I’ve been writing about Gilberto Gil, Brazilian minister of culture and pop singer before. I love his crystal clear analysis and unconventional approach. Recently I stumbled upon a documentary about him with some interesting quotes:
“There is one priority: to convince government and society that culture is more and more a strategic tool for progress, for development, for power…”
In the context of design, culture would be a design tool. Interestingly, the design approach in the western world is primarily object based. We think objects will change the world, and they do to a certain extend. But more fundamentally, it is ideas, culture, that changes the world. Objects are just results. This also means that everyone with an idea is a designer.
Confronted with a question about his role as minister as being opposed to his former political activities (he was jailed and banned from Brazil for a period of time):
“I’ve been always part of the establishment. There is nothing but the establishment. It’s a dialog, a constant dialog between things that are supposedly out of the system and the system itself…”
In the last few years, under the influence of politics we have become to think about the world as being polarized. Gilberto Gil reminds us of the fact that there is an approach that is fundamentally different, an approach that both Brazil and India understand and put to practice. It is about collaboration. It is about integrated design. It is refreshing.
Unfortunately I cannot show the documentary here, but you can see it on Youtube. Below: Gilberto Gil in his younger years.
0 Responses to “Culture as a design tool”