Design and Postmodernism Postmodernism in Design... rejects what were viewed as the dictates of the...
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Transcript of Design and Postmodernism Postmodernism in Design... rejects what were viewed as the dictates of the...
Design and Postmodernism
Postmodernism in Design...• rejects what were viewed as the dictates of the design
establishment• built on 60s rejection of the values inherent in the Modern
Movement• has its foundations in 60s and 70s Pop and Italian Radical Design• foregrounds the consumer and emphasises the idea of design as
communication• stresses the importance of signs and symbols as a means of
reviving communication through design• argues that the richness of historic and contemporary cultural
tradition must be acknowledged once more• finds its signs and symbols in the international visual language of
history but equally in vernacular design and popular culture • values irony and wit and often requires or assumes recognition of
its quotations to achieve this – communication through a universal language
• is indebted to mid-century semiotic theory• is indebted to 1970’s architectural theory
What is Postmodernism?• it is an academic term applied within a wide
range of fields – philosophy, cultural studies, linguistics, literature, art and design history.........
• it identifies a new phase of social and cultural development, citing as key factors; the dominance of visual and mass media; the development of digital technology and an information society; the importance of consumption and the consumer
To begin
In its simplest form postmodernism is most clearly
understood in terms of its rejection of the values, forms and theories associated with Modernism or Modernity
Modernism in design and architecture
• rejected the forms and values of a previous age – particularly the revival of historic styles, ornamentation and decoration
• offered a democratic and utopian solution to the problems of mass production – good design for all
• argued that aesthetic beauty would naturally arise out of reason and “truth” – embodied in ideas such as form follows function, truth to materials
• evolved a simple, pure and unifying aesthetic reflected in Mies Van Der Rohe’s dictum, “less is more”
Marianne Brandt. The “Kandem Table Lamp. 1928 Form follows function. Objects as expressions of “use value” or function
Marcel Breuer. Model B3. (The Wassily Chair) 1925 Rationalism in design would create a “well-ordered world” expressed in clean forms attuned to modern life, modern materials and modern technology.
K.J. Jucker & W.Wagenfeld. Electric Table Lamp. 1923-24. The aesthetic would be appropriate for the machine-age, appearing engineered, precise, highly finished and manufactured
The trajectory of European Modernism
• 1930’s.
• Late 1940’s. Post 2nd World War.
• 1950’s.
• The Bauhaus and the advent of war
• Internationally, much design emphasised the crisp, geometrical, clean and modern.
• “Good Design” promoted by MOMA in New York, the Design Council in the UK, Hochschule fur Gestaltung in Germany
“GOOD DESIGN”Edgar Kauffman Jnr. Dept of Industrial
Design, MOMA
“In defining “good design” Kauffman did little more, however, than reiterate the same Arts and Crafts values that had been voiced by so many Modern Movement spokesmen before him, emphasizing once again the well known tenets of truth to materials, the unification of form and function, aesthetic simplicity, and
expression of the modern age……..
Marcello Nizzoli The Lettera 22. Olivetti. 1950
The Mirella Sewing Machine. 1956
Dieter Rams. The Transistor. Braun. 1956
Dieter Rams & Hans Gugelot SK4. “Snow White’s Coffin”. Braun. 1956
Modernism as an imposed solution
“All believed that advances in science and technology were evidence of social progress and provided paradigms for design thinking. They thought that communication could be objective and that optimum solutions to design problems
could be found. Many felt that design, if rationally conceived,. could help solve social problems and
did not itself create such problems. And most assumed that goods should be mass produced by industry.” Victor Margolin. Design Discourse. 1998
From design as solution to
design as communication
60’s and 70’s• Pop and Radical Design• Semiotic theory• Complexity and Contradiction in
Architecture. Robert Venturi. 1966• Learning from Las Vegas. Robert Venturi,
Denise Scott Brown..., 1972• The Language of Postmodern Architecture,
1973, Charles Jencks
POP – fun, disposability, colour pattern, vitality, kitsch.
Italian Radical DesignArchizoom Associati, Naufragio di Rose dream bed.
1967
Semiotics
• One key figure. Roland Barthes
• Mythologies
• 1957 French
• 1972 English
"Every object in the world can pass from a closed, silent existence to an oral state"
Barthes, R., Mythologies, New York, Hill and Wang, 1998, p.109
"We shall therefore take language, discourse, speech etc., to mean any significant unit or
synthesis, whether verbal or visual: a photograph will be a kind of speech for us in the same way as a
newspaper article; even objects will become speech"
Ibid., p.109
Architectural theory
Robert Venturi
Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture. 1966
Learning from Las Vegas. 1972
“Architecture can no longer afford to be intimidated by the puritanically moral language of orthodox Modern architecture. I like elements which are
hybrid rather than pure, compromising rather than clean, distorted rather than straightforward,
ambiguous rather than articulated, perverse as well as impersonal, boring as well as interesting,
conventional rather than designed, accommodating rather than excluding, redundant rather than simple,
vestigial as well as innovating, inconsistent and equivocal rather than direct and clear. I am for
messy vitality over obvious unity”
Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture. 1966
“Blatant simplification means bland architecture. Less is a
bore”
Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture. 1966
“there are didactic images more important than the images of recreation for us to take
home to New Jersey or Iowa: one is the Avis with the Venus: another Jack Benny under a
classical pediment with Shell Oil beside him...These show the vitality that may be
achieved by an architecture of inclusion, or, by contrast the deadness that results from
too great a preoccupation with tastefulness and total design
Learning from Las Vegas. 1972
Robert Venturi. Architect and theorist
Charles Jencks. Architect and theoristColosseum Chair and Stool. 1984
Memphis. Established late 1980Group portrait. 1982
Memphis• makes extensive use of plastic laminates –
formerly a metaphor for “bad taste”• references popular culture and vernacular design
extensively• adopts an anti-modernist use of colour, decoration
and surface design• makes repeated ironic reference to modernism and
functionalism• blurs the boundaries between art and design• chaotic, riotous mixing of materials and forms –
anti-unity, maximum creativity
“Memphis. The new Made in Italy, which draws from global culture, from real time, from computers and television by
satellite. Thus, Sottsass and his associates have shown us the way
out of the cul-de-sac of the Bauhaus”
Ettore Sottsass. Memphis MilanoCarlton Bookshelf. 1981
Ettore Sottsass. Memphis Casablanca Buffet. 1981
Nathalie Du Pasquier. MemphisArizona carpet. 1983
Javier Mariscal. MemphisHilton Trolley. 1981
Memphis furniture. 1983
Postmodernism in Design...• has its foundations in 60s and 70s Pop, Anti-design and Radical
Design • builds on 60s rejection of the values inherent in the Modern
Movement• foregrounds the consumer and rejects what it views as the
dictates of the design establishment• argues that the richness of historic and contemporary cultural
tradition must be acknowledged once more• is indebted to mid-century semiotic theory• is indebted to 1970’s architectural theory• stresses the importance of signs and symbols as a means of
reviving communication through design• finds these signs and symbols in the international visual
language of history, vernacular design and popular culture • values irony and wit and often requires or assumes recognition of
its quotations to achieve this