The Museum of Modern Art, New York & Aram Bartholl
We are all in a whole new era that many small graphic and virtual icons that seem to be derived from the physical world. People can make intuitive links in the brain through our own impression to correspond with the objects in the actual world.
When I am doing the research about logos. I found some previous exhibitions from the website of The Museum of Modern Art. Those logos are Google Maps Pin, Power symbol and @.
Google Maps Pin. This Is for Everyone: Design Experiments for the Common Good. Exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art, New York (February 14, 2015-January 18, 2016). Also it is now in the collection of the MoMA.
Google map pin was designed by Jens Eilstrup Rasmussen in 2005 while he was employed by Google. The pin is skinny at the bottom and wider on top, allowing Internet users to see the location on the actual map. (M0MA, 2016)
Google Maps is a popular Internet-based mapping program that offers not only street maps but also photographic views of city streets; directions for walking, driving, and hiking; routing options via public transportation; and business locations. It also powers many applications and services offered by third parties. The unique upside-down teardrop design of the Google Maps Pin was created to be both recognizable and functional, precisely indicating a location without obscuring the area nearby. (M0MA, 2016)
Although those logos are recognizable to many people, in the exhibition also shown the history, context, and backstories behind the common logos in order to present a newer meaning of it through modern art. It presents a different perspective to the audience by bringing the virtual logo to the actual world.
Aram Bartholl is an artist who creates physical Google Maps Pins to mark sites in the material world. The sculpture ‘Map’ became one of his important and iconic works. This project is a public space installation, bring a 20 px graphic icon which stays always at the same size on the computer screen to the real life and questioning the red map marker of the location based search engine Google Maps. Since 2006 it was shown worldwide in many different places, art shows, and cities. It was made from different materials and in different sizes and it marked many different city centers around the world. In the city center series ‘Map’ is set up at the exact spot where Google Maps assumes to be the city center of the city.
The design of the virtual map pin seems to be derived from a physical map needle. On one hand, the marker and information speech bubble next to it cast a shadow on the digital map as if they were physical objects. When the map is switched to satellite mode it seems that they become part of the city.
The intention of this project is to question the relation of how the digital information and technology has been told people information in everyday life, with is the perception of the city is increasingly influenced by geolocation services. Also, the impact of technology has changed the way of communication in our life dramatically over the last 10–20 years.
Power symbol. Gallery label from This Is for Everyone: Design Experiments for the Common Good, February 14, 2015–January 31, 2016
The earliest binary switches were marked with an (I and an O to denote, respectively, a closed electrical circuit (device on) and an open circuit (device off).(In 1973, these two symbols were combined into one now-familiar icon, the official definition of which was, initially, “standby setting.” Thirty years later, an international committee of scientists and engineers undertook a three-year research project, ultimately recommending in 2002 that this combined symbol should henceforth denote it’s more commonly accepted understanding: “power.” (MoMA, 2016)
@. Gallery label from Born out of Necessity, March 2, 2012–January 28, 2013
Since the nineteenth century, @ has appeared on a standard typewriter and computer keyboards as the “commercial a,” used, until fairly recently, almost exclusively by accountants to mean “at the rate of.”
In 1967, Tomlinson joined the technology company, Bolt Beranek and Newman, wherein 1971 he created the world’s first e-mail system for the United States government’s Advanced Research Projects Agency Networks (ARPAnet). He adopted @ as a stand-in for the long and convoluted programming language indicating a message’s destination. This was a design decision of extraordinary elegance and economy — repurposing an existing, available, and underutilized symbol to adapt the standard keyboard to a revolutionary new technology. The sign’s new function is in keeping with its origins: in computer language, as in financial transactions, @ designates a relationship between two entities, establishing a link based on objective and measurable rules. The sign is now part of everyday life all over the world. (MoMA, 2016)
Reference
Aram Bartholl (2016) Works: Map. Available: http://datenform.de/mapeng.html
Aram Bartholl (2016) Google map pin was shown worldwide at the city center of the city. [Photograph] Retrieved from http://datenform.de/mapeng.html
Aram Bartholl (2014) First physical representation, ‘Map’ Summer 2006. Bartholl studio backyard, Borsigstr. 33, Berlin [Photograph] Retrieved from http://datenform.de/mapeng.html
Flickr (2015) The IEC Power Symbol (MoMA — Museum of Modern Arts) [Photograph] Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/j_ortner/16433979563
Holly Wood Soap Box (2016)Google Maps Pin, Photo by John Wronn. [Photograph] Retrieved from http://www.hollywoodsoapbox.com/?attachment_id=14256
MoMA. (2016). @ symbol. Available: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/134555?locale=en. Last accessed 16th Dec 2016.
MoMA. (2016). @ symbol. [Photograph] Retrieved from https://www.moma.org/collection/works/134555?locale=en
MoMA. (2016). Power symbol. Available: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/188563?locale=en. Last accessed 16th Dec 2016.
MoMA. (2016). Google Maps Pin. Available: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/174200?locale=en. Last accessed 16th Dec 2016.
MoMA (2016) Google Maps Pin. [Photograph] Retrieved from https://www.moma.org/collection/works/174200?locale=en