ch&i session 7 notes - MODERNISM/POSTMODERNISM

modernism: up until 1939 britain had very rigid class structure >> upper classes believing their own morals and culture were superior over working classes' - 'proper' way of being - 'high culture'

discussion: what is class?

- income?

- how you act?

- social circle?

- what you wear?

stereotypes have shifted

1950s:

- increase in individualism

- americanism

- young people challenging old ideas - youth culture

- identity

- affluence, price of goods going down, luxuries could now be necessity

- american influence, rise of cinema

- adverts presenting an idealised view of the world: nice house, perfect housewife, shiny car in the drive

- ford production line: car ownership grew by 250% between '51 and '61

- futurism

* 'the era of the lifestyle'

1915 - design and industries association established (GD)

1935 - bassett-gray group of artists and designers became industrial design partnership (GD)

1944 - council of industrial design est. (GD)

1945 - arts council england est. (GD)

1942 - utility furniture co. set up by board of trade in 1942. committee approved furniture design. 'black market' developed in carved and decorated furnishings

- 'britain can make it' and 'festival of britain' exhibitions, post war

raymond loewy (U.S) "good design is an upward sales curve"

1948 - DRU established the design index - set of criteria for 'good' design, primarily aesthetic, was criticised as the taste of the minority

1961 - reyner banham 'HM fashion house'

description of art/design as 'fashion' became no longer negative

key post-modernistic theorists:

- baudrillard "consumer objects constitute a system of signs that differentiate..."

- foucalt - proposes that there are underlayers of suppressed knowledge in and throughout history

postmodernism:

- dancing building in prague: challenges what we see as architecture 'the norm'

- 1964: warhol's brillo boxes >> 'low culture' worthy of being in a gallery space

- milton glaser: drawing reference for bob dylan piece

- cindy sherman - flexible identity

- vivian westwood - punk era. defied authority. traditions, boundaries

nike iD: you are the designer

division between technicians and designers: do designers just think of an idea and the technicians produce it, with the 'author' still being the designer?