18th March Lecture

Post Modernism Patricia.

Modernity- any state which creates a shock of conscience.
Post modernism is about meanings.
Post modernities state or ideology of being post modern.

Post WWII beginning of post modernism.
Innovation and technical design.
German college of design. Everything at right angles. 1955-1968 HFG.
1948 resistance of nazis Sophie Scholl.
To improve quality and usefulness of consumer products. 1960’s. Max Bill. Systemisation of design process cannot be constrained by ideology.

1940’s women working in factories. “Rosie the riveter”
Post war effects. Levittown house built. Like housing NZ. Urban grid, nature suppressed.
Defensive feminism. 1963 feminine mystique. Women questioning expectations in life.
1970 France. 50 years since American women given the right to vote. 2nd wave of feminism.
Binary concepts. Opposition concepts that cannot be mixed. Equality and what not.
Brought awareness of “others”-disables, gender, race, religion, product of women’s liberation.

Structuralism. Period of change. Surface appearance improved.
Popsicle- from pop art. Art for the masses. Comics  Nintendo, video games, dreams, unreal. 160’s pop culture.
Beatles “on the road”(book) road trips metaphor for life.
Hippie movement. 1968 musical “hair”
Appealing to the masses-“habitat” shop. Explosion of consumerism.
Kennedy- space race. 1962. Design followed the space race. Apollo design.

Eltore Scottsass father of post modernism design. mid 1950’s everyone had a vespa. Famous for Olivetti portable typewriter 1969. Started in 1988 memphis. Hugely influenced by Egypt. Carlton cabinet. Synthetic laminates colours ornament is object. Memphis-want rather than need.
1971 President Nixon converted US dollar into gold.
73-86 oil crisis.
From 1984 Nz design flourishes.
Political voice of students.
1940’s-1990’s Cold war.
1947-53 Korean war.
1959-75 Vietnam war.

Post modernism architecture.
Anonymous buildings with mirror glass curtain walls.
Alienates. Subservient to capitalism.

Apple Macintosh signpost of post modernism.
As a result of WWII aluminium became huge.
Venturi “complexity and contradiction”. “Learning and Las Vegas”.
Structuralism-association.
Design should be a recognisable sign.
Le Cobusier follower Michael Graves derives from modernism.
Choice and sharing part of post modernism.
Semiotics. Symbolism. Signifiers.
Phenomenology object-space-human
Relationships of space.

Jeremy Bertham 1878 Panopticon
Prisoners in cells in circular formation around tower meaning prisoners can’t tell if they’re being watched therefore behaviour will improve.
Invisible, unverifiable control to change behaviour. Structured systems. New culture created in Vietnam war.