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Picture language and other things: The materiality of Isotype

Henning, Michelle

Authors

Michelle Henning



Abstract

In 2005 Bruno Latour and Peter Wiebel used Isotype charts to conclude their exhibition Making Things Public at the ZKM Centre in Karlsruhe. They contrasted Isotype to their own vision of things as assemblages, disputed states of affairs, and actants. Isotype stood for the quintessentially modernist political vision, represented as things that were "delineated, discrete objects … bathing in some translucent space" . Against this, I argue that Isotype can be usefully considers as an assemblage using Latours own notion, and ask how this affects our reading of the modern.

Citation

Henning, M. (2008, September). Picture language and other things: The materiality of Isotype. Paper presented at Network of Design, Conference of the design history society, University College Falmouth

Presentation Conference Type Conference Paper (unpublished)
Conference Name Network of Design, Conference of the design history society
Conference Location University College Falmouth
Start Date Sep 2, 2008
End Date Sep 6, 2008
Peer Reviewed Not Peer Reviewed
Keywords Isotype, Otto Neurath, networks, Bruno Latour
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1009621


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