Tom Wolfe, From Bauhaus to our house- fight against Bourgeois style

The new age of art compound, the story of European influences in modern and post-modern movements in art and architecture.

“Every Building must have its own soul”,Louis Kahn

The story begins in Germany after WWI, when “young American architects, along with artists and odd –lot intellectuals, are roaming through Europe”, they are called “The lost generation”. Their motto (Malcolm Cowley’s) was, “They do things better in Europe”.

Ambitious artists had to join a movement, a school or any type of “ism- a compound”.
The most influential of them all was Walter Gropius, THE SILVER PRINCE, founder of a new movement and School, Bauhaus. He wanted an art and technology to be in a “New Unity”. The Bauhaus School opened in German capital in 1919, it was a “commune, a spiritual movement,” with a “radical approach to art in all its forms, a philosophical centre comparable to Garden of Epicurus.”

“Ideas have consequences; the Bauhaus style proceeded from certain firm assumptions. First, the new architecture was being created for the workers. (...) Second, the new architecture was to reject all things bourgeois.” Dostoyevsky

The theory of the century was to build a non-bourgeois buildings, concrete, steel, wood, glass and stucco, “honest materials (...). Inside and out, they were white or beige with the occasional contrasting detail in black and grey. "

Le Corbuisier’s Villa Savoye










In the meantime, in art, Cubist technique of painting showed two theories, on one of the pictures with a cartoon face profile, with both eyes on the same side of the nose. “(1) the theory of flatness, derived from Braque’s notion that painting was nothing more than a certain arrangements of colours and forms on a flat surface; and (2) theory of simultaneity, derived from discoveries (...) indicating that a person sees an object from two angles simultaneously. “

In music, Arnold Schoenberg, experimented with mathematically coded music that proved, in a new age of “art compound”, the spirit of avant-garde.

As USA emerged from the WWI on top of the world, she was the only one not to be demolished unlike most of the European countries. She didn’t even have a bourgeois, and only little interest in socialism. The Empire State Building, sky scrapers with top ornaments were popular icons of US modern architecture. She had ”The International Style” with its main function, to please the client. It was “the first great universal style since Medieval and Classical revivals, and first truly modern style since the Renaissance.”

In 1929 the Museum of Modern Art opened and European Modernism in painting and sculpture was established in America. Gropius was made a head of school of Architecture at Harvard, and Breuer joined him there.

1940-50s Buckminster Fuller spread his innovative and inspirational ideas lecturing at Yale. He introduced a new style, “The Architects Collaborative”.

In 1950 Yale got his own Bauhaus-en, Joseph Albers, who became a head of fine arts instruction. With the moment it was noticed that every student was following the same pattern in designing buildings, box of glass and steel and concrete, with tiny beige bricks, the style became to be known as The Yale Box.

Further years brought “buildings like factories” in modern style by Mies, and all the style was bound to be repetitive since it aimed to be non-bourgeoisie. Banshaft, another architect, said about glassy boxes that, “he will keep doing them until he does one he likes.” Philip Johnson worked along with his assistant Mies, creating buildings in minimalistic style.

In 1954 after Edward Durell Stone being under the influence of his “very explosive” wife, he created an ornamental design of the American Embassy in New Delhi. His second International style achievement was house in Mount Kisco, the Kowalski house.

Earlier mentioned, Philip Johnson took over Stone’s job of building an addition on West Fifty Street. Stone was instead asked to design Gallery of Modern Art.
1960s were filled with “Morris Lapidus”, architecture of Joy.



1980s brought a new solution to architectural disasters, it was decided that unwanted buildings would be blown up.

In XX century photography, John Szarkowski was popular of his virtues like blurring, grotesque foreshorterings, untrue colours, images chopped off the edge of the film frame etc. , “they managed to make photography utterly baffling to those unwilling to come inside the compound and learn the theories and codes.”

God, Freedom, Immortality, man’s fate were seen “helplessly naive and bourgeois. The proper concern of philosophy was the nature of meaning.”

The struggle to be original outside of the compound was excluding architects like Stone, Saarine and kept the ongoing pattern until a new character, Robert Venturi demonstrated a new way in 1966. He said, “less is a bore” , he wanted to bring architecture from level of university elite to “ordinary people”. He spoke of “a complex and contradictory architecture based on the richness and ambiguity of modern experience”, he brought modernism to scholastic age. Venturi, in his diplomatic genius, was testing the subtlety of other architects, creating Post-Modernism architecture and continued the fight with monothematic glassy boxes.

The University of Winchester Journalism course,
Year II, Semester 2
History and Context of Journalism part IV

Tom Wolfe, From Bauhaus to our house

Orwellian Newspeak in today’s world- Manipulation of words

Manipulation of words and their meanings was used in various aspects of life through centuries. Old-speak, in other words, standard English gave a beginning to a new-speak “with all words which represent unpopular (or politically incorrect) ideas removed.” An Old- thinking became “holding on to old ideas and patterns of thought not consistent with current government policy (…) maintaining a belief that is no longer acceptable, but was normal just a few years prior." These definitions seem harmless and, quite contemporary we could even say, yet they were used in Orwellian Newspeak Dictionary, 1984. Every action introducing a new ideology by people in power, should be considered with the highest suspicion, as people in power will never have anything against having even more power.

Turning words into tools of manipulation of people’s thought is a very common act used throughout the history e.g. in society, politics, religion or economy. Let’s take for example marketing systems that have boosted up economy in 1920 in America when discoveries of Sigmund Freud (Crowd Psychology & Manipulation) have been used by his nephew Edward Bernays in advertising and creating an era of mass democracy. Freud influenced masses by manipulation of their unconscious desires and learnt how to control them. The language and symbols in many advertisements could be easily compared to an Orwellian Newspeak. Bernays used his uncles’ studies over humans’ desires to create new products that were not needed but thanks to the manipulation of images and language that would relate to people’s desires or needs, they would turn into necessity, just like The Party in 1984,which created a new ideal world that forced its society to believe in its new rules and language to be true.

Many of these techniques are used in today’s world and they can be an incredibly effective tool in creating new desires based on needs. In today’s world we are most likely manipulated through media and new behaviours that are believed to be up to dated in standards that lead to a successful life. Leaders of the countries give speeches to assure of their right choices but everyone makes mistakes; politicians lead their campaigns in superlatives about themselves to gain our trust but no one is perfect; church leaders talk to us about different ways and truths that will lead us to “God” and choose their religion as the right one but there is no right or wrong religion, and owners of big businesses led by the desire to gain more money create more attractive advertisements for their products using “fashionable” technologies to attract masses even though most likely their products aren’t attractive or necessary .

ACAI BERRY

Let’s have a look on, one of the biggest problems of today’s societies in countries like America or England is obesity and unhealthy life styles and just after being persuaded into buying cheap chocolate bars and economic value burgers with only 2% meat we are persuaded into buying dietary products e.g. product that has been quite a hit in USA and is now available in England.

Looking into basic knowledge, we all know that fruits are good for us, they are full of vitamins and nutrients that our body needs to function well. If we started to eat fruits instead of sweets or fatty foods twice a day it is natural that we would loose weight. One of the American companies decided to use this basic idea creating a new product : tablets and juices made of Acai berries that help people to loose weight and benefit the body.

To start of, how were the berries discovered? Acai Berries were found in the jungles of the Amazon, they are full of nutrients, antioxidants and essential fatty acids that are beneficial for human’s body but there is no evidence that it is specifically for loosing weight. But in 2009 it the product was called an obesity killer: positive comments on the product, as obviously that is what everyone should expect after eating berries twice a day everyday for months anyway, but obviously the glory came to tablets not the fruit itself. Acai Berry Diet Effects Videos

NEWSPEAK IN THE PRODUCT'S MARKETING, SERVICE AND THE CREATION OF NEED FOR TABLETS

There were also complaints, 99 people posted negative comments on their “Free Trial” which is in fact charged for, Cancelling the trial is extremely difficult people who have joined the “Free” trial have had to pay for the trials until they cancelled their whole accounts. The “help desk” does not answer the phone for at least half an hour or not answers at all, and emails are hardly responded to from their “customer assistance”. The product’s “Side Effects” is under this Video, and when clicking on “Acai Berry Warning” you would probably expect some sort of side effects symptoms or catches uncovered through the internet and in the meantime it is a full story about discovering Acai Berries, benefits of the fruits and advertisements of a Free Trial with the company!

Acai berry scam is widely investigated on you tube.

There is a woman who claimed to have lost lots of weight and so she created a blog about it. She was a model hired for advertising purposes, her name wasn’t real and pictures were fabricated.

In some of the reviews on the product, an American girl who decided to test it, expressed her frustration over the product that decided to manipulate people into buying an unnecessary instead of encouraging to eat fruit itself.

Winchester University Journalism Course
History and Context of Journalism Part III

The Island - Idea from1984 in a contemporary cinema

The Island is a fantastic action/ sci-fi movie from the director of Armageddon and The Rock, Michael Bay, who uses the idea of world run by the Big Brother from George Orwell’s 1984.
Ewan McGregor (Lincoln Six-Echo) and Scarlett Hohansson (Jordan Two-Delta), residents of the hi-tech isolated compound impersonate Winston and Julia from 1984.

In the middle of 21century, Lincoln Six-Echo (Winston) lives in a controlled, and run in strict orders society. He is told what to dress, eat and is forbidden closer contacts with other members of the society; no touching or free thinking, having conversations is limited by time and content. Questioning is not allowed and traced by the “Doctor” (O’Brien, Big Brother).

The life of all members of the society is monitored for “their own good” as they have survived the ecological catastrophe, which presumably killed everyone else.
The only place that survived outside was “The Island”- the last piece of land that was not polluted. Only chosen members of the society are allowed onto the Island. The Big Lottery that is made periodically, picking people from the society, becomes a symbol of desires, an award that gives aim to their lives and something to look forward to. The winner goes onto the beautiful Island and has to help in rebuilding the worlds’ population.

Lincoln keeps having dreams which make him question all the restrictions put onto members of his society. It is immediately noticed and Lincoln is called to the room (Room 101) and questioned about his dreams.

His suspicions begin when he discovers that not everything is as it seems and that everything to do with his life is a lie. He finds out that people who win the lottery don’t go to The Island and that they are worth more dead than alive. He discovers The Merrick Institute's Foundation room in which the agnates are implanted with memories of lives never lived.

When Jordan (Julia) is chosen to go to The Island, Lincoln decides to stop her. This is when their big escape to the unknown world outside begins. After they discover they are clones they begin their chase after their sponsors and reasons for their creation.

However, runs the project of keeping the clones in state of officially called “vegetation”. The Institute claims that their project of creating organ donors is done within the law about cloning people set in 2015, and it is nowhere near stopping their multimillion business.

Having two not “vegetating” but living clones outside is a disastrous threat for The Merrick Institute. The Institute sends special forces to retrieve the two clones. Lincoln and Jordan run away to lead a dream life they always wanted and to save the lives of those they left behind. Soon they reveal the truth about The Island.


The Island by Michael Bay- Contemporary version of George Orwell's 1984
Winchester University Journalism Course History and Context of Journalism Part III