- Russian revolution and the Bolshevik party was led by Vladimir Lenin in 1917. Russian revolution led to the creation of the Soviet Union. 


- "Peace, Bread and Land"


- Battleship "Aurora" (Dawn)


- 1917-1921 was when civil war erupted between the Reds (revolutionary bolsheviks) and the whites (anti-revolutionary imperialists). This battle continues for many years until the Red's eventually became victorious.


Propaganda.
- 1917-mid1920's: intense artistic experimentation (80% illiteracy)
- The russian constructivists - leading Avant-Garde Artistic group.


Photomontage.


1. Superimposition eg. Rodchenko portrait, Klutsis 'Electrification' and with text Rodchenko's portrait of Osip Brik.


2. Cropping eg. Redchenko's cover for 'Mess Mend'.


3. Juxtaposition eg. Rodchenko's cover for 'Novy L.E.F'.


- The aim of the constructivists was 'of achieving the communistic expression of material structures'. ( The programme of the first working group of constructivists' 1921 quoted in Lodder (1983) Russian Constructivism, London&Yale, p.94).


- 1921 Lenin's New Economics Policy = consumer goods needed
- Stepanova & Popova: First state textile factory, Moscow
- 1925 Paris Exposition des Arts Decoratifs


- "For many artists on the left in the 1920's, including Moholy-Nagy, the single most significant reference point was no longer the parisian avant-garde but the revolutionary connotations of construction, with revolutionary Russia as the new symbol of advanced culture" Fer, B (1993) Realism, Rationalism, Surrealism, Yale, p.88


- VKHUTEMAS (higher state artistic and technical workshops)


"voile and prints have not just become artistically acceptable, they have reached the level of real art, and have brought the rich colours and intense ornamentation of contemporary art to the cities of our immense republic" D. Aranovich 1929 (quoted in: Lavrentiev,A (1988) Stepanova, London. P.83)

Postmodernism // 12th October 2011
Postmodernism // 12th October 2011


- Postmodernism is a response to modernism and considered much less serious. There is a strong combination of low and high, mixing some seriousness with some jokiness to create a happy medium. 


- Modernism is often associated with experimentation, innovation, individualism, progression, purity, originality, seriousness (pushing the world forward). Modernism in which, form follows function, was standardized and generally followed by all designers at the time. The major failing of modernism is that individuals were leading the world forward.


- Postmodernism is the direct opposite of modernist ideas. Postmodernism questions, what is the point of experimenting? It's all been done before. Nothing is new and so why be an individual? Postmodernism combines working styles, seriousness is contrasted by elements of humor found in postmodern work.


- The postmodern condition is characterised by exhaustion, pluralism, pessimism and dillusionment with all absolute knowledge.


- Modernism was an expression of technology at the time. 


- Postmodernism is a reaction to the conditions of modernism.


- Although postmodernism and modernism are very different things, some factors of the two overlay; modern life, technology, new materials and communication. 


Jean Tinguely 1960


- "Homage to New York"
- Some consider this to be the end of modernism, however many others consider modernism to still be on going; 'How can there be a time after a period of modernity?'

- Jean Tinguely is a swiss painter and sculpter. He created a self destroying sculpture (a piece of machinery made form scrap metal) in 1960 for an art exhibition specialising in modernism. The sculpture only partially self destructed at the museum of modern art, New York city. His work was not reflective and formed a piece of art against art.  


- His sculpture was created to represent technology ruining the world, and emphasises a negative impression towards art. It demonstrated how technology is not saving us, but it is however essentially ruining us and the world around; a very negative impression of modernist art work.  


- Origins of Post Modernism: 
- 1917 ‘Nihilistic, amoral post modern men’
- 1964 New culture against high culture of modern art


Timeline of Postmodernism
- 1960: beginning of Postmodernism
- 1970: postmodernism established as a term "Jencks"
- 1980: postmodernism becomes recognisable as a style
- 1990: theoretical style


"postmodernism" - late capitolism (Jameson)
Postmodernism means artistic and stylistic eclecticism - (post modern as a term to describe a particular style of art) 


Many people question how we can live in a time after modernism? 
"Global village phenomena"


Charles Jencks claims that modernism dies and postmodernism begins on 15th July 1972 3.32pm, the demolition of the Pruitt-Igoe development in St. Louis. "The language of post modern architecture" (1977).


Modernist social housing were filled with the underclass, the plain and basic aesthetic led to vandalism and the demolition of this type of building symbolises the start of the postmodernist era. A more recent example of this is the Park Hill Flats in Shefflied. At the beginning of the 21st century the Park Hill flats were associated with failed architecture and design. The local people wanted ti to be blown up, but like the demolition of the Pruitt-Igoe development in St. Louis. This then created a very negative attitude towards social housing. The listed status of the building meant that demolition was impossible and so "urban splash" stepped in to regenerate the Park Hill flats. 


Flaws of Modernism are that architecture now controls humans and life, this means that only one style of architecture is used throughout the entire world. Postmodernism creates an attitude surrounding questions, it becomes a reaction to rules. Postmodernism questions why we follow the rule of ‘form follows function’. 

Architects were the first people to begin to discuss and consider postmodernism.

The only rule post modernism has is that there are no rules.


The ideal city "Le Corbusier" - plan Voisin (1927)
- This idea becomes perfection on paper, however in reality humans begin to ruin the world around us.
- There is no individuality and no unique style
- Utopia & Technological determinism

- Seagram Building, New York (1957)
- Meis Van der Rohe and Phillip Johnson
- An example of postmodernist design. 
- The Seagram building is a skyscraper located 
in midtown Manhattan. It currentlystands as one 
of the finest examples of aesthetic design and a 
masterpiece of corporate architecture. The 
structure and international style it was built in 
has had dramatic influences of current American 
architecture.

- "AT & T" building, New York (1982)
- Designed by Phillip Johnson
- An example a postmodernist design
- Represents a grandfather clock and has a 
distinct feel of postmodern 'jokiness' about
the design. The AT&T building is now more
commonly known as the Sony tower (NY).
The building became instantly controversial
for it's ornamental top but relished for it's 
fascinating 7 story high arched entrance.

- Guggenheim museum, Bilbao (1997)

- Designed by architect Frank Gehry

- This building represents my earlier focuses on 'truth to 

materials'. The purpose of the building was not Gehry's

initial focus when designing the architectural piece, 

however he focused more heavily on the aesthetic 

appearance and how it would be seen by the audience.

- Neue Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, Germany

- Designed by James Stirling (1977-1983)

- A more recent piece of postmodern design, the building 

was made to look as though it is falling down, a unique

piece of design in the 20th century. The buildings most

prominent feature is the central circular atrium which it

has since become famous for.

- An example of local postmodern design is Leeds Magistrates court. 

- Quintan Terry (1993) had a much more conservative attitude towards postmodernism. 

J-F Lyotord "The postmodern condition" (1979)

- Incredulity towards meta-narrative.

- Meta-narrative: Totaling belief system (religion). 
- Modernism as a meta-narrative which resulted in a crisis in confidence.

- "Where is the world going?" "What are we going to do?"

- Modern Movements: postmodern aesthetics.

- High art / Low art divide begins to crumble.

- Modern City=Utopia / Postmodern City=Dystopia

Roy Lichtenstein (1965) - taking a comic book (something humorous) and giving it importance or value. 

"Bladerunner" - postmodern film

Everything is dark - human's don't know if they are human's - no set rules - everything is dysfunctional 

Andy Warhol

- Postmodern sentiment

- Marilyn Monroe Diptych (1962)

- This isn't a piece of art but a statement of design about how society creates stars and celebrities. 

- Technology is flawed and kitch.

1950's: purest forms of modernist paintings

- Franz Klein 1967 "rage and anger"

- True to materials

Robert Venturi 1972

- Las Vega: Postmodern City ?!

- Herolds the future of culture

- Crazy city

- 'Jokiness'

- Freedom to let styles clash

Roy Litchenstein 1965

- Red brushstroke painting.

- Litchenstein is laughing at the idea of painting. 

- Postmodern humour.

Andy Warhol

- mimicking 'Jackson Pollock'

- oxidisation "literally taking the piss" 

- urinating on copper to create a chemical reaction with the paint.

- direct attack on the work of others.

People now begin to look at art through cost and money value rather than through emotions. 

- David Shrigley 2000 'Art Lovers'. 

Piero Manzoni 1961

- 'Artist's Shit

- Manzoni canned his own faeces and signed it as an artist would sign their own work. He then sold it for lots of money to represent his opinion that art is 'shit', there was no pleasant outcome to his work. 

- Advertising is now seen as the greatest form of 20th century art.

- Postmodernism in music; hiphop recycles funk and jazz and makes it new.

- Form over function; memphis group (Chest of Drawers design).

Crisis in confidence; freedom, new possibilities, sexual diversity, multicultural.

- Sex Pistols "God save the queen"

> Negative Postmodern view.

> Feel of freedom

Quotes.

Robert Venturi "Complexity and Contradiction inModern Architecture" 1962 (published in 1966)

- "I like elements which are hybrid rather than 'pure', compromising rather than 'clean', distorted rather than 'straight-forward', ambiguous rather than 'articulated', perverse as well as impersonal..."

from Jencks, C & Kropf, K (1997 Ed) Theories and Manifestoes of contemporary architecture, Chichester UK.

- 1972 Learning from Las Vegas: Robert Venturi, Denise Scott-Brown & Steve Izenour

- In 1977 book 'The language of postmodern architecture' Charles Jencks ironically states that 'Modern architecture died in St. Louis, Missouri on July 15th, 1972 at 3.32pm' when the Pruitt-Igoe housing development was blown up.

- "Generally post-modern aritsts like to mix the highbrow and the populist, the alienating and the accessible, and the 'sample' elements from different styles and eras...

... now you can reinvent yourself endlessly, gaily pick 'n' mixing your way through the gaudy fragment of a shattered culture".

Simon Reynolds - The Guardian 1990

Conclusion.

- A vague disputed term

- Pro-mo attitude of questioning conventions (especially modernism)

- Pro-mo aesthetic; multiplicity of styles and approaches

- Shift in thought and theory investigation; "crisis in confidence" Lyotard. 

- Space for 'new voices'.

- Rejection of technology determinism? 

During our session with Jo looking at how and why we crit one another we looked at different ways in which we can crit our work. One productive way was to 'DIET'. 

D is for describing

I  is for interpreting

E is for evaluating

T is for theorising

This allows us to describe our work and why we went about it, interpret the current situation and where we are going next with it, evaluate whether it works as an outcome or whether we a progressing to an outcome that works and finally it allows us to theorise, to form an understand of previous steps and stages.

5 Reasons why crits are useful educational tools:
1) They encourage you to step outside of your own thought circle and gives you the opportunity to look at your work from a different point of view, sometimes sparking new ideas.
2) They help you to understand whether your work is successful and communicates a message well.
3) They can encourage you to stake on advice from others and move your work forward in a constructive manner.
4) They help you to become confident in presenting your work and talking about why you went about the brief or task in this specific way, and how it relates to your initial starting points.
5) Can often help you to learn about new techniques that could benefit your own working processes and designs.


5 questions which could to asked within a group crit:
1) In what context is the work being used, presented or displayed as a final outcome? 
2) What are you trying to address and has it worked successful?
3) What is the intended reaction of the audience and how has the actual reaction differed? 
4) What is the symbolism or meaning behind the techniques, colour, type or image chosen?
5) What research did you undertake and who or what influenced the work? 

For our context of practice workshop with Jo we each had to collect two types of photography that we appreciate, two different illustration pieces that inspire us, two variations of logo's that we think work well and finally two examples of typography that we feel strongly about. Here are my collections;

Photography

Illustration

Logo

Typography

Modernity and Modernism // 5th October 2011

Modernity and Modernism // 5th October 2011

- Terms; 'Mordern' - 'Modernity' 

- Modernity - Industrialition, urbanisation, "the city"

- Modern artists' response to the city - a change in culture - a change in life

- Psychological and subjective experience

- Mordern Art / Photography

- Defining modernism in art

- Modernism in design

John Ruskin 1819-1900

 

   

John Ruskin was considered a 'Modern' Painter of his era in the late 1800's. He was often used to describe the 'new'. He was the leading English art critic of the 19th century. Critic who discussed whether or not contemporary life was as good as traditional lifestyles. 

William Holeman Hunt

- The hireling Shepard

 

His work became famous for vivid colour and attention to detail. Many of his features were influenced by John Ruskin. He was described as a modern artist at the time, however we was actually very dated and old-fashions.

 - 'new' is best, and doesn't just mean up to date

 - 20th Century definition of modern is not just something that is up to date but an improvement on the original
 - Improved Art = More radical style and aesthetic = progression in art 

Paris 1900

Paris Exposition - sight of modernity

Paris was the sight and city of modernity in the early 1900's. The City of modernity at the time, most radical and modernist city in existence in early 20th century. Industrialisation was a large focus in Paris at this time. Urban Life there was fundamentally different to the rest of the world at this time. 'Modernity' dates from paris in the mid to late 1700's. One major factor what needs to be questioned from this era is, 'has mordernism ended?'. Urban modern life is said to have ended in the sixties - but how can modernism have ended, if we live in a modern society?

In the late 1700’s advances began. The world began modernizing, because of industrialization and urbanization. The rural farming industry was a traditional industry which relied on the weather and controlled by the times of the day, factories in modern cities could run for 24 hours a day and people began controlled, shifted work patterns of life. Living within a modern city meant that life began to speed up and inventions began to take over. 

'Trottoir roulant' was an electric moving walkway, it was installed at the Métro station Montparnasse-Bienvenüe in Paris. This became the latest 'novelty' and emphasised the link between a controlled lifestyle and urbanisation. Since the invention of 'Trottoir roulant' more and more inventions kept coming with this invention of trains and the inventions of telephones. The invention of the telephone then led to communication over long distances becoming easier, more accessible and more popular. The invention of trains brings with it this focus on a 'shrinking' world - the world becomes more accessible now, leading to the whole country being accessible within hours rather than days via horse back. This then meant people could socialise more easily and next came new forms of leisure - cinema etc. 

Modernisation (new inventions) did not come without their drawbacks, the invention of new technology began to changes people’s relationships with society having an effect on our subjective conscience. 

Urbanization involves people living in an area but nobody knows each other, unlike small rural communities that came before. It is the density of the population growing within inner cities. The idea of being lost within the city - being close to people and not actually knowing who they are, where they are from or what they do. This was very surreal at this time, as usually you were always aware of the people around you at any one time. This was a big advance for Paris. 

At this time, the competitive nature between Paris and large cities in Britain like London rose. They fought to be more modern and what was considered as 'The best'. London held the ‘Great Exhibition’ in 1851, which failed to impress the world as much as Paris’s event 4 years later in 1855 in which the Eiffel tower was unveiled. This rivalry creates a faster paced lifestyle and more progressive development. There then became a process of rationality and reason. Science now crontrols the world, in contrast to a time when religion controlled the world. This create a shift from an 'old' world to a 'new' world. Enlightenment - The world turns to modern forms of knowledge, humans now uses science and philosophy to understand the world rather than religion.

The city of Paris becomes the HUB of social life (a character itself), this them became a strong object of study for artists, historians and writers. 

At this time in history the Eiffel Tower became the height of modernism, pushing Paris much higher above other cities in terms of hierarchy and superiority. The reflects the Eiffel Tower itself which rises above all else in it's scale. The materials used are modern and the tower is 'true to materials'. The Tower was designed to represent power, ambition and prevalence. 

Increased density of population brings with it an increased sense of isolation. The growing pace in which the city and life changed was not welcomed by everyone, people began to object and become dazed by change.

Fashion would not exist without progression, consumers rely on a constant progression within fashion, much like the progression within fashion that we see today. Fashion becomes your identity - your way of expressing yourself. Fashion becomes a major factor within society and in defining who you are as an individual amongst the citizens and people who live within the city. Fashion was used to distinguish who you are and symbolise your personality. Within fashion rich people (the upper class) display themselves by walking down the streets focusing on social experience, which becomes pushed by modernism. 

Haussmannization was the process of tearing down the streets of Paris and replacing them with large boulevards. Haussmann redesigned Paris in the 1850's to create a 'new' Paris. Poor people were pushed out of their homes and communities and affluence took over the majority of Paris. Classic architecture, which was loved by many was ripped out and replaced by new designs, this was purposefully done to emphasise Paris' role as the most modern city. The city became an upperclass zone and boulevards allowed for more control. 

Relationships and interactions with the city and its citizens change as the city itself changes and develops. Artists now turned to the city of Paris for inspiration. This high period of modernity allowed the city to become the focal point of art rather than portraiture. Classical art was very traditional and mythical. The city became a relevant focus for artists as it became the centre of everyones focus' and ambitions. The city soon became more important than the people within the art work. The city became a subject for art. 

The growth of disciplines like psychology then took off with this focus on modernity and understand the world around us, what it does, and why it does those things, linking this with human psychology, why we do the things we do and the link between 'a modern world, a modern mind'. This links to the modern family - a family which is physically close yet psychologically disconnected from one another.

Some say artists change the world and other say that the world pushes art in new directions and develops design. I however, am torn between the two. I believe that artists develop their understand of their discipline which changes the world because of the way that society and the world forces design to change, creating this focus on 'evolution' and a 'new' world. The discoveries in science began to to influence different techniques used and developed by artists.

Georges-Pierre Seurat 1859-1891 was a French Post-Impressionist painter. He created a modern scene and used a technique in which little dots of contrasting colours (e.g blue, yellow) were placed specifically to depict modern scenes and the modern world. Life became much more rational. His work became a painting of class division. Degas (1868) Class division between high and lower class also became more prominent, poorer members of society began to drink alcohol to ‘drown sorrows’ of the horrors of modern life. 

The relationship between photography and paintings presents advances in technology. The invention of photography impacted the work of artists heavily. 

Kaiser Panorama (1883)

An optical viewing device in which slides of art representing modernity were available for people to communally view. These slides often consisted of photographs, a shift in social behavior can be seen here, in that people are willing to pay to see static photographs rather than travel to see the actual places within the world around them. These images were often considered as 'soft porn'. This represents how technology creates this barrier between humans and the world around us. This is a very individual approach to art, however at the same time very anti-social, this anti-social behaviour caused by technology is reflected in today's societies where computers have taken over and created this anti-social block between human's and the world around us. Nowadays people would rather stay in doors and play computers games on a screen, than go outdoors and play with their friends. This has become very dominant over the past generation. 

Degeneration (1892)

Much of society saw the modern world, only a few celebrated the changes surrounding modern life. The modern world was often considered to be bad. Max Nordau's quote predicts what life will be like in the 20th century, and his predictions are correct. Society is being changed by technology and the things around us. Max Nordau's quote shoes how isolation is created through modernity. Today we take technological advancements for granted, yet at the time of moderism these advancements for radical and fascinating. 

Modernism is often incorrectly referred to as a 'style'. If we think about subjective experience - the experience of an individual in the modern world. 

Painting is forced to respond to Photography as a new modern technique and developed process. Photography depicts the world exactly as we see it, however paintings are more personal choice and an artists interpretation of the world around them. Photography has made paintings obsolete. 

The city and a 'new world' allows you to experience everything around us in much more detail, as well as from different angles. In the case of the city - we can look down on it from a tall sky scraper. A birds-eye view, or more commonly referred to as 'God's view' (from above). 

Picasso

   

Next came a shift in visual culture. This involves understanding the movement in both space and in time. The world becomes instantly more understandable with advancements in technology helping us to further our knowledge. Picasso is a modern artist who didn't paint his subjects in a realistic manner. He paints them from different angles with a very abstract approach. Picasso painted in a way which represented how we interact with the body and how the body has natural movement. 

Modernism in design

- Anti-hostoricism (don't look back, new is 'best')

- Truth to materials (materials/media speak for themselves)

- Form follows function (aesthetic is secondary to the purpose of the design and it's functionality)

- Graphic design purpose (simplicity - to communicate)

- Technology (advances - new improvements/new techniques)

- Internationally recognised (a language understood by all)

The Bauhaus cutlery set is an example of modernist design in which form follows function. The aesthetic design is secondary to how it works and functions, simple functioning forms creative beauty. The plain visual to the Bauhaus cutlery set meant that it never dates, it was modern then and still appears a modern piece of design in today's world. 

Adolf Loos (1908) wrote ‘Ornament is crime’ which discusses how trends date and go out of fashion. Adolf Loos believe in truth to materials, things should look exactly as they are and not be decorative to suit the time of construction. He focuses on neutralisation and how it never goes out of fashion or ages. He votes to keep things simplistic to avoid things dating. 

The Bauhaus modern design school in Germany, used modern techniques, modern approaches to teaching and was taught in a modern building which strongly reflected the earlier focus and Adolf Loos' beliefs in 'truth to materials'. The large windows of the building lets in lots of like making it more functional. 

Internationalism 

Internationalism is a recognised language within design that uses symbols or other techniques to help express the same message throughout different cultures that speak different languages. It is understood world wide on an international basis. An example of this is the map of the underground in London designed by Harry Beck, this was created with simplicity so it would be understand by people all over the world. This design worked so successfully that it is now used in similar ways all throughout the world. 

San serif fonts were created in the modern era. Modernist ideology was seen in the developments of fonts and typefaces. This simplistic look represents initial focuses on form follows function. It is legible, and so should be kept simple and basic. Herbert Bayer also argued that all type should be lowercase as this made it easier to understand, however this idea did not take off and today we still use a combination of upper case and lower case type. Within the modern era, Stanley Morrison created the famous 'Times New Roman' typeface. A Modern font with traditional characteristics including serifs, going against earlier comments which state how serifs were removed in this era to create a more simplistic appearance to type. 

Technology also lead to creation and production of new materials such as aluminium, plastics, steel and concrete. Re-inforced resin and steel core allowed for this design of the stiletto heel in this era. The process of mass production later became increasingly more common which allowed products to be produced on a large scale, for less cost which made certain products more readily available. As more and more products became mass produced this meant that more people could afford to buy them as costs were cut. This later led to the promotion of the cultural theory that everyone can have the same creating a communist society.

To conclude, the term 'modern' is not a neutral term is suggests novelty and improvements or advancements in the world around us and within technologies. Modernity is the period between 1750 and 1960 which expresses the change in social and cultural experience and developments internationally. "Modernism" is the idea's and styles that evolved from modernity.