This week’s articles “Pop to Post-modernism: Changing Values” by Jonathan M. Woodham (1997) and “The Post-Modern Information World and the Rise of the Cognitariat” written by Charles Jencks (2003) focuses on the transitioning era from Modernism to Post-modernism culture and the changes of society.
In the late 20th century, Post-modernism was a reaction and criticism to modernism which was influenced by the dissatisfaction shift during the postwar period. Postmodernism refers to the state that lacks a central hierarchy and one that is complex, ambiguous, and diverse. It includes skeptical interpretations of culture, literature, art, music, philosophy, history, economics, architecture, fiction, and literary criticism.
In the “Twentieth-Century Design” textbook, Woodham discusses the progression of post-modernism era and the shift towards eclecticism (meaning a diverse quality of approaches) in terms of theories, styles, and ideas. Due to the influence of postmodernism technology, the style was very chaotic. One of the important American theorist named, Robert Venturi describe postmodernism as “elements which are hybrid rather than pure, compromising rather than clear, distorted rather than straightforward, ambiguous rather than articulated, conventional rather than design, accommodating rather than excluding, redundant rather than simple, as well as innovating, inconsistent rather than direct and clear.” (Woodham, 191). Postmodernists believed in multiculturalism and to make objects suit to our way of life, abilities and ideals that characterized in a pluralist society. They denied the application of logical thinking. Rather, the thinking was based on an unscientific, irrational thought process.
Examples:
Post Modernism: Furniture Design (i.e. Memphis, Carlton Bookcase, 1981)
- a premium on colour, decoration and experimentation with form and surface.
- Modernist believed in “less is more” whereas postmodernist like Robert Venturi famously would say, “Less is a bore.”
- Postmodernist architecture was one of the first aesthetic movements to openly challenge Modernism as antiquated and “totalitarian”, favoring personal preferences and variety over objective, ultimate truths or principles.
Post Modernism: Graphic Design (i.e. Wolfgang, Weingard-1941)
- Internationally known graphic designer and typographer.
- His work is categorized as Swiss typography and he is credited as “the father” of New Wave or Swiss Punk typography.
- more than one style, chaotic and collage style
Moving forward to the second article called, “The Post-Modern Information World and the Rise of the Cognitariat” written by Charles Jencks (2003) discusses the shift towards pluralism and cultural eclectism during postmodernism. The author mainly talks about the change of cultural boundaries are due to the media and post-modernism technology. In theory, modern industrialized production which is Fordism changes from large scale mass production methods to more towards the use of small and flexible manufacture units which basically means companies in post-Fordism broke away traditional standards. A modernised society depended on most people mass-producing objects in a factory whereas post-modernised depended on the segmented production of ideas and images in an office. (Jencks, 85). With the evolving circumstances during this era, there was also the negative aspect where this leads to the service sector fluctuated over the last 10 years as well as the social gap between rich and poor (cognitariat and proletariat).
Comparing and contrasting the two articles, both are very similar in terms of postmodernism being eclecticism and diverse. As both articles describe the changing values of post-modernism era in society. You can also see that the transition of simplicity from modernism to postmodernism is more decorative and chaotic due to the exposure of technological aspect. In today’s society, I definitely do see that it resonates to post-modernism as we live in a multicultural era, just by the things we are surrounded by or see around us. In the digital world, technology is what we are today and the way we use and interact demonstrates that the future in the electronics and products we use will reach the cultural diversity that postmodernism aims for.
Discussion:
- Do you agree that our society today resonates to post-modernism? Should we continue to use this style for the future?
- What are the main differences or highlights you see in modernism and post-modernism era?
word count: 600
Works Cited:
Woodham, Jonathan M. “Twentieth-Century Design”, 1997. Chapter 8.
Jencks Charles. “The Post-Modern Information World and the Rise of the Cognitariat.” The Industrial Design Reader. Ed. Carma Gorman. New York: Allworth Press, 2003. 223–227.
