Last
friday we visited the V&A museum to explore the exhibition of
“Postmodernism”. We had the opportunity to see various works of different
creators within that time including architecture, fashion, music, posters, signage,
sculpture and magazines. Postmodernism is a movement of art that rejects the
ideas of modernism such as order or discipline in favor of expression and instincts.
During the visit I was
impressed by the work of:
Alexander
Brodsky and Ilya Utkin, the best known as Paper
Architects,
whose work “Paper architecture” saw print but has never been build,
Giulio Paulini ”The other
figure” postmodern mood sculpture where you can see two identical portraits
staring at the third one that lies between them on the
floor smashed into pieces “Melancolia”.
Peter Dunn
and Loraine Leeson “Big
money is moving in”, Docland community poster project, a billboard that shows a bricolaged
London skyline, with huge piles of cash sweeping away the existing cityscape.
Interesting political protest with postmodern techniques.
Jenny Holzer, “Protect me
from what I want”, her artwork prompts critical reflection on desire, it`s
causes and effects and the whirlwind of commerce that surrounds it.
Wendy Maryama, ”Mickey
macintosh chair”, a handmade chair that features the most famous pair of
ears.
It
was a very effective exhibit, telling its story and passing the message. One of
the exhibitions strengths is its presentation with a variety of media and
formats like audio, video, print and physical objects! The method is very
effective and I think that the artifacts are appropriate for the topics as the
samples listed above and they do convince me with their message. The labels and
their descriptions are very helpful and easy to understand and the audio-visual
segments communicate clearly. I have learned a lot of new things from the
interactive components of the exhibitions and yes; they do tell effective
stories about the movement. One of the attributes that made me slightly loose
interest in the exhibits is the over exaggeration of fashion and its style, as if it were from a different planet. In addition, the movement as a
whole over does and over uses decorations deterring my interests.
Being
impressed by their ways of expression I think that postmodernism can be the most
controversial movement in art and designs history. Postmodernism came as a
response to modernist needs of opening a new window and by contrast was more
like a broken mirror or a reflecting surface made of many fragments with its key principles that were of
complexity and contradictory. The movement brought a drastic freedom to design,
through actions that were often funny, sometimes provoking and in some cases
bizarre. Above all, postmodernism brought awareness about style itself. What is
next?
 |
| Alexander
Brodsky and Ilya Utkin, Paper architecture |
 |
| Giulio Paulini ”The other
figure” |
 |
| Jenny Holzer, “Protect me
from what I want” |
 |
| Peter Dunn
and Loraine Leeson, “Big
money is moving in” |
 |
| Wendy Maryama, ”Mickey
macintosh chair” |
