Closing Down — All Stock Reduced — The Role of Design in the Globalization of Nothing

George Ritzer contends in «The Globalization of Nothing» that societies around the globe continue to move away from «something», defined as a social form that is generally indigenously conceived, locally controlled, and rich in distinctive content. He argues that we are moving towards «nothing» — that which is centrally controlled and conceived and relatively devoid of distinctive substance. It is in the movement towards the globalization of «nothing» that «something» is lost.
In our project we question the role of design in the globalization of nothing. Where Ritzer writes about the phenomena of being branded as a social act — places, things, people and services — we question the visual impact of design as it is used in every day practice. By looking at commercial signs and surfaces we take the consumption society as driving force behind nothing. By placing these in the context of European cities we create an environment where other factors interact like politics, history and culture that enables us to define these form(s) of nothing.
The publication is not only the result of our quest into the definition of nothing but it’s also an opening to start think about something new.
http://master.design.zhdk.ch/projekte/closing-down