Tomás Maldonado (25 April 1922 – 26 November 2018) was an Argentine painter, designer and thinker, considered one of the main theorists of

design theory Design theory is a subfield of design research concerned with various theoretical approaches towards understanding and delineating design principles, design knowledge, and design practice. History Design theory has been approached and inte ...

of the legendary Ulm Model, a design philosophy developed during his tenure (1954–1967) at the Ulm School of Design (Hochschule für Gestaltung – HfG) in Germany.''Ulm School of Design , HfG Ulm Archive''
/ref>Lindinger, H., (1991), ''Ulm Design: The Morality of Objects'', Cambridge: The MIT Press.

Early life

Born in the Argentine city of Buenos Aires, Maldonado's artistic formation took place at '' Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes Prilidiano Pueyrredón''.

Career

The early years

In this early period he was involved with the Argentine Avant Gardes, in fact, he was one of the founders of the painters' movement called ''Arte Concreto-Invención''.

The Italian experience

Between 1964 and 1967, in collaboration with his German colleague Gui Bonsiepe he created a system of codes for the design program of the Italian firm ''

Olivetti Olivetti S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of computers, tablets, smartphones, printers and other such business products as calculators and fax machines. Headquartered in Ivrea, in the Metropolitan City of Turin, the company has been owned b ...

'' and the department store ''

La Rinascente ; ) is a high-end Italian department store chain that operates nine stores in Italy, including two flagship locations in Milan ( Piazza del Duomo) and Rome (Via del Tritone). The company was a member of the International Association of Depar ...

''. In 1967 he established himself in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, continuing to teach in the Faculty of Philosophy and Literature of the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna (, abbreviated Unibo) is a Public university, public research university in Bologna, Italy. Teaching began around 1088, with the university becoming organised as guilds of students () by the late 12th century. It is the ...

, working almost entirely now in philosophy and criticism influenced by

semiotics Semiotics ( ) is the systematic study of sign processes and the communication of meaning. In semiotics, a sign is defined as anything that communicates intentional and unintentional meaning or feelings to the sign's interpreter. Semiosis is a ...

. In one of his last essays, ''"The Heterodox"'', he claims that the role of the intellectual is to awaken or reveal the collective conscience.

The academic career

* Tomás Maldonado was professor of

Environmental Design Environmental design is the process of addressing surrounding environmental parameters when devising plans, programs, policies, buildings, or products. It seeks to create spaces that will enhance the natural, social, cultural and physical environm ...

(Progettazione Ambientale) at Politecnico di Milano University. * Between 1954 and 1966 he taught at the Ulm School of Design (Hochschule für Gestaltung: HfG) in Germany and served as both Rector and Prorector. The leading contributor to the "Ulm Model", Maldonado oriented design education towards systems-thinking to attain a balance between science and design, and between

theory A theory is a systematic and rational form of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the conclusions derived from such thinking. It involves contemplative and logical reasoning, often supported by processes such as observation, experimentation, ...

and practice, incorporating

planning Planning is the process of thinking regarding the activities required to achieve a desired goal. Planning is based on foresight, the fundamental capacity for mental time travel. Some researchers regard the evolution of forethought - the cap ...

methods,

perceptual Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous syste ...

theory and

, A description of the approach is his essay entitled, ''"Ulm, Science and Design"''. * In 1965 he was the "Lethaby Lecturer" at London's

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

. The following year, he became a Council of Humanities Fellow at Princeton. * Between 1967 and 1970 he taught the "Class of 1913" chair at Princeton's School of Architecture (SoA). * In 1971 he was appointed to the philosophical faculty of Bologna University. Between 1976 and 1984 he worked as full professor of

(Progettazione Ambientale) at

's Faculty of Humanities and Philosophy.RAI – Italian Public Television
* In 2012 he was granted the Konex Special Mention for his trajectory in Visual Arts of Argentina.

Selected works

* Max Bill, Editorial Nueva Visión, Buenos Aires 1955 * Ulm, Science and Design (1964) * La Sperenza Progettuale (1970); Eng. trans.: Design, Nature, and Revolution: Toward a Critical Ecology (1972, 2019) *

Industrial Design Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical Product (business), products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in adva ...

reconsidered * Is Architecture a Text? * Towards an Ecological Rationalism * Technique and Culture, the German debate between Bismarck and

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...

* The Heterodoxo (1998)

References

External links

Tomás Maldonado
at Centro Virtual de Arte Argentino (CVAA) {{DEFAULTSORT:Maldonado, Tomas Argentine painters Argentine male painters Argentine contemporary artists Design researchers Design educators Semioticians 20th-century Argentine philosophers 21st-century Argentine philosophers People from Buenos Aires 1922 births 2018 deaths Academic staff of the Ulm School of Design Academic staff of the Polytechnic University of Milan Argentine expatriates in Germany Compasso d'Oro Award recipients Casabella editors