 |
| Art deco pool in the movie Passengers |
As a teen I read Anne Rice's melodramatic Interview with a vampire series. Mostly trash with a few good passages. In it an intellectual vampire named Louis struggles with immortality and feels detached from the modern world. He spends a few decades reading literature and art and complains about not beeing able to connect to the contemporary world after centuries of being alive.
Of course, too young to have experienced decades of life, I did not understand him. An immortal able to read at supernatural speed, imagine all the things he could accomplish and do and READ.
For some reason I feel this detachment from the modern world when it comes to tech, art and design. An interesting 15 minute look on urban design and history can be seen in the new channel by the Cultural Tutor.
"The cultural tutor how did the modern world become so ugly":
https://youtube.com/watch?v=tWYxrowovts
I'm not sure convenience is the reason that the 60s gave as the ugliest design of all time; brutalism. Gone are the very pretty art deco, art nouveau movements in city planning.
I enjoy walking. Cities like Paris, London and Prague are not more walkable than other cities, but they do provide interesting buildings and details to look at. Slowing down to sit in a park with ornamental features are the oases in modern life.
I'm not fond of Victorian ornamentation, but had hoped that by now design would have thought of our own twentyfirst century ornamentation, rather than the ubiquitous square box look.
In science fiction movies I always pay attention to the set design. The future is always envisioned similarly: white, sleek, clean and sterile. It does not seem more futuristic, but seems to imply that we'll do away with design beyond function.
 |
| Main area from the movie The Passengers |
The design from this movie was featured in Architectural digest. To me the main area of the space ship looks like the interior of a mall. The rest is an updated art deco.
That our surroundings influence our mood is scientifically proven. If only the public demanded nicer living spaces and didn't leave city planning and design to cities negotiating building contracts of the cheap for now, pay more later (when it needs to be replaced) mindset.
If we had better designs maybe people would be calmer.
ReplyDeleteCodex: I think so too.
DeleteBrutalism actually looked nice when it was new, and was softened with some plants and colorful carpeting or furniture (like the Barbican Centre). The problem is a lot of it is poured concrete, and that doesn't age well. It stains and darkens and pretty soon everything looks very Soviet.
ReplyDeleteCodex: It's subjective I guess. Even when new they went up cheap and dirty. I still think we need some new designs rather than rehashing old ones.
DeleteHave a look at utopia here: https://vimeo.com/jankamensky
ReplyDeleteFor reality, check out recent videos of Copenhagen, Utrecht, Amsterdam, Ghent and Paris.
Codex: Thank you Sabine. The greening projects exist in many major cities. Sadly some are only temporary. The cities you mentioned are tourist attractions and kept the Beauty of old buildings. Not all cities have that. Modern design is austere and bleak, "clean lines" are not futuristic, which is what culture tutor was referring to.
ReplyDelete*claps* at that last paragraph...most communities in Canada are sorely lacking in this regard, but are attempting to rectify this issue over time.
ReplyDeleteThe appreciation of art or not is a cultural thing. The Japanese consider art to be essential and is incorporated is everything from architecture to gardens to everyday items. The government supports artists and the arts and some are even considered national treasures. Over here art and music are the first things cut from a curriculum. Our national government, especially the current one, has no use for funding the arts though some cities have percent for the arts and public art programs. But decorative architecture costs more so is cut by a population that has no appreciation for the arts not being exposed on a regular basis. And yeah, do not get the appeal of brutalism, like living in a prison cell block.
ReplyDelete