class 12material culture

Art 100Understanding Visual Culture

agenda 7.23.15

• BIG QUESTIONS:• what kinds of information are embedded in material

objects?• how might this information differ from what is

available in a fine art object?• can we read everyday objects formally and

semiotically?

• what is an artifact?

• what is a "vernacular" object?

• what is the difference between a "designed" object and a vernacular one?

Artifacts…reveal huge amounts of information about the people (and the cultures) that made them.

We can “read” these images to learn about other societies, and about ourselves.

In the West (Europe and the USA), this kind of artifact has been “put on pedestal” as the most exalted kind of artifact.

Here we tend to privilege art above other kinds of artifacts.

(E.g., Krannert vs. Spurlock Museum)

Augustus St.-Gaudens, Diana,1892-4, in Philadelphia Museum of Art

One category of artifacts is art.

How are objects presented in these twodifferent venues?

What does the method of display convey about the value/significance of the objects displayed?

Another category of things is “vernacular” objects.

Shaker side chair, maple with rush seating, c. 1880

These are ordinary objects which have wide popularity and whose specific origins are

obscure.

Shaker side chair, maple with cane seating, c. 1880Plastic outdoor chair, c. present

Bryan Ropar with a small sample of his plastic chair collection

Maarten Baas, in collaborationwith Contrasts Gallery, ShanghaiPlastic Chair in Wood, 2008elm wood

Sam DURANT, Porcelain Chairs, 2006

Jules Prown

“…works of art constitute a large and special category within artifacts because their inevitable aesthetic and occasional ethical or spiritual (iconic) dimensions make them direct and often overt or intentional expressions of cultural belief. The self-consciously expressive character of this material, however, raises problems as well as opportunities; in some ways artifacts that express culture unconsciously are more useful as objective cultural indexes.”

(Prown, “Mind in Matter,” p.2)

Siegfried Giedion

"We shall deal here with humble things, things not usually granted earnest consideration, or at least not valued for their historical import. But no more in history than in painting is it the impressiveness of the subject that matters. The sun is mirrored even in a coffee spoon.”

(Giedion, “Anonymous” p. 294)

The value of “anonymous history”

Now we’re going to look at a third category of artifacts…

DESIGN OBJECTS

What is design?We use this word often, for example:

Fashion design

Interior design

Product design

Packaging design

Graphic design

Automotive design

Digital design

Sonia RykielParis, Spring 2015 collection

Agatha Ruiz de la PradaMilan, Autumn/Winter 2009 collection

interior designKelly Wearstler

interior designMiles Redd

packaging design—water

packaging design—water

packaging design—water

packaging design—water

actual design innovation: with 50% recycled PET

packaging design—water

Fashion design, or product styling?

tailfin of a 1959 Cadillac, designed by Harley Earl, GM design legendArt and Color Department (1927)Styling Department (1937)“dynamic obsolescence”

Compare the Tesla which runs on a different kind of motor.

We need a distinction between:

Something made through a process of careful consideration, often but not always credited to a specific maker.

Something made with both function and aesthetic appeal in mind.

AND

relatively minor changes in the appearance of a product

design vs. styling

Design for a better world

“Very few aspects of the material environment are incapable of improvement in some

significant way by greater attention being paid to their design. Inadequate lighting, machines

that are not user-friendly, badly-formatted information, are just a few examples of bad

design that create cumulative problems and tensions.”

—Heskett, p. 2

Ther

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rela

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Between us, as people, and the objects that surround us.

Good designers try to make this relationship a happy one.

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