Goddur, on Creation and Printmaking
“The digital world and social media, the difference between that and the ‘real world,’ is like the difference between a one-night stand and marriage,” says Guðmundur Oddur Magnússon, always called Goddur, a research professor at the Iceland University of the Arts, when asked about social media algorithms and whether AI-driven design will become completely dominant in the future.
In the latest episode of the podcast Augnablik í iðnaði (A Moment in Industry), Grímur Kolbeinsson talks to Goddur about his career, printmaking, creativity, and the evolution of design. Goddur researches and writes about the visual language history of Icelanders and reminds us that all major technological revolutions in printmaking and design originate from craftsmanship. The programs and technology that have evolved and serve designers today are still imitations of the world that was.
Goddur says that the development aimed at simplifying and standardizing with artificial intelligence and the dissemination of information on social media is a kind of quick fix. Designers who cultivate their creativity know how to distinguish between what they cherish and what is a quick fix.
“Everything that matters dies on the internet. What is done on print and paper lasts many hundreds of years longer than hard drives and digital formats. It's so utterly foolish to think that printing on paper is on its way out,” says Goddur, adding that although fewer printed items are being produced, more care is put into the work. “The desire for authentic, real things is increasing and is about to explode.”
