IPL-03 Disegno Lectures / Starting from Chance Operation
1. Objectification
Listen, watch, read, and work through the theoretical material provided to develop an understanding of what is objectified by chance operation and how chance operation can work as a tool for objectification. In addition, conduct your own research on the topic.
Our general key question is: “How important is the unpredictable, the unknown, what happens by accident, what we call chance operation, for our actions as individuals as well as social beings, or is it much more important to get rid of it?”
If we are dealing with coordinates, with what we can measure in space and time, it seems that we have the tools at hand to predict what will happen.
As we have said about the artistic use of coordinates: “From the perspective of human culture, the fundamental object is the constellation of stars that appears unchanging to us in the sky. This is where the coordinates come from. In reality, it is the incomprehensible speed of light of the stars, which appears to be fixed, but in fact has been extinguished for billions of years”. In other words, the constellations to which we owe a significant part of the beginning of our culture in the sense of a species of thinking and planning are pure, indeterminable coincidences.
In a sense, then, we can say that the unknown, the indeterminable chance, is the main source of evolution and cultural development. If we take this fact seriously, we can no longer ignore the question of how to take the unknown and thus the unpredictable into account in our decisions, be it in our daily activities, in politics, in social or cultural affairs.
Until the Age of Enlightenment, the name of the unknown was God or, even earlier, the gods. This was the source of fate, the unpredictable will of God.
In Roman antiquity, it was the task of the augurs to grasp and interpret the unknown, i.e. the indeterminable will of the gods, so that the possibilities thus formulated could be incorporated into the political decisions of the Senate.
In the Christian era, painting took over this task. Painting was not only about depicting religious or power-political events, but also about depicting the unpredictable will of God, which could be grasped in the figure of Jesus, Mother Mary, and the saints as real figures in a real environment.
In the Renaissance, painters such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, or Jacopo Pontormo began to grasp the unknown (in the sense of what is not yet understood) as a source that could lead to understanding the incomprehensible counsel of a Supreme Being. Thus the unknown became a multidimensional potency of the knowable, unfolding from the simplest constellation: the connection from one point to another.
In attempting to realize this idea, the Enlightenment succumbed to the illusion that science would be able to numerically comprehend the potency of the unknown, thereby revealing it and eliminating all that was unpredictable in favor of a bright future in which even death might one day be conquered.
Today we know very well that it is impossible for us to decipher the unknown and thus eliminate the unpredictable. Once again, we must learn to include the unknown in our decisions, whether they are private, political, or cultural. As in the Renaissance, it is now up to art and design to develop, test and implement the appropriate tools.
We need to ask ourselves three main questions and work constantly on the plurality of appropriate answers:
How do we deal with the increasing complexity of the systems we work with?
How do we deal with the unknowns of the dark energy of our subconscious, which significantly determines each of our decisions?
How do we deal with the dark matter and dark energy without which there is no physical or spiritual life?
The way we work as artists, writers and designers on the multitude of possible answers is the way of concrete implementation.2. Deconstruction
First, we need to define the term deconstruction in the sense of Disegno. When we perceive something with our senses, we involuntarily deconstruct what we perceive. We break down what we see into its basic forms. We do this without being aware of it.
When we draw, we consciously draw on this natural ability. Drawing, then, is both deconstruction and reconstruction in one interrelated act, transforming the deconstructed elements into what the viewer can identify through reconstruction.
In order to work with the chance operation inherent in every interaction between people and between people and things, we need to find suitable methods for decoding and encoding the chance operation. We will do this with the means of deconstruction.
In other words, to make it accessible to us as an essential part of our being we must use all artistic means.
Overview
Your task is to develop three different methods to decode and encode the chance operations inherent in all interactions. Since all interactions are performed between active entities that have the ability to think and act autonomously (more and more including artificial intelligence), the source for decoding and encoding chance operations can be no other than the interaction of those who have to fulfil this task, which in our case is the artist or designer.
Purpose
Each of your methods (that is, your formalizations) should be seen as an experimental setting.
You have to find out which one is best suited for which purpose. So the first thing you need to do is define a purpose. For example:
Placing coordinates randomly on a piece of paper or other two-dimensional space.
Creating a grid within which randomly appearing coordinates can be assigned to an existing coordinate system, such as music notes or letters.
Framing an area to examine and record the randomly scattered objects found there.
Basic question
The purpose must be related to a question you have asked, for example:
“How can I use chance operation to find new forms beyond all the clichés I have in mind?”
“How can the chance operations found in nature be used for the design of two-dimensional images or three-dimensional objects?”
“Is working with chance operations a suitable tool for developing a narrative that works with images, such as an animation or a film?”, and so on.
Once you have defined your purpose and your basic questions, you need to find and arrange an appropriate setting.
Settings
Defining the spatio-temporal settings: How long you will work on a piece (if there is a set time or if you are working with an open end) and the size of the format.
In general, the measurements of space and time are the framework or grid of our basic coordinates.Define your tools (the common ones, such as brushes or pencils, as well as the unusual ones, such as stones, feathers, etc.), why you chose them, their physical characteristics, and their respective uses. Think about how the tools might be identical to the object of your purpose and how they eventually relate to your questions.
Define the materials you will be working on, such as paper, canvas, directly on other surfaces such as a wall, floor, etc., and what additional tools you will be using (for recording or further editing on the computer).
Assignment
Elaboration of three different methods (of deconstruction):
By formulating a specific purpose (the answer to why you are pursuing this purpose is determined by the question you provide),
by providing basic questions (one question for each method),
by defining the appropriate formal setting.
Begin by sketching out possible ways in which you will proceed methodologically.
Session 1
Outlining your methods (including purpose, your questions, and your settings) will be the topic of the 1st seminar session.
The session is a two-day onsite event. Online participation is available.3. Formalisation
We use the term formalization in its double sense: First, by defining the formal elements of the method (of deconstruction), and second, by using the results of deconstruction as forms (elements) for your composition.
Formalizing, then, means shaping (correcting, if necessary) the form of the methodological process as you practice it. Formalizing in this sense is identical with working on the method in terms of making it more precise step by step through actual experience.
Formalizing also means using the elements (and particles) obtained from the deconstruction to form different segments for your composition. So you can use the elements and particles directly from the deconstruction as well as the segments formed from them for your composition.
When you are sure that the method will work, formalize it, that is, describe the methods in a short text and add a score for each, showing how the settings and execution will work.
4. Composition
What Artistic Compositions Are –
Philosophical Considerations
Artistic composition is far more than the mere arrangement of visual or sonic elements—it is a deeply layered act of meaning-making that spans aesthetics, perception, and politics. Across philosophical traditions, composition has been seen not just as technique, but as a powerful gesture that shapes how we experience, understand, and inhabit the world.
From a phenomenological perspective, composition is the intentional forming of experience. Thinkers like Husserl and Merleau-Ponty emphasize that the way an artwork is composed affects how it is encountered. It is not simply about form, but about guiding perception—shaping how a world appears to consciousness through expressive structure.
In classical aesthetics, composition is defined through the ideal of unity in multiplicity. For philosophers such as Aristotle and Kant, a successful composition brings diverse elements into harmonious relation, creating a coherent whole that pleases both the senses and the mind. This is where beauty often resides—in the balance between variation and unity.
A structuralist or semiotic view shifts the focus to composition as the grammar of meaning. Thinkers like Roland Barthes and Nelson Goodman suggest that artworks function like languages: their parts (lines, colors, tones, words) are signs that follow certain rules or conventions. In this view, to compose is to construct a readable system of meaning.
But for thinkers such as Heidegger and Gadamer, composition is a more ontological act—a gesture of world-making. Here, artistic composition is not just representational or communicative; it is poetic in the ancient Greek sense of poiēsis—a bringing-forth of truth. The artwork composes a world that did not exist before.
Finally, critical theorists such as Adorno and Rancière highlight the political and ethical dimensions of composition. The choices made in any composition—what is included or left out, which voices are heard or silenced—reflect and shape social power. Composition becomes an act of framing the sensible, of determining who or what gets to appear in the shared space of meaning.
In this way, artistic composition is never neutral. It is always an act of intention, relation, revelation, and resistance—a dynamic interplay of form, meaning, and world.
Assignment
Create at least six compositions using each of the three methods. You can also combine the different methods, that is the respective forms (or elements).
The most important goal of the compositions is aesthetic quality, that is, to ensure that the composition has a neurophysical as well as an intellectual impact on the viewer.
You must have at least 18 compositions.
Session 2
The presentation of your compositions (including the way you formalized the parts of your composition) will be the topic of the 2nd seminar session.
The session is a two-day onsite event. Online participation is available.
5. The Theoretical Part
Overview
After making a series of works with different intellectual and technical approaches, you will be able to articulate your experiences throughout the process, from deconstruction to composition.
Experience is to be understood as the conscious adoption (and acceptance) of one's individual way of being drawn into the world, that is, one's way of drawing.
The assignment is to relate your final composition to the text on objectification as provided here.
Which positions of the text can be related to your experiences? Which are different? Focusing on the composition you have created here, what does it mean for you to be drawn into the world and what are the consequences?
The point is to connect your individual way of tracing and encoding what you perceive with the intellectual position.
How to approach your theoretical task
First of all, the aim is not to intellectually grasp and categorise the full complexity of the text on first reading. This will happen involuntarily, the more you read, the more you understand.
The philosopher Gilles Deleuze says that if you start reading philosophical texts as a beginner, you will not be able to grasp the whole image of thought in its multidimensional relations. It is much more important to find a passage or just a few sentences that resonate with you.
This is your starting point. Mark what strikes you, think about why, and write down your thoughts.
Now look at your compositions. Can you see a connection between your thoughts on the text and your artistic and creative results?
Since they both relate to the same object and its objectification, there is undoubtedly a connection in terms of content. You just have to recognise it. You are the link.
Assignment
Relate the results to the theoretical considerations given here to describe your experience with the methods you have chosen and how they relate to particular positions in the text. Do this by writing an essay.
An essay is a structured piece of writing that presents an argument, analysis, or interpretation of a specific topic.
Use a simple structure for your paper: introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion.
Your essay should be between 10 and 12 pages (approximately 2,500 words) in length.
All written papers must be submitted at least three weeks before the official end of the semester, which is March 31 or September 30.
6. Design a Product
Design a product that communicates your work, such as a brochure, book, Web site, or of other kind.
Your product must include and relate methods, compositions, and essays. Begin with the basic questions and unfold the entire process of your elaboration as an interesting and compelling way to give the corresponding answers..
Session 3
At least the draft (or prototype) of the product to be designed will be the topic of the 3rd seminar session.
The session is a two-day onsite event. Online participation is only available upon request and justification.
Assignments Overview
Objectification: Listen, watch, read, and study the theoretical material provided. In addition, do your own research on the topic.
Define your purpose, your questions, your settings.Deconstruction: Develop three different methods (of deconstruction). Outline your methods.
►Session 1: Working together on the outlines for
Objectification and DeconstructionFormalization: Formalize your methods by describing them in writing and creating a score for each.
Composition: Create 6 compositions based on the methods. In the end, you will have at least 18 compositions.
►Session 2: Presenting the compositionsTerm Paper: Write an essay of between 10 and 12 pages.
Communication: Design a product that communicates your work, such as a brochure, a book, a website, or something else.
►Session 3: Presenting the product
The entire assignment (essay, final composition, and design product) must be submitted at least three weeks before the official end of the semester, which is March 31 or September 30.