TASK 6: Postmodernism - exhibition

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”