Design In Our Lives

So for our third field trip, my art class and I went to the MoMa again to explore the architecture and design galleries. Our assignment was to determine the Ergonomics or Functionality of each design presented in the gallery. Many designs have both high functionality and low functionality.

 The Mine Kafon Wind Powered Deminer was designed by Massoud Hassani. It's purpose is to sweep any open fields to detect land mines and detonate them before any war soldiers proceed to infiltrate. I believe that the functionality is high because instead of soldiers risking their lives for a perimeter sweep, the Deminer makes everything a lot easier and safer. It saves a lot of time, walking, and most importantly the lives of others. It is easily assembled with bamboo and biodegradable plastics so it was reusable and easy to travel with.

The Bell-47D1, designed by Arthur Young, is the first helicopter certified for civilian use in 1946. It is two bladed, has a single engine, was produced by Bell Helicopter over 3000 times and was sold in 40 different country. This has a high functionality because the helicopter can be generally used as a method of transportation for passengers, and is still used to this day by news reports and police officers. Through the enhancements over time of course.

This may look like a simple table to our eyes, but the significance of the structure is that it is designed to withstand earthquakes. It can hold up to 1 ton in mass with out being destroyed. Though it has a meaningful design, the functionality isn't to high because the occurring of earthquakes are not to often as they once were. But the table would still make a nice office desk.

Another design with low functionality with a nice purpose would be the Basic House. It is used as a homeless shelter and can be pocket sized when put away. But the reason that it is low functioned is because it doesn't protect civilians from anything other than the rain.












The ergonomics of each design and prototype have their similarities and differences. The similarities between the high functioned designs is that the products are proven useful and are used every day but many people of to today's world. And of course the similarities between the low functioned are that they are less likely to be used if used at all by others. But the art and design were created by others for a purpose.


Artworks:

Massoud Hassani
Mine Kafon Wind Powered Deminer
Bamboo and biodegradable plastics
2011

Athur Young
Bell-47D1 Helicopter
Bent laminated birch plywood and metal
1946

Ido Bruno & Arthur Brutter
Earthquake Proof Table
Steel and birch plywood
2010

Martin Ruiz De Azua
Basic House
Polyester
1999

Art and Identity: The Museum of Modern Art.

     So about two weeks ago, I had my first class field trip to the Museum of Modern Art (Moma). It was actually my first experience there as well, so I was a little entertained by the works of art I saw. While I was there, my class and I were assigned to pick three separate paintings. Each painting is to fall under the category of either personal identity, historical identity, and cultural identity.

 

 A painting I chose to represent historical identity is the Gare Montparnasse (The Melancholy of Departure) by Giorgio de Chirico. Gare Montparnasse is a train station in Paris and this painting was painted in 1914 just months before World War I. As you can see the two figures on the right, it appears to be two people that seem to be walking towards the train to make their departure from Paris. For what reason? Maybe to flee prior to the happening of WWI, one of the world's major historical events. In my perspective, as I look at this painting, I can feel the idea of the fear that some civilians had at the time knowing that a war could happen at any time.

The painting I chose to represent personal identity is Andrew Wyeth's "Christina's World" which happened to have caught my eye as I walked around the Moma. The woman in the photo was Wyeth's neighbor who happened to be crippled by polio, a fatal crippling disease. He was inspired to create the painting when he saw Christina crawling the fields of grass. "She was limited physically, but by no means spiritually" stated Wyeth. He wanted to do justice to her extraordinary conquest of a life which most people would have considered hopeless. 

 Lastly, what I chose to represent for cultural identity is Philip-Lorca diCorcia's photograph titled "Major Tom; Kansas City, Kansas; $20". diCorcia took pictures of men who had moved to Hollywood to follow their dreams, only to be found on the streets for prostitution. He paid the men to simply pose in the streets. Each photo is titled with the man's name, where he was from, and how much the man was paid for the photo. I feel that his photo strongly represents culture because in today's economy, many people struggle to make a decent living in cities and such.

As I browsed through the Moma, I learned that there were many different forms of art. To be honest, many forms that do not interest me. But three main forms are Paintings, photographs, and sculptures. Photography is where my interest lies the most in today's art world.

Artworks used:

Giorgio de Chricio

" Gare Montparnasse (The Melancholy of Departure)"

Oil on Canvas

1914

Andrew Wyeth

"Christina's World"

Tempera on panel

1948

Philip-Lorca diCorcia

"Major Tom; Kansas City, Kansas; $20"

Chromogenic color print

1990-1992