Eight
Simple subtraction
- Brian Eno & Peter Schmidt
Take socially acceptable, ‘good’ design and simply subtract ‘good taste’. What is left? Anything at all?
Don’t tell me that taste doesn’t play a role in the professional and orthodox acceptability of design: the journals and blogs are full of tasteful products - interiors, objects, architecture, graphics. Even poor taste is in good taste, a serpent-addled Ouroboros that cannot be simply resolved, albeit one that is symbolic of the idea’s fertility.
The Serpent himself is a Freudian fever-dream in poor taste. So masculine, so male. Ironic, really. In truth, The Serpent is as queer as a three dollar note.
