In the past, geographical, philosophical and cultural divisions of this flat world were named East, West, and Middle; and their influence and interconnection was slow and gradual over many years. Now, the world is a small, solid sphere, spinning in the solar system, monitored by us every day from space. We can now forecast the weather from shifting cloud patterns and plan our vacations, without being afraid of winds and storms, and ghosts and their superior and predominant gods.
If in the past, narrow minded and dominant ideologies were trying to bully and overpower the lesser-known groups of thoughts, they are now inevitably looking for cultural, philosophical, social, and technological reconciliation.
Past dominant cultures considered themselves as being entitled to impose a monophonic fatalism on the less powerful. They are now witnesses to polyphony of people who are trying to protect their individual identity with the help of virtual communication; there is more awareness by the ability to access cultural information anywhere from the Neolithic period to the digital age, all at once, and in a very short period of time.
This world, shrunken with the help of communication, has enabled people from far territories to share their sorrows and happiness with one another. And by respecting the diversity of regions, colours, languages, traditions, cultures, and gender, there is a growth in education, and human connections are strengthening. This already shrunken world will become even smaller.
Contemporary arts such as cinema, photography, and graphic design, are born in this period, while at the same time continuing to shape it. They are ever evolving. Today, graphic design is transferred all around the world through mass media, cultural media, or even merchandise export. All of which have the same message: we are living together like an array of tiles with independent identities.
Though it took many years for Chinese art to move from east to west through the lengthy Silk Road, and though the West conveyed new science and technology to the East very late by the help of weaponry, in contrast, communication today is easily accessible and almost instantaneous.
If in the past, in the geographical boundaries named Middle East, we embraced the mastery of eastern art in our Persian paintings and were impressed; if one day we were fascinated by western art and made imitations; today, with the wisdom and the common sense gathered over the years and through the help of modern communication tools, we select the best of each other’s thoughts and ideas. Then, through images, elegance and innovation, we recreate.
The main point is that with the presence of image processing software, high quality cameras, mobiles or tablets, all of which are easily accessible to the public, there is no longer a difference between pictures, paintings and graphic design. And any beginner with imagination can make artwork. Although this is an appealing and beneficial market for new technological vendors, it is a chaotic market. It becomes difficult for the public to distinguish the invaluable from the worthless. It’s irrelevant if hands-on practices will be forgotten in the professional or educational systems, or that billions of images have piled up in virtual space, and that a variety of markets for pictures and movies have evolved; man has always been able to update his criterion.
Today, graphic designers from Asia, Africa, Europe, North and South America are contributing to the global community and becoming part of a vast, beautiful and fascinating tile pattern. I believe that along with other contemporary arts, they are creating this by protecting both their individual, and national identity, in this fast pace era. They are the pioneers of globalization.