A I MOXIE: Designer Blotches - Exploring Censorship in Kuwait...

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Designer Blotches - Exploring Censorship in Kuwait...

I teach a class in Contemporary Art & Thought at the Art & Design Department of Kuwait University. This term the class is solely attended by final year students in Graphic Design, although the department also offers a degree in Interior Design. Our first project this term dealt with censorship, a somewhat difficult and sensitive subject matter particularly here in Kuwait. The project was initially catalysed by a apparent inconsistency observed in the censoring of various magazines at a local mall's news stand, where the censoring of the various body parts depicted on the magazine covers varied from one publication to another (for an earlier blog entry discussing these please click here). It was also partly triggered by the, call it, crudeness of the current method of blocking any potentially objectionable sections of an image, which usually involves using thick, black ink daub or marker streak to blotch out the sensitive body parts, unwanted beverages, or other, in Kuwait, unsuitable element.

Title image and above - Customized 'blotches' by Muneera Al-Qinaie

The criteria for the project were stipulated in the following fashion...

The students could:

A)

Aim, through their work, to question and reset where the threshold between acceptable and unacceptable lies. In other words, through reasoning and logic establish a justification for why a revision of the current methods of censorship is called for and, even through changed, won't necessarily contradict any of the sensitivities or do harm to the general population to whom their work will be exposed. Establish an updated and empirical rationale and method for how the aims of censorship could be amended and achieved...

Accept and understand the current rules, but try to find an alternative means to achieve them. In other words, the student should consent to the current degree of censorship, but try to 'design their way' around it without necessarily compromising the original aims. Establish a more 'eloquent' and 'designed' way to achieve the same objectives the censurer currently does mostly by blotching and blurring...

A bit of both A) and B)...

Noura Al-Omar's intentionally mixed messages that consequently aim to neutralize some of the more provoking aspects of the image...

The related issues were discussed and debated in class, with all the students present, as well as pondered over during one-to-one or one-to-two tutorials, which allowed for a more individual and bespoke scrutinization of the projects...

Above and below are a few examples of the results (comments and feedback much welcomed)...

Aysha Al-Houli's folded image. Provides the reader with the option of either leaving the image as is, or unfolding the photo to reveal the image in its unaltered state...

Above and below - the 'peel off' designer blotch, by Maha Barakat. Allows the user to either peel off, or leave be the thematically reflective sticker...

The act of peeling off the censoring sticker entails its own subtle coreography...

The 'Rope Blotch', by Bibi Al-Wazzan which, like the example above, provides a choice for the reader to either reveal or not reveal the image, and turns the act of 'revelation' into a mini-performance in its own right...