Blog post 7.

The symbolic universe I have chosen to identify for this week’s blog post is one that affects many New Zealanders; Saving Christchurch. This symbolic universe is still being constructed as the decision as to what will be done is still being made. Will everyone strive to rebuild or flee the city. Most are focusing on rebuilding the city and its important features such as the Cathedral which is a very important building for Christchurch. This particular symbolic universe is important to most New Zealanders as the earthquake that destroyed the city broke the idea that New Zealand is a safe place. The notion of rebuilding and recovering has helped those affected by the earthquake get past the traumatic events. The media and design are integral parts for planting the seeds and sustaining the growth of symbolic universes. It’s basically propaganda that is used to get people to walk the same way. There are many television pieces on how Christchurch must be rebuilt and about the strength of its people. On a bus stop I walk past every morning there is a Lincoln university poster that asks “what does it take to rebuild a city”

Blog post 9 (LOL)

I both agree and disagree with Benjamin when he said "To an ever greater degree the work of art reproduced becomes the work of art designed for reproducibility”. Some mediums such as the obvious photography and digital creation are designed to be reproduced but other mediums in the fine arts have had technology become available to reproduce or copy them. The process of creating prints is what broke the ‘one off’ and uniqueness of a work of art as the ability to easily create multiple works. The digital age has made it easier to share information and images. We no longer need to go to a gallery or museum to see the desired object. However a copy of something such as the Mona Lisa or the statue of David does not have the history and importance behind it. It doesn’t have the grandeur and lineage that the actual object has. “Authentic” is now to be left with historical pieces as modern mediums can be too easily reproduced.

Blog post 5

Colour and light have only in the last century become fully understood. Centuries of experimentation by educated men has brought our understanding of light and colour to its current level starting with Newton. Although not an artist he started the trend of polymaths who tended to paint to investigate colour, our perceptions of it and the role of light. Chevreul also not an artist was the first to theorise that the mind and the eyes perception play a big part in what we see as colour and theorised the laws of simultaneous contrast. Goethe agreed with Chevreul in that colour is decided and perceived in the brain and eye. He argued that Newton’s view on colour was too mathematical and that colour was subjective to the individual. Runge was the first artist to theorise the psychology behind colours and their symbolism. He was the first to understand the interaction of light shadow and colour and produced the colour sphere, an updated version of the wheel created by Newton. Turner agreed with Runge and due to his longer life span he was able to further develop the idea behind the symbolism in colours and quantified colour and its relative terms into two poles separating mainly by negative and positive connotations. Impressionists used these new tools and understandings of colour to work with colour merging and optical tricks. Post impressionists worked further in symbolism and moods of colours and their combinations leading to our current psychological and physiological understanding of colour.

Gage, John. (1993). Colours of the Mind in Colour and Culture: Practice and Meaning from Antiquity to Abstraction 

New York: Thames and Hudson, 12 (August 2011), 191-212. Retrieved from http://dev.schoolofdesign.ac.nz/mod/folder/view.php?id=135

Blog post 3

I both agree and disagree with Adolf Loos regarding the whole “culture is synonymous with the removal of ornament” debacle. The statement is too broad to be applicable in every circumstance and does not consider style which I am sure Adolf Loos was certainly lacking. I agree with him in saying early cultures ornamented everything because that’s what they did but just because someone  now wears a bit of bling doesn’t make them a degenerate criminal. What he postulates is that the more evolved a culture is the blander and plain a culture gets. But what of modern architecture where ornamentation has merged with form and now the two exist in almost all modern buildings. What he suggests is that eventually we will evolve to a point where there is nothing but function in design as ornamentation will have been weaned out to skimp on production costs. However I believe that as long as there is rich business men there will always be someone willing to pay one and a half million for a watch. People want to show their wealth. It’s what people do  

blog post 3

What Jones meant when he said “Construction should be decorated,  Decoration should never be constructed” he meant  that you should design for function then adorn it rather than designing it just to look good. He argues that this does not lead to good design. I somewhat 

disagree. It keeps things interesting when things are aesthetics are higher up on the design hierarchy as long as they function as they should.

Although the hamburger phone is a flawed design they are one of the coolest gimmicks to hit communications. Novelty phones don’t work the best after the first few months of use, those few months are an exciting time of being able to talk through a hamburger or a beer bottle. When considering this design Jones would have been appalled as their function is almost lost to aesthetics. They are really just an ornament with a phone tacked on   

171 blog post 2.

 The pendulum swing the Beatles lived through.

 

The Beatles were a band that lived and performed through a pendulum swing. The Beatles were originally a wholesome suit and tie wearing band of good boys formed in 1960 at the beginning of a swing of the pendulum. They came from 50s looks and sounds until they were seduced by the cultural change and became the band that sang Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. They clearly show through their dress, album artwork and musical style the style and social change that occurred in the 60s. The cultural change was brought about by the hippie movement bringing with such sensuous ideas such as free love, anti Christianity and drug taking. The change is prevalent in the design of their album covers. “Please please me” is very aesthetically classically inspired. However “Yellow Submarine” is a different story. The 60s were a time of change; female sexuality was having a revolution which may explain the more feminine and curvaceous aesthetics in fashion art and of course the Beatles.

171 first blog post. Blog assignment 1

 This was posted last friday just in the wrong blog because im stupid like that

The Fender Telecaster
 
The humble Fender Telecaster is the guitar that brought the electric guitar to the common man. Designed in 1950 by Leo Fender to be cheap, simple and effective it was the first solid body electric on the market. It was the most commonly used instrument by early rock and roller.