Cuba Street- the Political Campaign

A Political campaigner carrying a small child or a tray of ready made frozen bullets retailed at $14.99. Who wins your vote?

The thought of what’s now culturally sensitive and insensitive in this modern world can still be viewed through a conservative viewpoint. How we interpret its aura through its visual language is determined by what has been hammered into us as socially acceptable. Regardless of whether we symbolize a child being carried as a ‘pure’ thought or frozen ice bullets as ‘impure’ our initial opinions and feelings fall under that social code.

Perhaps we have only touched on what it is to be ‘culturally rich’ and base our ideals on the thought that in order to look forward you must look back.

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Technology and Progress

“Art rises above all methods; in itself it cannot be taught, but the crafts certainly can be… hence, a thorough training in the crafts, acquired in workshops and on experimental and practical sites, is required of all students as the indispensable basis for all artistic production.” This key philosophy of the Bauhaus movement first introduced in 1919 by Walter Gropius can still be applicable in our first year design course today. Coming from only a high school level of experience of design, what I have taken from this year is the emphasis of experimentation and the importance of meaning within our projects. A recent project for example, focused on the poetic effects of simple materials to create a ‘story’ behind a sculptural piece. Like past Bauhaus students, who were taught to be intimate with their materials through drawing and feeling, we are encouraged to experiment with what could be considered as ‘common materials,’ such as wood or paper, “to achi

Politics of Design- the 3D world

3D movies- hype or justified purchase? The American National Exhibition in Sokolniki Park, Moscow, 1959 showed the ideology of design through images of what was considered as ‘happy’ families because of what the American society thought each individual needed. This idea is still implemented today through the idea that 3D viewing is an ‘enhancement’ to our cinematic industry. 2D viewing is no longer enough and so is slowly being replaced in cinemas and even in our own homes with TVs and video games specializing in the 3D world. With this growing technology our ‘needs’ grow and therefore our environment becomes ‘better’ and in turn so do we. Perhaps it implicates a false impression of status- that we can pay to own the experience of having things appear 3D in front of us although the feeling of what’s real is lost. Sure, we can reach into a virtual cave or building but it is a ghost effect, the imitation takes away from the authentic an

the final blog

The way this course was designed has helped. I think it’s the way these topics are taken from different perspectives- from the historian, different political views and the lecturer. Because we are forced, or really I guess it is up to us, to read and appreciate what’s happened and how all of that had built up into what design is today. I think there has been some effective learning here although perhaps some more class discussions would contribute to this. I think that being able to identify or actually being able to understand why some things are done has helped me personally to interpret design and what it’s about to me. Learning about the reasoning behind why people created works of art and design due to social/political influences as well as their own contexts and backgrounds has made me think about why I do, not just design but really anything and what it means. So I guess this class has helped me, it’s a nice change from solely focussing on big hand ins and projects- something I

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