Emerging from the world of commercial art and product styling, design has now become completely integrated into human life. Its marks are all around us, from the chairs we sit on to the Web sites on our computer screens. One of the pioneers of design studies and still one of its most distinguished practitioners, Victor Margolin here offers a timely meditation on design and its study at the turn of the millennium and charts new directions for the future development of both fields. Divided into sections on the practice and study of design, the essays in The Politics of the Artificial cover such topics as design history, design research, design as a political tool, sustainable design, and the problems of design's relation to advanced technologies. Margolin also examines the work of key practitioners such as the matrix designer Ken Isaacs. Throughout the book Margolin demonstrates the underlying connections between the many ways of reflecting on and practicing design. He argues for the creation of an international, interdisciplinary field of design research and proposes a new ethical agenda for designers and researchers that encompasses the responsibility to users, the problems of sustainability, and the complicated questions of how to set boundaries for applying advanced technology to solve the problems of human life. Opinionated and erudite, Victor Margolin's The Politics of the Artificial breaks fresh ground in its call for a new approach to design research and practice. Designers, engineers, architects, anthropologists, sociologists, and historians will all benefit from its insights.

The Politics of the Artificial: Essays on Design and Design Studies

Arts & Photography

MARGOLIN, Victor

History & Criticism

University of Chicago Press

Following World War I, a new artistic-social avant-garde emerged with the ambition to engage the artist in the building of social life. Through close readings of the works of Alexander Rodchenko, El Lissitzky, and László Moholy-Nagy whose careers covered a broad range of artistic practices and political situations, Victor Margolin examines the way these three artists negotiated the changing relations between their social ideals and the political realities they confronted. Focusing on the difficult relationship between art and social change, Margolin brings important new insights to the understanding of the avant-garde's role in a period of great political complexity."An ambitious effort. This book puts the masters of European Modernism into perfect focus as inventors, propagators, and practitioners of a visual language that continues to hold sway over contemporary graphic style."—Steven Heller"Worth the wait. . . . Margolin usefully presents what he calls the 'failed hope' of this movement in this valuable effort."—Publishers Weekly

The Struggle for Utopia: Rodchenko, Lissitzky, Moholy-Nagy, 1917-1946

Following World War I, a new artistic-social avant-garde emerged with the ambition to engage the artist in the building of social life. Through close readings of the works of Alexander Rodchenko, El Lissitzky, and László Moholy-Nagy whose careers covered a broad range of artistic practices and political situations, Victor Margolin examines the way these three artists negotiated the changing relations between their social ideals and the political realities they confronted. Focusing on the difficult relationship between art and social change, Margolin brings important new insights to the understanding of the avant-garde's role in a period of great political complexity. "An ambitious effort. This book puts the masters of European Modernism into perfect focus as inventors, propagators, and practitioners of a visual language that continues to hold sway over contemporary graphic style."—Steven Heller "Worth the wait. . . . Margolin usefully presents what he calls the 'failed hope' of this movement in this valuable effort."—Publishers Weekly

Margolin, Victor, Golden Age Of The American Poster, The

The Golden Age of the American Poster: A Concise Edition of the American Poster Renaissance Including All 48 Color Plates

Ballantine

This is the first volume of the World History of Design, the definitive historical account of global design by pre-eminent design scholar Victor Margolin. 
The first volume explores the earliest cave art and human tools, including the key examples of the visual and material culture that were produced in all parts of the world from the first stages of human civilization, the Industrial Revolution and its aftermath, and finally World War I.
This richly illustrated volume contains over 380 images, with 72 in full colour.

World History of Design Volume 1

Reference

Encyclopedias & Subject Guides

Bloomsbury Academic

This is the second volume of the World History of Design, the definitive historical account of global design by pre-eminent design scholar Victor Margolin. 
The second volume covers the period between World War I and II, when mass production and mass communication spread to most parts of the world. There are also focused accounts of design in particular places and in particular periods during this period, among these topics are the relations between art and industry in Germany between 1890 and 1914; the avant-gardes in Eastern Europe, 1917-1930; design in the Weimar Republic, 1918-1933; and the consultant designers in the United States, 1929-1939.
This richly illustrated volume contains over 490 images, with over 80 in full colour.

World History of Design Volume 2

This is the definitive historical account of global design from prehistory to the end of the Second World War, by pre-eminent design scholar Victor Margolin. These two richly illustrated volumes contain over 850 images, with over 160 in full colour.

World History of Design: Two-volume set

History

World

The definitive global history of design Authored by preeminent design scholar Victor Margolin, World History of Design is an indispensable new multi-volume work, providing a comprehensive and detailed historical account of design from prehistory to the end of the twentieth century.
An unrivalled breadth of coverage Comprising three volumes containing almost one million words and 1,500 images, World History of Design features all world regions across all periods. From the earliest cave art and human tools to the recent development of a global design culture, it includes substantial new material on design in Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. 
Multi-disciplinary relevance and appeal With its broad geographic and chronological purview, and its depth of discussion, World History of Design is an essential resource for students and scholars in design history, as well as in the fields of history, sociology, art history, and anthropology. It will also appeal to design practitioners worldwide and to a general audience with an interest in design.

World History of Design: Two-Volume set

Decorative Arts & Design

Marilyn Monroe statuettes, Venus salt-and-pepper shakers, plastic Jesuses, and brides and grooms rescued from the tops of wedding cakes: useless kitsch or important cultural artifacts? The answer depends on your tastes and tendencies. But readers of both camps will find much to ponder in this celebration of the highlights (and low-lights) from the Museum of Corn-temporary Art.

Culture Is Everywhere

Carroll, Patty

Museum of Corn-Temporary Art

Collections, Catalogs & Exhibitions

Prestel Pub

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by MARGOLIN, Victor. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by MARGOLIN, Victor

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by MARGOLIN, Victor. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Politics of the Artificial: Essays on Design and Design Studies

The Politics of the Artificial: Essays on Design and Design Studies

The Struggle for Utopia: Rodchenko, Lissitzky, Moholy-Nagy, 1917-1946

The Struggle for Utopia: Rodchenko, Lissitzky, Moholy-Nagy, 1917-1946

The Golden Age of the American Poster: A Concise Edition of the American Poster Renaissance Including All 48 Color Plates

World History of Design Volume 1

World History of Design Volume 2

World History of Design: Two-volume set

World History of Design: Two-Volume set

Culture Is Everywhere