and Arman (his ashtray bearing the word «cancer» was later included in a collection from Domus). Some of the products were produced by ARC (Atelier de Recherche at Création du Mobilier National). In 1975 Atelier A goes into receivership. The importance of Atelier A stems from the fact that it represented an opportunity for an approximation between art and design. Within an environment mainly dominated by functionalism, artists represented an alternative to designers that made a distinction between art and design.

We can even go further and situate the experience of Atelier A in a wider context that put ideologies, radicalism and politics beyond reflection about design. Atelier A did not have any prerogative in this context. At the time groups of designers and architects such as Archizoom in Italy and Archigram in England were moving in the same direction, that is, experimentation, with a high level of political awareness. In other words, functionalism, as defended by the Ulm School — which encouraged social participation both on a critical as well as constructive sense — led Sixties designers to the notion of «a new society by design». The teachings of the Ulm School were based in the technical, cultural and economical workings of production, distribution and consumption. This rationale would later result in the concept of functional object allowing Man to emancipate himself from traditional imagery. According to Ulm once Man is free from the shackles of tradition and the influence of ornaments individuals would then automatically be free from a Society based in consumption. It is then set against a wider international context that Atelier A offers a somewhat alternative vision. It is a form of pure research.

CÉSAR / TALLON — KLEIN / TALLON: THE COLLABORATION BETWEEN ARTISTS AND DESIGNERS

Another example that I would like to explore is the relationship established between an industrial designer, Roger Tallon, and his collaboration with Yves Klein and César. I believe this example is   useful in order to illustrate that the elements of «utopia», so often associated to artists, are not  incompatible with the rationale behind industrial production. In Roger Tallon's case these elements are very useful in the sense that they allow a degree of introspection. Although these two fields remain separated they both fuel a single experience. It was thanks to the collaboration with both Klein and César that Tallon's work went beyond functionalism. Although Tallon worked with both Tallon and César he helped the former to materialise his projects passing to the latter his know- ledge about materials. Tallon first met Yves Klein when the latter was looking for a space to create his fire paintings. Roger Tallon put him in touch with Gaz de France who provided the artist with a space. In 1962 Tallon was also involved in experimenting with materials and pigments on panels that he would set alight. We could also mention psychedelic light projections over André Bloc's living sculpture in Meudon as well as Tallon's enthusiasm with the power of image to animate static volumes. In 1965 Tallon participates in an exhibition, «La Main», with «Poing», a piece that includes image projection. Tallon will also conceive and execute in a model Yves Klein's idea of «Rocket Pneumatique». In 1962 Tallon will also present at «Antagonisme 2, l'objet» another of his projects to do with the architecture of air. In the same exhibition César presents another work consisting of a television set that he «disembowelled» by himself and Tallon preserved in a plexiglass case with a magnifying lens.

In 1967 César will also enlist Tallon to help him to project a Christmas motive over Orly airport. The characters are «portrait-seats», anthropomorphic, that represented various personalities of that time. The audience would watch baby Jesus crying in a television screen installed amidst the hay. Tallon will adopt the same theme to create the seats for Astrolabe, a bar in St. Germain des Prés. Later, Olivier Mourgue would recreate this same idea.

EPILOGUE

Nowadays the barriers that once existed between different creative fields have been eroded. Artists have adopted icons associated with consumption and their work shows increasing influence of other subjects such as design and architecture. DJ's build sound structures that are complemented by other elements normally associated with stage setting and «happenings». Designers also participate in the same domains following in the footsteps of other contemporary forms of artistic creation. Design is then situated in the intersection between art and industry. It has a polymorphic and poetic quality that goes beyond the boundaries of pure design. If 40 years ago designers were led by a wave of industrialisation and sought to abolish bourgeois mentality, in the present day designers have strayed away from these ideals and proclaim the return towards «high culture», mixing «things» and different styles. Designers will work in a global environment in which individuals will use their memories and the marks of their own existence.

Chloé Braunstein