brunahelenasade1

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FINAL SUMMARY POST

During this semester having the classes once a week was a key point because of how many different references we were looking at, great designers that changed the visual communication world. Seeing the impact of the historic period on important movements, such as avant-garde and modernism, made me reflect on how I should work on my practice thinking about my surroundings and also try to comprehend what could be happening in the future. 

We talked a lot about how relevant Bauhaus still is and how it's values were lost in time. I was always very fund of Bauhaus and it's ideas, that generates a unique aesthetic, however, the style of Bauhaus was reproduced so many times, is such different ways that are now a little exhausting to reproduce. But is undeniable it's impact today.

It was interesting to see how it happened the evolution of the modernism when arrived in America, the movement progressed in different levels, with the start globalization of Bauhaus, and the impact of the commercial design, changing the industry forever. 

A key discovery from the lecture programme for me was about Brazillian Style, I feel like it was eye-opening how Brazil stills struggle to have its own culture, and today I believe is not even possible to achieve such a thing, so I think that would be important to analyze how the 21st-century artists in Brazil are doing in comparison with the 20th Century. The timing of the classes match a great exposition on MASP about Tarsila do Amaral, that connected everything I was learning, I could analyze the exposition much better because I had a good background on the subject. 

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As Hegel showed, time is a necessary alienation, being the medium in which the subject realizes himself while losing himself, becomes other in order to become truly himself. The opposite obtains in the case of the alienation that now holds sway ­­ the alienation suffered by the producers of an estranged present. This is a spatial alienation, whereby a society which radically severs the subject from the activity that it steals from him separates him in the first place from his own time. Social alienation, though in principle surmountable, is nevertheless the alienation that has forbidden and petrified the possibilities and risks of a living alienation within time. 

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The world already has the dream of a such a time; it has yet to  come into possession of the consciousness that will allow it to experience its reality. 

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— Guy Debord. “the society of the spectacle”

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… just as early industrial capitalism moved the focus of existence from being to having, post-industrial culture has moved that focus from having to appearing.

Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle (via inthenoosphere)

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05: PROTEST

Describe the key ideas of Debord’s ‘Society of the Spectacle’

Describe examples of the spectacle in the contemporary culture

Guy Debord’s (1931–1994) best-known work, La société du spectacle (The Society of the Spectacle) (1967), is a polemical and prescient indictment of our image-saturated consumer culture. The book examines the “Spectacle,” Debord’s term for the everyday manifestation of capitalist-driven phenomena; advertising, television, film, and celebrity. (link)

Debord`s book is as current as it was at the time of the release, as the key ideas are how society now prefers the sign to the thing signified, the copy to the original, representation to reality, the appearance to the essence. Looking at the historical context where the book is presented, we find a society looking at more images than ever before, where everything was new and bright, and American capitalism is at high, so Debord’s analysis, in a very cold way, how the idea of Bread and circuses is still happening in levels that society does not see its happening. 

One of the key and most famous notions in Debord's "Society of the Spectacle" is "the obvious degradation of being into having… and from having into appearing" (17). And as articulated is the second chapter of "Society of the Spectacle", late capitalism has turned appearance into a commodity, which is the root of all evil in Debord Marxist eyes. (link)

Within Debord's critique, there are a lot of hints, to the role of the people creating this desire in the society, such as the madmen for example. So his work in a way makes the creative person reflect what kind of work it's being made and for what purpose. "Society of the Spectacle" can be a very extreme opiniative book, however essentially the there are ideas that are very current in contemporary culture, with the social media and the excess of images that we are looking without even absorbing it. The almost comic contrast between modern economic circumstances and what miraculously arrives to disguise them – the Queen's Jubilee, the Olympics – confirms almost everything the book contains. (link) 

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04: BRAZILIAN STYLE I

What is the meaning of “project” in the Brazilian case?

In what sense can we talk about modernism in terms of a “project”?

Thinking about the historical context in Brazil, we for a long time took references from the outside, mostly European. So the Brazilian Project came as a need to create something authentic and Brazilian. The United States had the same project, within the American modernism, so the Brazilian architects and artists were looking for a way to represent us, and also to develop a recognizable Brazilian aesthetic. 

The picture below is from Victor Meireles called Moema (1866), and it is a great example of how far from reality our culture was portrait. This is a very important painting in terms of the beginning of the representation of indigenous, however, it's clear that this is a glamorized version of the reality. 

Almost fifty years later from that, we begin to see Tarsila do Amaral representing elements of culture from a very different perspective. Introducing modernism in Brazil, Tarsila heavily influenced by European artists begins to simplify Brazil in colors and shapes. With that, the project is strongly influenced by artists elsewhere and adapt to our country, proving how hard and maybe impossible it is to create a culture of its own. 

Tarsila do Amaral. Abaporu, 1928.

Comparing Moema from Meireles and A Negra from Tarsila, there is much more realism and truth in Tarsila's work than Meireles, a progression on the vision of Brazil. In conclusion, the attempt of having a proper culture is a dream and a project that will never end. We'll always be influenced by older cultures and styles, however, I still believe that Tarsila's work gave a face to our country in a way. 

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Herbert Matter - Untitled, 1948

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Alvin Lustig “The Ghost in the Underblows” animated

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03: AMERICAN MODERNISM

What happened to modernism when it crossed the Atlantic? 

Were there problems with this global approach?

“During the turbulent and often dangerous years of World War II, many of the key figures of the Bauhaus emigrated to the United States, where their work and their teaching philosophies influenced generations of young architects and designers. Marcel Breuer and Joseph Albers taught at Yale, Walter Gropius went to Harvard, and Moholy-Nagy established the New Bauhaus in Chicago in 1937.”

When a movement such as modernism, starts to emerge in America, it begins to evolve to a different aesthetic than it was before. It's natural that when you change the environment of a movement the results will adapt to its surroundings. When Moholy-Nagy established the New Bauhaus in Chicago, a focus on technology and science started to emerge, also due to the historical context that was happening, where technology is the next big thing. I believe that we see here, is the beginning of the globalization of design. 

As a consequence, in design, we start to see the use of photography, film, and publicity, with the birth of corporate design, with the madmen. I believe that the Americans saw design as a business opportunity and from that on it became also commercialized a Trademark. The use of corporate design also gave an important push to create a global approach, as the American companies were starting to expand worldwide, bringing their brand designs alongside. 

If there were problems, could be the start of a design made to please the masses, instead of a design created organically or for function. Along with that, it could be the loss of the true meanings and theories behind, such as with Bauhaus, simplification of the shapes it's not all that Bauhaus represents. 

But it`s undeniable the amazing things created, and great designers that came with the rise of corporate design, and types such as Helvetica. We still live the consequences of this period, proving how relevant it is. 

Griffith Winton, Alexandra. "The Bauhaus, 1919–1933". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http:// www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/bauh/hd_bauh.htm (August 2007)

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See some of the stunning turntables in MoMA’s design collection. Making Music Modern: Design for Ear and Eye opens Saturday. 

[Dieter Rams. Portable Transistor Radio and Phonograph (model TP 1). 1959. Plastic casing, aluminum frame, and leather strap, 1 ¾ X 9 ¼ X 6″. Gift of the manufacturer]

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Quiet is better than loud.

Dieter Rams (via infamoussayings)

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Braun

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02: EUROPEAN MODERNISM

What were Dieter Rams 12 Principles of Good Design?

 Do you feel that these ideas are relevant today?

Dieter Rams, a German industrial designer, questioned himself "is my design good design?", because he was getting tired of the excess of the world around him, in terms of colors, confusion, and forms. From that, he wrote what is called the principles of Good Design, Sometimes they are referred to as the ‘Ten Commandments’. 

Good Design Is Innovative: The possibilities for innovation are not, by any means, exhausted. Technological development is always offering new opportunities for innovative design. But innovative design always develops in tandem with innovative technology, and can never be an end in itself.

Good Design Makes a Product Useful: A product is bought to be used. It has to satisfy certain criteria, not only functional but also psychological and aesthetic. Good design emphasizes the usefulness of a product while disregarding anything that could possibly detract from it.

Good Design Is Aesthetic: The aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products are used every day and have an effect on people and their well-being. Only well-executed objects can be beautiful.

Good Design Makes A Product Understandable: It clarifies the product’s structure. Better still, it can make the product clearly express its function by making use of the user’s intuition. At best, it is self-explanatory.

Good Design Is Unobtrusive: Products fulfilling a purpose are like tools. They are neither decorative objects nor works of art. Their design should, therefore, be both neutral and restrained, to leave room for the user’s self-expression.

Good Design Is Honest: It does not make a product more innovative, powerful or valuable than it really is. It does not attempt to manipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept

Good Design Is Long-lasting: It avoids being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years – even in today’s throwaway society.

Good Design Is Thorough Down to the Last Detail: Nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance. Care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the consumer.

Good Design Is Environmentally Friendly: Design makes an important contribution to the preservation of the environment. It conserves resources and minimizes physical and visual pollution throughout the lifecycle of the product.

Good Design Is as Little Design as Possible: Less, but better – because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials. Back to purity, back to simplicity

Dieter Rams found a way to organize his ideas and thoughts in a very simple and honest way with his principles. It became very clear that he believed in the key ideas of the Bauhaus. 

The influence of his designs is still relevant today, being often cited by a new generation as a key influence on their work that is shaping the 21st century. Apple (possibly the most influential brand today) follows his principles in every new release, bringing the Rams simplicity and a very clean design that shaped the last 10 years. The chaos and confusion that led Dieter to write this concept is something that is still happening today, the excess of information, product, and consumerism, so the idea of minimalism and simplicity is necessary today as it was in the ’70s. In contraposition, the situation that we live on, as the growth of consumerism and the competitive market, make his ideas not achievable, what is usable today of his principles, is more aesthetic, the essence of his thoughts applied to the moment we live in. 

Links

VITSOE / link 

Dieter Rams / link

Slides Less, but better / link

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Marcel Breuer’s chair (1928) reflects the universal appeal movement through its lack of ‘decoration’ and timeless appeal.

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Bauhaus archive

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Bauhaus

poster

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01: AVANT GARDE

What were the key ideas of the Bauhaus?  

Do you feel that the ideas still have an influence on contemporary design?

The Bauhaus was the fruit of versatile input from both well-known avant-garde artists and aspiring junior masters.

The Bauhaus was a German school of ideas and a field for experimenting in the free and applied arts, design, architecture and educational methods. The school was operational from 1919 to 1933. The period that led to the Bauhaus was very much influenced by the pre-war artistic movement and it was a magnet for the European avant-garde. Despite the meaning "building house" the school didn't have an architecture department during its first years of existence. After closing in 1933, due to its networks, the movement was carried beyond, becoming a fundamental ideal in many years to come. 

“The ultimate goal of all art is the building!”, Walter Gropius made his point right from the start of the Bauhaus Manifesto.

The first key idea of the Bauhaus is the concept of building, and to erase the artificial barrier between ‘noble’ artists and ‘working’ craftsmen. The building and the art aspect must walk together as one. That's why there are so many interior designers and architects influenced and part of this movement.

The building concept of Bauhaus was followed by the idea of functionality, this being the guide to create. The manifesto pointed out that it’s all about being functional and unique, creating long-lasting products and organic designs. The movement claims that there is no need for the unnecessary, that way looking for the simplicity and the pure forms. 

Bauhaus is all about new techniques, new materials, new ways of construction, new attitude – all the time. It emphasizes going forward, strong progress, and constant evolution of architects, designers, and artists, as well as their work. (source)

If Bauhaus is all about the new, it's ideas still set the pattern for the way we live today, the simplicity and the organic forms can still be found in the graphics made today, also expanding to different media. Bauhaus was about design for everyone, and this mindset is going to be relevant, no matter the context we live in. The visual aspects of the Bauhaus movement can evolve with time, especially with new ways of creating and the growth of technology, but the open-minded design and the consciousness and purpose is something that directly links the Bauhaus to our lives.

Links:

Graphic Printshop / LINK

The Bauhaus / LINK

Image on top: Change of effect due to change of size, Friedrich Reimann, 1932

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