Postmodernism...

Le Carbusier, Villa Savoye, Poissy, 1928-9

-  This building had functionality and neutrality, no individuality.

Modernism practise =

- Originality

- Innovation

- Individualism

- Progress

- Purity

- Experimentation

- Seriousness 

Postmodernism condition characterised by:

- Exhaustion

- Pluralism

- Pessimism

- Dillusionment with the idea of absolute knowledge

But some overlap

Modernism and Postmodernism related

Modernism:

- Expression of:

Modern life/ technology/ new materials/ communication [Modernity]

Postmodernism:

- Reaction to:

Modern life/ technology/ new materials/ communication [Postmodernity]

Jean Tinguely 'Homage to New York' 1960

Was placed directly outside the museum of modern art, it was an anti aesthetic, postmodern gesture which had no progressive message, it was also designed to eventually self destruct although this turned out to be a failing design aspect.

Origins of Postmodernism:

Beginnings 1960s

Established as term 1970s

Recognisable style 1980s

Dominated theoretical discourse 1980s and 90s

Today: Tired and simmering

Fielder: Post culture, rejected previous culture of modernist elitist.

- Contra modernism attacks modernism.

Uses of the word "Postmodernism":

- after modernism

- the historical era following the modern

- contra modernism

- equivalent to 'late capitalism'

- artistic and stylistic eclecticism

- 'global village' (world is reduced: modern railway, telephone) Postmodernism is totally interconnected.

- According to Charles Jencks modernism dies on the 15th July 1972 at 3:32pm, the moment of the demolition Pruitt. Which was a post war building with modernist architecture. It was made as a cheap, affordable and equal building but soon turned in the ghetto slums for the under classed, it forced people with crime and was then bulldozed less than 20 years after it had been built. It was a failed piece of modernist architecture.

- Modernism got it wrong

- Postmodernism- attitude of questioning convention.

- Plan Voison 1927- Utopia and technological determinism.

- Belief new technologies will make the world better, the internet has bought us together but gives opportunities for crime.

- Postmodernism: Everyone is unique and different. New voices can be heard.

- ' I am a monument' monumentality and enforcement to be the same.

- Questioning values of modernism, forcing one dimensional vision on everyone.

- Postmodernism- only rule = no rules.

- Society starts to get confused, although all the new options are positive, kitsch.

- Park Hill flats in Sheffield built on a hill in 1960, an example of post war modernism architecture. Designed for everyone, now a slum and the people who live there raised a petition to have it demolished. But the state says its an important piece of modernist architecture.

- Urban splash designed a re-generation of Park Hill which had a Postmodern gloss.

- AT&T building- Philip Johnson NYC 1982, made modernist style more original.

- Once modernist- no longer regular, unordered.

- Mixing old and new.

- Postmodernism takes the seriousness of modernism and makes it more jokey.

- Qoute from Prince Charles about a modernist piece of architecture:

' Is somebody proposing to dive from this tower?'

Prince Charles hates modernism and postmodernism.

- Leeds magistrates court is a piece of ill thought out postmodernism architecture.

- Quilan Terry, The Maitland is Prince Charles's favourite piece of postmodern architecture.

Postmodern conditions could be summarised as a disbelief, as metanarratives (total belief system, vision of world which seeks to believe where we are going, will fail, vision of certain elitist ideoligys.

Technology and progress will save us?

- Failure of communism.

- Postmodernism undermines, exposes and reveals flaws of the way of the past.

Result = crisis in confidence.

- Modern movement- postmodern aesthetics.

- Roylitchenstein ' This must be the place' 1965

postmodern attitude in fine art.

- Pop artists point was to attack seriousness of art- sarcastic.

- High art/low art divide- one big mess.

beginning to crumble.

- Las Vegas- postmodern city?

- Playground of reinvention, we should learn from Las Vegas as its ultimately progressive.

Its all in Las Vegas, its positive to follow.

Decorated sheds- casinos and buildings.

Built individualy and developed.

Each shed reflects individuality.

- Postmodern dystopia, Las Vegas is a loss inself, failure?

- Andy Warhol- peoples identies change. It changes the status of the artist in postmodernity. It was more about the image of celebrity.

He always said he didnt understand art. He believed we are all famous for 15 minutes.

Leveling out artist and celebrity.

Formalism.

- Total rejection of art saving the world.

- Jackson Pollock- distilling all purity of painting.

He uses expression, emotion and paint.

Lampooned by Pop artists.

- Andy Warhols Oxidation painting. He peed on metallic paint until it began to rot.

- Art as communication on device as fraud.

- Piero Manzoni 'Artists shit' 1961.

This artist shat in a tin and signed it, he then sold it for thousands of pounds. People couldnt have been sure if it was in there, so they either wasted money buying fake shit or if they opened it to check and the contents was true what it said on the tin, then they would have ruined the piece of art.

- Van Gogh 'Pheasant shoes' seeks to make us feel bonded with the owner of the shoes.

- Kraftwerk: embrases new technologies, half serious half jokey.

Postmodernism:

Culture where we can reinvent ourselves continuessly.

An inconclusion:

- Postmodernism is a vague disputed term.

- Po- mo attitude of questioning.

SPACE FOR NEW VOICES.

New media and visual culture...

The age of print began in the 1450s, and some believe we are still living in the late age of print.

Guttenbergs printing press allowed mass communications, it became easier to print with the moveable type that was no longer fixed.

The role of the reader -  the electronic book- is it democratic?
The E book is literate, in the future all books will be electronic. Reader takes on the role of the author.

Computer media- the way we read has changed through hypertext, this allows us to surf through information quickly. Its a superficial way of reading- its a more engaging which makes it more exciting, it makes you more receptive and gives you empowerment.

Hypermedia: Hypermedia is when we see many media, pictures and sounds and we can surf through these quickly.

Definition of mass media:
Modern systems of communication and distribution supplied by relatively small groups of cultural produces, but directed towards large numbers of consumers.

Negative criticism of mass media:

- Superficial, uncritical, trivial.
- Viewing figures measures success.
- Audiences are dispersed.
- Audience is disempowered.
- Encourages the status Quo.
- Encourages empathy.
- Power held by the few motivated profit or social control (propaganda)
- Bland, escapism, seen as a drug which anaesthetises us.

Positive criticism of the mass media:

- Not all mass media is low quality.
- Social problems and injustices are discussed by the media.
- Creativity can be a feature of mass media.
- Transmission of high art material reaches a broader audience.
- Democratic potential.

United colours of Benetton

An ad created by Oliverio Toscani, Army outfit.

The ad is meant to be advertising clothes but its doing much more than that, its almost advertising politics. The outfit is that of a dead Army soldiers, dried blood can be seen and even a bullet shot through the chest. Its a reality check.

Leeds 13 was a group of students who pretended to spend all of their grant for uni on a big holiday, it caused an uproar in society as they thought it was wrong what they had spent their tax money on, even though it was all fake. These artists then gained artist status from using the mass media as their story was published in newspapers.

Can Art be autonomous? (exist on its own in a vacuum)

Should Art be autonomous? (for some yes, by doing so it retains purity and integrity)

Jackson Pollock- apitamy of Art above society, aesthetic freedom, no agenda.

Pollock funded by C.I.A?

Political propaganda- illusion of independence but involved in politics.

Roy litchenstein Whaam (1963)

Pop Art- underlining politics.

Andy Warhol, Green Coca Cola bottles 1962- 'I consume therefore i am'.

Conclusion:

- New media are changing the way we consume and read text and image.

- Theorists of the mass media have different viewpoints seeing it as either a negative and a threat or a          positive pleasurable and democratic,

- There is a serious question in Art theory as to whether Art should be autonomous or not.

Advertising and New media...

What is new media?

New media is a way of communication through engagement and involvement rather than through persuasion or impression. (Sutherland 2009)

What is old media?

Old media is the use of printing on a large mass scale, it first came about in the late 19c.

A good example to show how new media came about through advertising is with the story of Unilever, a company which now owns over 900 brands, including Ben & Jerrys ice cream; Bertoli; Bird's Eye; Comfort and Persil, formed by the two brothers James Darcy and William Hesketh Lever. Their brand went from Sunlight, Lux to Lynx, also known as the Sunlight vision.

In the beginning there was soap, Sunlight soap. In the 1860's we saw the beginning of pre packaging Graphic Design, advertising and colour printing in newspapers and posters. Much like Kellogs cereal, the generation figured out how to print, fold and fill cardboard boxes mechanically. And soap was sold in long bars with the maker printed onto them, the grocer would then slice it up, much like Lush.

In the 1880s the technology of producing reproductions and colour printed posters evolved and by the 1890s technology enabled contemporary paintings to be reproduced for the masses.

The Unilever brothers started to use contemporary paintings in thier advertisements.

This image was used as part of one of thier adverts, its a contemporary painting by William Frith. The purpose of the ad by Unilever was to show how clean thier soap could make your clothes, and your new frock.

This painting by John Henry Frederick Bacon, ' The wedding morning' 1892, was also used by the Unilever brothers, it shows generations enjoying a wedding. The bride is wearing a beautiful white dress which is indicating how Sunlight soap can clean your clothes. Items in the image have been replaced with bars of Sunlight soap to add value and brand loyalty.

Lever believed that his job was to covince the people of the world that they did not just want his product, but they needed it.

Unilevers also started a promotional interactive boom, they came up with exciting new ways to get people to buy their products. They began a wrapper scheme offering thier own soap in return.

Lever was amassed and was among innovators of advertising expertise, he once said ' The power of truth... the trick is to tell the truth but make it more interesting. Truth can be disarming.'


The physcology of Advertising

- Discrepancy between self and ideal image (of self)
- Publics leasure practises, bathing habbits ect were inferior to those depicted.


Back to the future

New media model

- Mass to my media
- More personalised
- More targeted (mobile)
- Also involves audience
  - (a) voluntarily passing around ads (virals)
  - (b) creating- spoofs or filming events


New communication model

Old: transmission
- Transmit ideas to an audience.

New: Cybernetic
- Engage with an audience via computer.

Viewer generated content:

Case study of mentos mints and coke

Viewer generated advertising worth $10 million US to Mentos, more than half its annual advertising budget.

- Audiences are actively managing media culture.

Creating a dialog


OId Spice
Old spice twitter response


Audience judges creativity

- November 2010
- Departure from conventional advertising awards
- Youtube ad of the year chosen by viewers

Embrace Life, the winner

Semiotics...

'Idiot' ... Ollie Moore in cop helmet at riot

MORE violence will erupt as students step up their fight against tuition fees, London's top cop warned yesterday.

Met Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson said his officers were ready to get tough with students.

He admitted the Met had been caught off guard by the first protest on November 10, which ended with £1million of damage to Tory Party HQ.

He told the Metropolitan Police Authority: "We had dealt with student organisers before and we based it too much on history. Regrettably, the game has changed and we must act."

MPs will vote on the proposed rise in tuition fees before Christmas - heaping pressure on the Lib Dems.

The party's deputy leader Simon Hughes yesterday condemned protesters after they tried to storm his office in Bermondsey, South London, calling the tactic a "foolish mistake".

Meanwhile, Labour MP David Winnick described the student violence as "marvellous", claiming it gave a lead to others campaigning against cuts.

 By NEIL SYSON

Semiotics

Semiotics is the 'science' of studying signs and their meanings. It

focuses on how things mean, not what they mean.

The signifier:

A signifier is simply what is there, like when you see an image, it

is what it is.

The signified:

The signified is what is being signified by the signifier, so in terms of

an image the signified would be what the image is showing us.

The denotation:

The denotation is the simplest 'meaning' or sign of the image, for

example an image of a dog's denotation would be that its a four

legged creature that we know is a dog.

The connotation:

The connotation is the deeper meaning behind the sign, with the 

dog the connotation would be loyalty and companionship.

I have found the signifier, signified, denotation and connotation of

this newspaper article from The Sun, showing rioting at the student

demonstration about education cuts.

The signified: image of the teenager with his finger up in front of a 

vandalised police van.

The signifier: the vandalised police van and stance of the teenager

signifies violence, hooliganism and war.

The denotation: the photo is representing a hooligan teenager.

The connotation: the teenager is angry because of the rise in 

student fees and the cuts being made to education by the new

coalition government. He is standing in a powerful stance with 

his middle finger up and a sarcastic, smug look on his face. 

His body language is reflective on the police vehicle behind him,

he vandalised an abandoned police van and is looking proud of

doing it. He is also wearing a found police helmet, which is 

helping to represent the power he feels he now holds after

destroying the police van.

Published: Today

A TEENAGER who gave cops "the finger" during student rioting in London should have been at a JOB interview.

Ollie Moore, 17, struck the one-digit pose wearing a police helmet and with a twisted sneer of contempt on his face.

He was photographed standing in front of a smashed-up police van amid waves of snarling protesters during clashes in Whitehall.

But far from being there to oppose tuition fee hikes, the smartly-dressed teen had gone to the capital from his parents' Surrey home to try and get his first proper employment.

Modernist Graphic Design...

What is Modernism?

Modernism was an art movement around the late 19th century to the early 20th century. It was a movement that had modern thought and disliked traditional styles of art and decorative art like Art Nouveau. Their work became more about the media used rather than what it was being used for and they   were about form following function.

 This piece of contemporary Graphic Design has some modernstic styles within it, such as the simple typography with the primary colours, it has been kept simple and to the point and its not trying to be more than what it is. Much like the rule of modernism with form following function.

The directional lines and geometric shapes on this piece of Design showed similar representations of Modernism, they began to incorporate simple shapes in their design in order to make it easily understandable.

The ways in which the typograghy has made up some of the image and the ways in which the buildings have been portrayed are similar to Paul Citreon's ' The Metropolis', which was a photo montage of buildings in the time of Modernism.

Again i chose this piece because i felt that the simplistic design and shapes were relevant to the focal points and aims of the Modernist society. Also with the red and white colour it reminded me of the Russian Revolution with Communism being represented through red and Capitalism being represented through white. The majority of this poster is red which could symbolise an overtake of Communism and Modernism. There is a timeless modern aesthetic within this piece of anti ornament.

I chose this piece of Graphic Design because of the geometric shapes and how they have been used to create a visually interesting compositon that reflects on experimentations through Modernism.

The Document

The camera never lies and taking photographs is never a neutral activity.
The two main mass observation photography groups were Magnum and FSA photographers.

Joseph Nicephore Niepce (1826), 'View from a window at La Gras'

This photo was one of the first taken, it immediatly transcends painting with its technical mastery and its medium gains power.

James Nachtwey is a witness photographer, he was not just about documenting the world through his photography but he wanted to change the world and record history. So that future generations could see what had happened in the world, such as the Wars.

Documentary photographers involve themselves in society, they take a subjective stance and attempt to persuade others and expose their photography for a means of humanity.

James Nachtwey photograph slideshow

The purpose of his work was to show the truth about what was happening around the world to the world, his photographs could sometimes be quite shocking and emotional.

William Edward kilburn 'The Great Chartist meeting at the common' 1948

This photo shows the Chartist meeting up, Kilburn has taken a step back as to not disturb the meeting with his photography, but he stayed close enough to document the event.

The question was then posed:

'How can photographers not influence an event, even in the slightest way?'

Roger Fenton 1855, 'Into the valley of the shadow of death'

Henri Cartier Bresson

Henri was a documentary photographer but he also produced photos that had an aesthetic quality to them, he had the photograph in his mind before he took it.

He waited for ' The Decisive moment'.

Which posed the question:

' How much should documentary photography concern itself with aesthetics? '

Jacob Riis, was a middle class social campaigner, he released a book called ' How the other half live', which contained photographs showing lower class and middle class ways of life, which were then shown to the upper class. Which made the camera with a conscience.

'Bandits Roost' 1888

This photograph was not a neutral photo, the people are posing and presenting a sense of themselves, Riis has created this fantasy depiction of how he thinks they live.

'Growler gang in session' 1887 (robbing a lush)

Again this photo by Riis shows a fake portrayal of lower class people robbing an upper class, but really Riis has bribed kids to act out a robbery so that Riis could take photo portraying these kids as ferrel, but if you look closely you'll see that they are all actually wearing the same clothing.

Othering is a way of defining and securing your own positive identity through the stigmatization of an 'other'.

The FSA which ran from 1935 till 1944 was directed by Roy Stryker, which raised from the Great Depression. Photography was used as both photojournalism and an emotive lobbying tool.

When there was mass social crisis the FSA documented, they were given a script to follow in terms of what they had to photograph also known as a 'shooting script'.



This photograph was taken by Margarat Barker in 1937, the 'Sharecroppers home' was a depiction of a young black boy and his dog. The photo is quite sentimental and empathetic. The young boy is surrounded by piece of advertising from newspapers yet he himself could never afford such luxuries.

Russell Lee's 'Interior of a black farmers house' 1939 had a more open meaning to it, and was trying to disguise itself as a neutral photograph.

Dorothea Lange 1936 'Migrant mother'

This was taken during the time of the great depression, it shows a mother and her two children living in a shack. The expression of the woman has been set pre shot as to make the audience feel sorrow for the woman and her children.

The formation of the scene was then changed to just the woman feeding her baby, Lange tried out different compositions until she was happy with one that depicted their emotion and lifestyle. All of the negatives taken were sent to the government, so they could see the good and the bad photos, as they were negatives they couldn't be deleted.

Walker Evans

These two photographs were taken by Walker Evans they are documenting the life of a lower class farmer, the top one shows the man with puppy dog eyes and looking very sympathetic, this photo was made to attract an audience through feeling sorry for the man. The second photo the man has more of a stand off stance as if to say look what you upper class people are doing to me, it almost has an angry ambience to it.

 This is another photograph by Walker Evans called ' Graveyard, houses and steel mill' in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 1935. There some very iconic images of everyday life, its a very aestheticised photograph, and a reminder of our own mortality. The houses represent us living, the factory showing we work and the graveyard showing we die.

John Lamprey 1868 ' Front and profile views of a malayan man' 

This photograph compares and contrasts with us, 'othering'. It tries to disguise itself as being a scientific pursuit.

Robert Capa, Normandy France 1945. This photo shows the British Army approaching the shores of Normandy during the war, Capa played an important role, he and other photographers who documented war and conflict produced horrifying but striking human experience. In this particular photograph the image is quite blurred, people are not sure if this effect was accidental or purposely done but it became known as the 'Capa Shudder'.

Some people forget when they see photographs like these that the photographer themselves would of had to be there to document the war, which means they were putting their lives at risk in order to document history for future generations.

Robert Haeberle 1969 Mylai massacre Vietnam

The image above is quite disturbing when you are told what is happening.

The family are seconds from being shot, the pure raw emotion on their faces is real. Harberle intercepted American soldiers seconds before they executed them so he could take a photo, once he had taken one they were shot dead. He could not look but from the corner of his eye he saw them fall to the ground.

It is an image of immense power and shows the last image of their lives which will be reserved forever showing just how inhumane we as people can be.

It brings up the question whether or not it was right what Haeberle did, should he have saved their lives after intercepting their fate or should he have stayed away. We know his intentions of the image, but was it morally right?

Graphic design: A medium for the masses...

Over a million years ago cavemen began to paint pictures of horses and bisons and the world that they saw around them. This was an early technique of visual communication.

- A fine art painting by Giotto represented the scene from the Bible when Jesus was taken to be crucified. Particular religious symbols and imagery were used to visually communicate the story if it was not that easy to understand. Such as the deciples and Jesus have halo's around their heads, the story was set out in a comic strip style to easily illustrate the story.

- Pear soap advertising, the image was initially a painting but when text was added it was unsure whether it was a piece of Graphic Design or Advertising.

Work of William Addison Dwiggins.

- Graphic Design then truly emerges from the work of Edouard Manet

- And also the Art Deco and Art Nouveau movement

Alphonse Mucha

Peter Behrens German electricity advert is a piece of work that became part of Graphic Design. The layout, imagery and typeface has all been kept simple and used in an effective way.

Savile Lumley's poster is a very traditional and conservative piece of Graphic Design.

The poster above is work of Jukius Gipkens, his work became less fine arty and more Graphic Design based.

Wassily Kandinsky is another fine artist whose work was quite abstracted, he later went on to work at the Bauhaus.

This is a political poster designed by El Lissitsky, his work was very geometric. This particular poster was designed during the Russian revolution.

This is the early design of the London underground by F H Stingemore. His design is very geographical and shows the representation of distance.

Harry Becks tube map was more a piece of design rather then actually representing true distance. He used colours so that international people could also read them easily.

Simon Patterson then turned the tube map into a piece of fine art, he replaced the names of tube stops with names of famous people, it was witty commentary.

Oskar Schlemmer designed the Bauhaus logo, he set a president for what happens in post war design.

This poster was designed by Herbert Bayer to celebrate Kandinsky's 60th birthday. The use of angular design started to emerge to try out different visuals and layouts.

These posters were designed by Herbert Matter, at this time they were pieces of very cutting edge design and he was well known for his Graphic Design. These posters have recently been used in the Swatch watch adverts.

Hans Schleger's poster above was trying to promote healthy eating, it is a very figurative design and quite conservative.

Poster by Pere Catala is visually communicating a message, no text is needed as the imagery used speaks for itself.

This poster by Abram Games was designed for the celebration of victory against facism, the war was over and there was a celebration of what it means to be British. Abram was the most influencial and cutting edge designer of this time.

Paul Rand had a very commercial nature to Graphic Design, in 1946 he was a key Graphic Designer of his time, he promoted the economic boom. His work was well known for commercialism, branding, corporate and capitalism.

Above the sainburys classic cola can and the coca cola can. People began to buy the sainburys version thinking it was the coca cola original because of the design, so it goes to show that a companys image and design can be so well known that people dont even look twice before buying it.

Ken Garland published the 'First things First Manifesto 1964'

First things First Manifesto

Peter Saville was famous for the Blue Monday, new order. Which was the best 12inch single ever made. Because of its eleborate design it was costly to produce and ended the company in debt. His work was post-modernism. In this design he devised his own typeface through the representation of colour but know one could understand it.

- Neville Brody was a key post-modernism designer who designed the covers of Compose magazine.

- David Carson saw the rise of the grunge movement, he re-wrote the rules of Graphic Design... Graphic Design for Graphic Design sake. He questioned if communication and legibility were the same thing.

Peter Blake was a pop artist during the Band Aid movement.

There was a backlash from the poster by Peter Blake by the political anarchists, Chumbawamba. People questioned whether this was good or bad Graphic Design or was it invented in forms of message.

The first image above is a record cover for the Coups, it was designed before the terrible attack on the twin towers, 9/11. The image was withdrawn for obvious reasons.

Jonathon Barnbrooke created his own symbolised typeface on what he thought of the olympics, raising awareness of the true story behind the event.

Oliviero united colours of Beniton adverts.

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