Open 08

In today's hypervisualized culture, has every message or social agenda been usurped by styling, commerc, and fashion? What position does art occupy in conveying the meanings of everyday design? What position should it occupy? And how do we make meaning--that which is invisible--visible? In Open 8, guest editors Willem van Weelden and Jan van Grunsven introduce this debate. Further examination comes courtesy critic Brian Holmes, who explores (in)visibility as a tactic in art, and Dieter Lesage, who critically examines the proposals by design firm OMA for a new iconography of Europe. Among these and other thought-provoking essays is an account of a round-table discussion centered around legitimating "Art and the Public Space," courses in designers' academic training, photographic essays and book reviews.