1 Page of 5 Krystle Flower VIS 159 Nate Harrison Essay 1: Industrial and Information Society
In this essay, I will be discussing various forms of art and their connections with the industrial revolution or our modern information society: The Bauhaus and its constructionist mentality with the Gehry designs of present that promote organic, computer driven shapes, The abstract modern art that broke down forms and revealed the ,,true shape of objects with the generative art/media of today that utilizes computers to compose art that is constantly changing, and the films of Man Ray and Jacque Tati that explore these worlds through the use of film and filming techniques. The industrial revolution occurred with the rise of machinery and production lines within corporations. This change facilitated the adjustment from skilled labor to workers with knowledge that focused on a particular skill or work with a machine. A division in labor was perpetuated by this shift, giving a rise to the middle class sector of society. This middle class had no chance for upward mobility; Walter Benjamin speaks about this in his essay, considering that mass cultural items that are create by machine force this dumbing down of the workforce and prevents them from asking questions about social perspectives (Benjamin). Items that were produced on a factory line had no character, no discernible difference from one another than being produced on the same line. Meanwhile, todays information society involves the manipulation of information and knowledge through he use of computers and modern technology. It involves utilizing media remixability and info-aesthetic oriented devices to create the pen-ultimate information-providing tool. This new means of creation and information gathering has rendered the function of human labor skills obsolete, yet at the same time created a new
Page 2 of 5 Krystle Flower VIS 159 Nate Harrison branch of skill work that is important to have in our modern era of technology and information. Architecture is a prominent discussion amongst both spectrums of new art because they are often time the epitome and symbol of the concepts and ideals of the era. The Bauhaus was a part of the German Constructivist movement, which was dedicated to providing a way for the middle class to improve their lives, whether it be through he design of buildings, furniture or even using forms of art including collage, painting and sculpture. The structure of the Bauhaus allows artists to become inspired by their environment and the inner workings of their structure, they inject artistic practice into every facet of daily life utilizing the quotidian as subject matter to be tinkered with and rethought. It is constructed to represent cubism, with the thought that all four sides of a building can be represented on one side. Meanwhile, in our modern society, we have utilized computers to manipulate sketches and ideas to create organic forms of buildings. This is prevalent in Gehrys architectural landmark, the Walt Disney Concert Hall. The idea for this building was created by Gehry on a sketchpad and brought to life using computer-imaging software. These structures are related to our information technology because without computers, they would simply be scratches on paper. Computers allow for complex physics problems Figure 1 Bauhaus in Germany (1927)
Page 3 of 5 Krystle Flower VIS 159 Nate Harrison to be worked out and solved to great accuracy that humans could otherwise not achieve. Gehrys work has given birth to various other types of construction, including SHoP (Sharples Holden Pasquarelli), an architecture firm in New York that uses computers to laser cut pieces, making it so that "the construction crew has only to fit them together. (Scanlon)" This means cost-effective building construction that still holds the form of organic, computer manipulated curvatures and angles that are nigh on impossible with current means of construction. Art, on the other hand, is expressive of the resulting architecture. Essentially, it is a smaller visual representation of the era and reflects the principles of the movement. In to relation the Industrial Revolution, Art from the abstract modern movements is "the logical conclusion of a gradual development of a number of preceding decades. (Manovich)" For example, Mondrians paintings gradually disintegrate from the original, marginally un-manipulated image into a series of lines and shapes that represent the image. This breakdown comes back to the industrial revolution
Figure 1 Piet Mondrian's Composition with Red, Yellow and Blue (1921)
and constructivist movements because it is breaking down the original structure into something that is visible to the naked eye it is simplicity reformed. The DeStijl movement, of
which Mondrian (fig. 1) was a part of, emphasized the harmonious construction of objects, including furniture and visual art (wikipedia). Generative art today is a direct response to the manipulation of knowledge to suit the means of the artist. The artwork is created using physics and computer-generated
Page 4 of 5 Krystle Flower VIS 159 Nate Harrison code to create an interaction between the viewer, creator and the piece. "This interaction typically leads to emergent properties - a priori unpredictable global behavior (Manovich)" that is then reflected by thinking, feeling and perceiving. This has changed from the abstract movement because viewers are not expected to really see or feel, merely to experience. However generative Internet art is purposely changing and creating various new shapes and forms that stimulate the mind and senses, just like what is seen on websites like on processing.org and gernative.net. Films such as Emak Bakia and Playtime utilize new visual techniques to portray a commentary on the positives and negatives of both the industrial and information age. As exemplified in Man Rays Emak Bakia, we are shown a view of the industrial revolution that expresses a celebration of modern life. He uses new forms of filming to emphasize how modern life is changing and creating more positives for the work force. He emphasizes the chaotic, fast paced lifestyle that is developed within the industrial revolution. The methods Man Ray uses are repetition and superimposition to really emphasize the constant motion associated with the ,,modern lifestyle. However, in Jacque Tatis Playtime, "we are exposed to the luxury of retrospect, seeing as fifty years of industry has been at Tatis disposal (Section)". Movement has been added to peoples lives where it was not before, making it
chaotic. Things have become faster, Figure 2 Jacque Tati's Playtime (1967)
Page 5 of 5 Krystle Flower VIS 159 Nate Harrison easier, and cheaper and Tati supposes that this is a bad thing. In its critique, Playtime shows how society has gone from a grid-like fascist structure to a surreal quagmire of a carnival circus. This is expressed through circular motion. While in Man Ray, it is a graphical representation of modern society; Tati uses it to represent the negative chaos of todays culture and conformity. In conclusion, the information society and industrial revolution have in their own ways expressed the standards of creating and developing art for different generations and societal conditions. The Industrial revolution created a need to inspire a constructive means of approaching design and the function thereof while our technology based information society has created a new way of thinking and creating art by manipulating our standards of visual perception and usage of information.
Sources: Benjamin, Walter. "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction." 1936. <" http://bid.berkeley.edu/bidclass/readings/benjamin.html"> Manovich, Lev. "Abstraction and Complexity." Specific quotes taken from sections on "Complexity" and "Modernist Reduction" Scanlon, Jessie. "Frank Gehry for the Rest of Us." Issue 12.11 Wired Magazine. November 2004. < http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.11/gehry.html> Section. Specific quotes and information taken from sections on January 24 th, 2007 and February 21st, 2007. Wikipedia. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Stijl>