ridiculous. wc --- On Fri, 3/20/09, Chris Miller <[email protected]> wrote:
> From: Chris Miller <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: "Innovation of new objects seems to go mo re and more toward the d evelopment of tawdry junk for the annual Christmas gift market. > To: [email protected] > Date: Friday, March 20, 2009, 9:56 AM > What was so wrong with the "Good > Design" exhibitions that the M.O.M.A. > discontinued in 1955? Was it just that they were a > "Modernist aesthetic > rampage against ornament and historicist styles" (as Peter > Hall eloquently put > it). > > Or is there something wrong-headed about any attempt to > consider the aesthetic > quality of a design, exclusive of any other considerations > ? > (like sustainability, accessibility, functionality, > ergonomics, affordability > etc) > > As Peter Hall would explain it, a fork is an argument > against touching food > with your fingers -- but is it possible to ignore that > argument, and just > consider whether one fork looks better than another ? > > I think so. > > Just as I think the aesthetics of a F.L.W. prairie style > house can be > considered without concern for whether his roofs are > always leaking and his > doorways are often too short. > > And the same with automobiles. > > To choose a visual design that is "more suited to the > fashion industry than to > industrial manufacturing." is one decision. To "allow > much wider specs for > parts and materials" is another, and the one does not > require the other. > > So, I would have no problem with M.O.M.A. reinstating its > annual exhibitions > of "Good Design" -- except, that first it needs to > apply their standards of > good visual design, whatever they might be, to the art > works in their own > collection. > > (and no, I don't want aesthetic decisions to be made by > engineers - and I > don't think that airplanes are anything more than > fascinating eyesores) > > > ____________________________________________________________ > Come clean with a brand new shower. Click now! > http://thirdpartyoffers.netzero.net/TGL2231/fc/BLSrjnxSDIDQn8jC5riTYBCenlLFZU > iSXkRsb8a2afTwtsbrac6GbhDykE4/
