thestig, Jencks

Postmodernism uses double-coding – irony, ambiguity and contradiction – to “allow us to read the present in the past as much as the past in the present, as if history proceeded by a gradual evolution of permanent forms rather than a succession of revolutionary styles each one of which obliterates its predecessor” (Jencks 289). In reading this section, I couldn’t help but think what would Marx say? In Sociological Theory, we just read part of Marx’s German Ideology, in which he explains his Materialist Perspective, and how we can understand a society. His writings suggest that in order to understand society, what’s most important is to study the economic system. Jencks would not agree with this, arguing that it’s culture, whether it is art, architecture, plays, and rhetoric, which define the history of a State. With postmodernism, we are able to understand where we came from, but have no idea where we are going.

My dad is an architect, so I hear a lot about design principles from him whenever we are traveling are just walking around. One of his, and therefore my pet peeves of design is when an architect chooses to build something that is completely out of place. For example, some developments up north are designed to look like an old Italian Villa. I understand that the owner and architect might appreciate the design for their own reasons, and that’s fine; what I’m trying to figure out it why do they like it? What is the point in trying to be something that is completely outdated? One of the benefits of living in this postmodern world is that we have the opportunity to create things that are radically different. To me, an architect’s job is to be the mastermind of the future – to keep innovating and creating new art that will tell a story about who we are. After all, life is short, and art is long.