Assignment 008: Politics of Design (Leisure Time + Consumerism)

On the morning of September 22, 2010 an email message from Sony Playstation's newsletter was waiting in my inbox. Keeping abreast of current releases in the world of gaming and entertainment has always been a peripheral interest of mine. These bi-weekly informational tidbits generally inject some marketing hype into the latest releases in the God of War, Bioshock or Medal of Honour franchises. Blood. Guns. Violence. The corporates machine always targets the dominant demographic for console video games; male, 18 to 45.

If the world of gaming entertainment is so overwhelmingly dominated by males why would Sony market a pink, I should reiterate, a "Candy Pink" controller for the Playstation system? Obvious solutions would be to state that the production of a pink controller will attract more girls to the Playstation 3 console. Diversification of a product's main audience can only lead to increased sales and increased profit. Both may be true but the seeds to germinate a full answer to this question would be planted later that afternoon during the lecture for DSDN171.

The answer is "choice". The original template of what we refer to as "Consumerism" was forged in the latter half of the 1940's and has continued to proliferate, arguably, as an unabated juggernaut pressing infinitely onward to present day. With the majority of the Europe's factories, seed inventories, infrastructure and governments lying in complete ruination the United States set upon itself the task of rebooting the world into a prosperous free market economy. A requisite of this new market was to not simply offer the consumer an product to serve a purpose but to offer then a product that will make them unique and unconditionally alter their life; for the better. A product such as this cannot be singular in its scope. It must be customisable in some way so to attach itself to the user emotionally.

Let us not forget that both the Depression and WWII were incredibly trying times for society. With the war resolved and the average worker now having a few dollars to rub together thanks to a newly buoyant economy; lifestyle, convenience, wholesome values and devotion to one's family were the most important aspects of existence. The majority of parent's did not want to see their children suffer through turmoil that they had endured. Therefore, every single item that saved time, offered  convenience,  improved your recreational experience was seen as a gateway to the perfect lifestyle. Happiness was a direct result of near infinite consumer choice.


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The "Candy Pink Dualshock3" controller isn't quite as ground breaking as the "Princess Phone" was in 1959 but I'm certain that Henry Dreyfuss would be proud.

The average "gamer" is 35 and male.

The Methods and Philosophy of Education in Modern Design

The Bauhaus as an educational institute was a striving force in the process merging all creative endeavours into a single, unified, whole. A student in the Bauhaus would gain vocational training and knowledge of sculpture, painting, craft, art history, colour theory; even bookkeeping, contract negotiation and personnel management. The impetus behind this curriculum was to provide a common, standardised education across a broad spectrum of disciplines. Although this was often debated as taking away one's artistic freedom and perspective by feeding free thinking creative's through a grindstone of homogenisation, its purpose was to ultimately enable students to choose to become "competent craftsmen OR independent creative artists" --- "to form a working community of leading and future artist-craftsmen".

Many modern tertiary institutes have adopted a similar approach toward education in the arts and design. The First Year Design programme within the School of Design at Victoria University has roots firmly planted in the principles initially put forward by the Bauhaus.

Modern Vision: Is Art ----- Rapid?

In his 1935 essay "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" Walter Benjamin made the statement, “To an ever greater degree the work of art reproduced becomes the work of art designed for reproducibility. From a photographic negative, for example, one can make any number of prints; to ask for the authentic” print makes no sense.” My initial reading of this comment was to interpret this as a form of animosity toward a not fully understood mechanical process, medium and artistic pursuit.  This was only a small, albeit heavily weighted, statement within the greater context of his essay.


Upon further investigation I have come to realise that truth and merit do exist in his cultural commentary.  Benjamin also states, "For the first time in world history, mechanical reproduction emancipates the work of art from its parasitical dependence on ritual" and "With the emancipation of the various art practices from ritual go increasing opportunities for the exhibition of their products."  His opinion was that art was borne from ritual, that it was inextricably tied to religous doctrine. The underlying meaning in this comment is that the oligarchy was traditionally in near complete control of the societal propagation of art. The advent of emergent artistic technologies go very far in undermining this unbalance of authority. To allow art to exist purely for 'being art'.


Still in question is the concept 'authenticity' when considering a mechanically produced work of art. His writings continue to state that as the 'practice of ritual' (or cult value) of art is lost, a potential exists for it to be displaced by what he refers to as the 'exhibition value', also known as the 'practice of politics'. At its most extreme this translates into art being produced for monetary gain and increased self-worth.


Authenticity does have a welcome place in our modern, digital world. My view is that art is a byproduct of the personality of its creator. This is unrelated to medium, production (or reproduction) methods. To be frank, it doesn't need to be good --- or even in good taste. To embrace the concept of 'authentic' art is to simply acknowledge that something has been touched by the human mind. A machine utilised poorly will invariably result in an equally poor product. Is this the fault of the machine, or the human creator of the work? Who would the credit go to if a mechanically produced work was jaw droppingly  gorgeous? The machine you say?

Design+Craft

Mark Ho, originally from Amsterdam, Netherlands, is self-taught in the techniques and craft of metal work. After experiencing an increasing amount of frustration while building puppetry on an animated film project; he decided to work on his own to develop, as he describes, the "ultimate puppet" that would be a scaled representation of the range of movement that human body provides. It was at this point that Mark decided to learn everything possible about metalwork and sought out a craftsman that offered him advice and occasional tutelage.

The bronze and stainless steel automaton "Artform No.1" (below) was the result of his passion and emotional engagement to the metal crafting medium and would provide a strong argument that craft in design certainly is alive and well in our modern era. A significant motivational factor for him was the mixture of design, precision, patience & skill that went into manufacturing each piece. The lack of having total control was what drove him away from the film industry. In the idealised world of his workshop all ideas are significant; all factors weighed and decided upon by only himself. The end result truly is a bespoke design of his own creation.

Zoho Artform No.1 by Mark Hohttp://www.zohoartforms.com
Specifications:
Height:  17 inches / 43cm
Weight:  16 lbs / 7 kg
Number of parts:  920 (101 in each hand)
Materials:  Bronze and Stainless Steel
Edition: 25

beauty+utility

In The Grammar of Ornament (1856) Owen Jones argued that, “Construction should be decorated. Decoration should never be purposely constructed.” The meaning behind this certainly bold, perhaps edifying, statement initially began as a response to the severe opinion that many contemporary artist's, architect's and designer's (including Jones) had of the Great Exhibition.  The overall consensus was that there did not appear to be any coherent thought placed behind ornamental design; with the quality coming off as "uneven" and "absent of fixed principle."


This is not to say that Jones, as a design reformist and supporter of Pugin's ideals, was not against ornamental aspects in design. In actuality he was very much for ornamental flourish,  abstraction of form and a proponent of utilising historical reference to influence one's work. The crux of his commentary lies in two important statements, "Construction should be decorated. Decoration should never be purposefully constructed" and "Flowers or other natural objects should not be used as ornaments, but conventional representations founded upon them sufficiently suggestive to convey the intended image to the mind, without destroying the unity of the object they are employed to decorate." The meaning behind this is that a natural form placed within a design as an ornamental aspect should not affect the design in such a way as it loses some, quite possibly all, semblance of it identifiable function. Ornament should be loosely based on nature; not be a direct iteration. It should also aid as a unifying element in the eyes of the user/observer.


Having a conditioned history of employment within the field of electrical engineering, with the addition of a watchmaker for a father; has me in agreement with the ideals of Owen Jones almost by default. The use of templates, design and pattern influence from alternative contemporary cultural reference's (ie Japan) and an interest in the dissemination of design from Historical reference's is something I have applied to my own design endeavours and projects. My interpretation of what Jones proposes is that an individual should create a design by following a somewhat strict set of standardised procedures. To him, the inspirational influence, nor point of reference, was of little consequence; the purpose of these procedures was to develop original patterns and concepts through the observational study of nature.


A contemporary example of "Construction Decorated" would be Madrid's International Convention Center (CICCM). Driven by nationalism, sustainable building practices with additional import placed on green space; the complex houses a rainwater catchment system, its concave curves drench the interior with daylight and the exterior facade is bristling with photo-voltaic panels.


To me,  these exterior ornamentals sing loudly about enhancing the construct's functionality while also contributing to its aesthetics in very subtle ways. To surreptitiously embed function within form is perhaps a slight deviation from Jones' ideologies as originally proposed. Then again, I also view the CICCM complex as a concept that has taken reference more from the form & function of the human body over the more traditional, and conservative, doctrine of "nature". Although, one may argue that the best representation God within design is simply to look in the mirror.

An example of "Construction Decorated"
Madrid's International Convention Center (CICCM) via Inhabitat

“Sensuous Impulse” in Contemporary Design

During his "Smoke" collaboration with Dutch design firm Moooi, Maarten Baas has designed three overtly Baroque armchairs. The smooth, curved forms and detailing present on the backrest, arms and legs would be enough justification to indicate that a sensuous impulse is present within contemporary design. A keen eye may also notice the asymmetry of the gilt edges on the tops of the backrest; a very common indicator of a design drawing influence from the Rococo period.

Deeper examples do exist as to why the Smoke series contains elements of a sensuous impulse.  What sets this chair apart from any contemporary, let alone pre-existing, design classification is that is has been damaged through the use of fire, then coated with a very thin layer of clear epoxy to help prevent degradation and to also preserve your clothing. The purpose of the fire application is to create a, flowing organic surface that would, arguably, be very difficult create by hand.

It may even be stated that the chair was manufactured by nature to represent nature.

The Smoke Dining Armchair circa 2009

Brought to you by the fine folk at Moooi, Maarten Baas and the letter Zed

* only available in black

Bridging the Gap of Sculpture & Design

The Badbot is by Australian illustrator Ashley Wood and ThreeA toys. What I consider important about their work is that it is essentially an art canvas realised in a three-dimensions. The concept of allowing a design to achieve only form while ignoring function & contextual justification may baffle many "design purist's" while offering universal appeal to the small child in every one of us.