'Modernity and Modernism' is the first lecture under our 'Context of Practice' Module. My notes are a little dishevelled/illegible to be scanned in, so this will be my attempt at condensing them into a summary.
Modernism is described to be something that 'improves', 'is new', 'the best', as well as emerging out of the subjective responses of artists/ designers to modernity.
It is generally said that Modernity started mid 18th century and finished by the 1960's and goes hand in hand with The City - which with it brings Industrialisation and Urbanisation. As trains and electrify are invented people began converting from slow-paced country to busy efficient cities. Paris lead the way as the most 'modern' city for quite some time in the early 20th Century - a contributing factor being that during the mid 1800's they had literally bulldozed the winding streets and replaced them with open boulevards by a designer ('Haussman') this lowered crime rates but also created a form of Social Control. Paris also created the Eiffell tower which 'rises above other things' and represents modernism (being true to it's material - not trying to mask it), showing the ambition, drive and power of modernity, whether or not this benefited the individual however is to be questioned - as though - during modernity countries agree on a standardised time and become more 'in sync' than ever, there's a large increase of Lonelyness, Isolation and individualism in cities, personality has to be presented through more obvious, aesthetics, such as fashion. People began drowning their sorrows. Work became rationalised, and there was an increase in stress as things began to develop, things that help our productivity as a whole - but perhaps decreased happiness. The cultural race for supremacy however did create pro's - such as during the 18th Century Scientific/ Philisophical thinking making leaps and bounds.
The city became the 'city of life' - a character within itself - and therefore changed the way artists painted - they depict people interacting with the city - illustrating the isolation and busyness and showing the painters interpretation of modern experiences - instead of paintings which depict stories etc. This also meant techniques in the application and style of painting changed abandoning realism for expressionism, trying to paint 'experiences' through the way they paint, not necessarily their subject matter.
Modernism in Design - Focuses on truth to material, where Form follows functions. 'Ornate is crime' - said by Aldof Loos, sums up modernism, as it is supports anti-historicism, (there is no need to look backward at old styles) to try and be 'in trend' will mean the object will become dated. (I can't help being reminded of a thing in 1984 where Winston finds a paperweight beautiful - because the blown glass serves no discernible purpose - the way it looks had no use, other than to be ornate -which is the complete opposite sentiment of this) Modernism in design becomes international, a language of design that could be recognised and understood everywhere. It even reached such things as font. 'sans-serif' took away any flick or embellishment that are in such fonts as Times New Roman , because they serve no purpose. It's also found in such things as Bauhaus cutlery, it will be 'timeless' as it serves its function and is simple.
It seems that this information on Modernism and Modernity relates to the course through its ability to be changed into a 'story'. Whether it being through the Transmedia Character - the 'Artist Genius' - such as Van Gogh, that is apparent through a lot of films etc. or it's influence in such things as science fiction. A lot of science fiction is a produce of modernism - even indirectly. In the 1920/30's modernist writers were already exploring different ways of exploring story tellings, playing with the form and structure of narrative, finding new ways of using time and space. For example, a strong theme in modernist writing was alienation, causing the 'norm' of the protagonists surroundings to seem unusual and bizarre.
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