An essay by Alexandra Midal on visual learning experiences through images, based on two revolutionary projects by major 20th-century designers: Ray & Charles Eames, Georges Nelson and Alexander Girard, and
Ken Isaacs. Numerous previously unpublished illustrations.
La puissance des images [The power of images] brings together Art X (1952) by Ray and Charles Eames, George Nelson and Alexander Girard with Ken Isaacs' Knowledge Box (1962), two revolutionary approaches to teaching art and design through images. Heirs to the immersive projection devices of the 19th century, which democratised knowledge on a large scale, these avalanches of experimental images short-circuit inductive reasoning and abolish the boundaries between disciplines and between the fields of knowledge and learning. Far from being case studies of the past, they attempt to counteract the loss of attention linked to the technological seductions of vision and their impact, a concern that we still experience today.
A professor of art and
design history and theory at
HEAD – Genève/HES-SO, Alexandra Midal is a practicing artist and independent curator whose research into visual culture translates into works, exhibitions, books and films.
