By chance, randomness and indeterminacy methods in art and design

ABSTRACT

This essay investigates randomness and indeterminacy as art and design research methods. A brief survey of contemporary notions of design is presented. There is a review of randomness and indeterminacy in the works of artists such as Jean Arp, Marcel Duchamp, Andy Warhol, and John Cage as well as in design research methods such as brainstorming and synectics. The author argues that the techniques in which these phenomena are implicated, make use of a reflection in action (or epistemology of practice) where a desired outcome is the methodical quest for the new.

KEYWORDS:

• design
• epistemology
• indeterminacy
• method
• practice
• randomness