Ceallach_the_Witch
3rd July 2013, 15:24
I'm not entirely sure where this should go, but it didn't seem to fit in either the arts section nor in the political boards so it seemed best to place it in the orphanage that is Non-Political. I suspect that this is going to look a lot sillier than it did when I came up with the idea in the shower earlier today, but here goes.
Under socialism, the creative potentials of humanity will finally be free, unrestricted by worries about how to make a living. Likewise, labour/work will no longer be a soft sort of slavery. And to me, this raised an interesting issue. These days, our places of work are unadorned and dour, the guts of our machines (whether that be a gigantic gas turbine or a desktop computer) are hidden away, often in pretty dreary shells. There are plenty of reasons for this - keeping costs down and so on - but I also think that its partly to do with not being reminded that you're "at work". This kind of thing has become especially prevalent as society has become more relentlessly profit-driven and as art has increasingly become just another commodity.
But if we look back, this isn't always the case. Perhaps most in the mid-late 19th century, places and engines of work were often also designed to be beautiful. There are sewage plants from the 1900's designed with more care and considerations to aesthetic appeal than some art galleries and theatres are today. I'm aware that this is somewhat subjective to what you percieve as a well-designed and attractive building (although to be fair I really like the barbican in london so who am I to talk about nice buildings :P) but think about it, when was the last time you went to work and thought "I am glad i work in such a nice building/with such a well-desined tool/machine." I'm well aware, of course, that this isn't a perfect example because workers were horribly exploited then as now, and of course not all places of work were nice places - I suspect that only the nice ones have survived the last century and all the dangerous ugly shitheaps are long demolished.
What I'm saying is that art and industry have (generally speaking) become separated for a number of reasons. I am not advocating form over function, far from it - I am saying that function can be beautiful in the hands of a good designer.
Essentially, my idea is this. In a socialist system, I think that art and industry would come together once more, since the boundary between work and what we think of as recreation or hobby would be broken down. The reasons for working would be different, and the purpose of production would not be desparate extraction of profit. To me, I think it follows that we would once again build places that are pleasant to look at and pleasant to work in.
Under socialism, the creative potentials of humanity will finally be free, unrestricted by worries about how to make a living. Likewise, labour/work will no longer be a soft sort of slavery. And to me, this raised an interesting issue. These days, our places of work are unadorned and dour, the guts of our machines (whether that be a gigantic gas turbine or a desktop computer) are hidden away, often in pretty dreary shells. There are plenty of reasons for this - keeping costs down and so on - but I also think that its partly to do with not being reminded that you're "at work". This kind of thing has become especially prevalent as society has become more relentlessly profit-driven and as art has increasingly become just another commodity.
But if we look back, this isn't always the case. Perhaps most in the mid-late 19th century, places and engines of work were often also designed to be beautiful. There are sewage plants from the 1900's designed with more care and considerations to aesthetic appeal than some art galleries and theatres are today. I'm aware that this is somewhat subjective to what you percieve as a well-designed and attractive building (although to be fair I really like the barbican in london so who am I to talk about nice buildings :P) but think about it, when was the last time you went to work and thought "I am glad i work in such a nice building/with such a well-desined tool/machine." I'm well aware, of course, that this isn't a perfect example because workers were horribly exploited then as now, and of course not all places of work were nice places - I suspect that only the nice ones have survived the last century and all the dangerous ugly shitheaps are long demolished.
What I'm saying is that art and industry have (generally speaking) become separated for a number of reasons. I am not advocating form over function, far from it - I am saying that function can be beautiful in the hands of a good designer.
Essentially, my idea is this. In a socialist system, I think that art and industry would come together once more, since the boundary between work and what we think of as recreation or hobby would be broken down. The reasons for working would be different, and the purpose of production would not be desparate extraction of profit. To me, I think it follows that we would once again build places that are pleasant to look at and pleasant to work in.