OUGD401 // Lecture 1 //Modernity and Modernism

Modernity and Modernism Lecture notes

• Modernity brings a change of culture, life, people and how they live in their city.
• In the 1700's modern is used to compare classic/history with the present, Ruskin wrote a book on modern painters and used the word to describe the "new art"

• This artwork (above) was described as modern due to the colours used, they are vibrant and for the age they were contemporary.
• Paris Tate - modern starts to bring with it a new value statement, It is "better" and "an improvement" and the word is needed to show aspects of life relating to anything new. The word has stuck in this context and is present today as a describing word for "better" and "world class". 
• British exhibition in 1851 and Paris competes, in turn Paris always beats rival cities across the world, Modernity is now being pushes at a rapid speed bringing with it many developments in the way people live their lives.
• Paris most radical new modern city in the early 1900s, there is a shift from rural to city life, people can work 24 hours a day as they are not controlled by daylight. Stress then becomes more rife due to the sheer speed of life, everything is crushed and forced together. Telephone is invented along with cinema, saloons etc, these are all distractions meaning that socialisation becomes both separated and forced together. 
• Everything has an effect on society relationships due to subjective consciousness.
• Enlightenment - world starts to turn to modern thinking rather than religion/superstition and becomes secular.
• The City - Site of for the "modern" experience and is object for study so artists, thinkers, scientists start to develop rapidly due to socialisation.

Design: Sara Lindholm, Source: http://designspiration.net/image/101261

• Eiffel Tower is described rightly as modern due to the materials being shown, the scale, materials mean that not everyone is happy. One is quoted as saying Eiffel is the best place to dine as you cannot see the tower itself from within.

Design: Artifacture, Source: http://www.behance.net/gallery/6-inch-Laser-Cut-Paper-Eiffel-Tower/3110353

• Railways start to develop and bring with it standardisation of time of day. This due to exports and imports become more frequent, time began in the period of modernisation. It also allows for fashion to dictate hierarchy and identity within the city. Isolation of classes become much more apparent and the gaps between classes grow.
• Napoleon decides on a new Paris, he employs Hausman to open up the city streets in order to prevent crime and criminals escaping in the winding tight alleyways. This means poor forced out for a new wave of buildings/shops/health centres. A social control is implemented.
• Cities become a part of the art movement straying away from myths, family portraits of royalty etc. Experiences of the city become the subject of art rather than the people within them.
• Psychology booms, people want to lean and be taught about how the city life effects the human brain and the human health.

• Manet paints a disconnected family here (above) but they are positioned close together, the art and culture respond directly to technology.
• Fashion becomes an activity of showing off.
• the art technique of pointillism comes through and is popular, this is due to the progress of camera technology and its improvements through tech research and development of optics.
• Shift work rationalises the working day and class diversifies further.

Degas - Absinth Drinker

• Degas - Absinth Drinker depicts a form of social drinking to forget the woes and stresses of everyday life in the city. The structure of art is influenced by advances in photography and rule of thirds. Images are cropped in a "new/Modern" way therefore artists follow to keep up with the trends.
• 1885 sees the invention of the Kaiserpanorama - a new technology developed to show art and photography. This represents the fact that people are now willing to pay to see things in image form rather than travel to see the countryside/exhibitions and the world in general. Tech now forms a barrier between direct experience and impersonal experiences such as TV and internet does today. In some ways a form of lazy ness starts to begin.
• Max Nordau - Contemporary critics worry how modernity is effecting way of life. They argue that people are becoming inhumane and disconnected from each other. 
• Cinema was new and radical almost witch craft. there is an argument that the impact of tech effects the conciseness
• Modernity - Subjective Experience, modernism is response of designers to the modern experience.
• Artists paint experiences not situations of static feeling. Painters change to keep up with photography and stop it being irradiated altogether.
• understanding of health, space and time improves and is depicted in art to show off its scientific discoveries. 
• Picasso paints to create a sense of experience through knowledge of the human body and how it works.
• Modernism - becomes anti historic, it never looks back, new is best. It has a way of letting materials speak for themselves instead of covering the mechanics of building structures. the form now begins the follow the function. The aesthetic becomes secondary to how it looks and how its technology is solving a particular problem.

"Modern" Graphic Design // Modernity within design

Design: Foriegn Policy Studio, Source: http://www.behance.net/gallery/Table-N-1/560190

The art direction for the Jason Atherton resturaunt carries simplicity and modernism from the outside walls through to the dining experience within. I feel this design style allows the food to talk for itself, modernism can simply act as a platform for showcasing complex art, design or produce. Often used within packaging in a crass "value range" aesthetic modernism can get a bad press within the consumer market, however when used well and with the correct materials it can add value to an experience.

Design: Andrea Mastroluca, Source: http://www.behance.net/gallery/Modernism-is-still-cool-POSTER/3061495

• Graphic design is almost born from "message first, look second"
• Bauhaus simplifies everything and stops fancy styles dictating life. Bauhaus questions everything - What does it have to do?, What will it do? etc
• Form is an afterthought based on the answers to these questions.
• The phrase "arrangement is a crime" from Adolph Loos sums up the design of modernity at this time of change. By stripping everything back designs are then timeless and will "never be useless"
• Bauhaus modernises life not just objects, all objects work to enhance life and simplify and busyness. Shows today in design, timeless furniture seen today is based on the Bauhaus way of thinking.
• This style of design then becomes international, the underground system is designed to help international visitors find their way. Fonts are also stripped back Serif is axed due to technology as most texts used to need a serif to start the letter form
• Rebelling against modern movement in type then brought about new fonts of serif away from sans serif. Modernist design is a response to new tech, world shifts, materials and mass production as mass production allows design to be one for all not all for one.