Installation of Words: “Can People Be Put in Motion by Words or Text?” – A Class Project That Takes on the Challenge of New Design

The Kyushu University, School of Design, Department of Industrial Design, has a class for the third year undergraduate students called “Planning and Design Project Exercises”. Each year, several faculty members in charge of industrial design will each come up with a theme for students to select and participate in projects on topics of their interest. This class is project-based learning rather than teacher-centred learning. It’s a place where the teachers explore how new design education ought to be, or take on the challenge of new design possibilities, and the students, with the awareness of the issue, make experimental attempts to grapple with problems that have no right answer.

The one-day installation that appeared in the middle of Ohashi Campus out of the blue on Thursday, December 19, 2019, somewhat surprising passersby. It was the class presentation based on the ideas of the students. Four large sheets of plywood with the question, “Can People Be Put in Motion by Words or Text?” written on them were hung on the wall of the Multi-Purpose Building. Also, a tall box of 2.7 meters high and 0.9 meters wide was installed between the fountain and the tree. There were about 40 concrete blocks with messages and questions related to design written on them, and they were connected to the box by ropes. In addition to that, posters with printed messages were placed throughout the campus.

The theme first presented by the instructor in charge of this project (Associate Professor Minako Ikeda) was “A Prescription of Words Effective Against the Murkiness of Design”. Today, the concept of design has expanded, and design has been applied to a wide range of things. Although many people, not just students, feel the possibilities of this situation, when faced with questions like “What exactly is design?” “What is the extent of design?” and “What is the role of a designer?” things seem a bit murky. The theme aimed to create a place for discussion and dialogue through an exhibition of words to inspire people who are feeling the “murkiness of design”.

The idea of presenting things outdoors, and as a large installation, was so that people would physically feel the many words related to design. We are always interacting with information through sight alone by looking at the screens of our computers and smartphones. By allowing interaction with material installed in a real space, this exhibition created an opportunity to encounter words while physically moving, take in the meaning of those words through the five senses, and exchange words with someone else who was present in the same place at the same time. There were many students, instructors, and staff stopped in their tracks when they passed by on the actual day of the event. They spent a long time looking at each of the words in the work. It seems they found satisfying words and words of interest to carry away with them.

The aim of a sudden one-day-only exhibit was so that, when standing in the empty space after an exhibition that was removed only a mere nine hours after its start, people would remember the “substance with physicality” that had certainly been there and think over the words.

At 7 pm when the sky has already turned dark and the installation removed, the student project members reflected that there were more visitors and the visitors had taken more time to look at the exhibit than they had expected. The content of the exhibition will be re-edited and developed into different media with a book produced.