You're Not Above Pop Culture, Sorry
My first reaction to Denise Scott Brown’s argument to use pop culture as a basis for architecture was disgust. Pop culture is constantly changing so how could studying it produce any kind of architecture that stays in style? I immediately assumed that this also involved a preconception that capitalism was a worthy foundation for design since it is through media that we are being sold ideas and products. But Brown’s argument transcends “pop culture”. Pop is merely a means by which we can begin to study the most human interaction with the world. There are no theories here. It is the tangible and visible ways in which every person engages with the built environment, which is kind of beautiful. I am not convinced that there are many architects who have the background to critically and nonjudgmentally engage with pop culture in a useful way but maybe that's a me problem.
I think too many time when we talk about design especially in school, we don't engage with the world around us. We engage with our computers, internet a lot. I guess what I am trying to say that we are not above the world because we are the world. Maybe a good way to stay engaged is to talk to people who are not doing architecture?
ReplyDeleteI find your statement about how pop culture is constantly change quite interesting. I see architecture in that way but over a much longer time span. I wonder what the medieval equivalent of what pop-culture would have been? (Or maybe even the Renaissance)? There seems to be this strange lag in architecture. Connectivity speeds seem to increase while the speed at which architectural design and architecture discourse seem to either remain steady or slow. I also agree that they’re no theories there. Pop-culture describes one set of interactions defined by popularity. This does not include sub culture, counter culture, high culture, and of course low culture. All of these describe a subset of a particular attribute.
ReplyDeleteI think for someone to imagine that they could stand outside of pop culture is unreasonable. Granted there are some people who don't have a strong connection (or exposure) to global cultures, trying to escape pop culture in the western world is like trying to avoid being touched by radio waves.
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly what Guy Debord is saying in his Marxist critique of capitalism: there is no escaping from the 'Spectacle.' The commodification of life is all around us and it's too late to turn back - but we can critique it as we begrudgingly participate. We can glean and nurture the positive parts of our circumstance while also working on the negative components. To what success? I'm not sure but it's something..??
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