Quote:
Originally Posted by Fenris
So....wait--what's postmodern literature? Or architecture. How do they tie in with the philosopy?
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Again, as Wednesday said, you have to understand what modernism means in art/architecture/design terms to get a grasp of what post-modernism means.
Modernism, in brief, is all about functionality. Modernist architects for teh most part eschewed decorative or ornamental elements. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's
Seagram Building in New York City is often cited as a pinnacle of modernist architecture. Modernist buildings tend to emphasize the building materials themselves as the most interesting and "decorative" part of the building. The glass, the steel, the concrete. The enormous influence of van der Rohe and his contemporaries, Le Courbousier and Walter Gropius, can be seen in just about any major American city. Any skyscraper you see that's basically a tall, skinny block of dark glass (the UN Building is another Modernist classic, for example) shows this influence.
In the '80s, Phillip Johnson (who had worked with Mies and designed plenty of modernist buildings) was at the vanguard of what came to be known as post-modernist architecture. His
AT&T Building (now the Sony Building, also in NYC) is cited as one of the beginning points of the movement. The design evokes images of old-fashioned telephones and Chippendale furniture - which is one of the keys of postmodernism. Borrowing elements from past movements is a big part of what postmodernists do (or did, there's a never-ending debate about whether postmodernism is over or not). Paying attention to context is very important (i.e., how does the building fit into its setting?), and above all, attempting to convey meaning to a viewer through the design of the building. Frank Gehry's famous
Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain might be considered postmodernist - it's meant, in part, to resemble a ship, which ties in with Bilbao's history as a major seaport and ship-building center. César Pelli's
Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia were designed with an eye towards Islamic art (Malaysia being predominantly Muslim), but also remind the viewer of much Asian architecture, being reminiscent both of Chinese pagodas and of the Buddhist and Hindu temples of the Khmer style such as Angkor Wat.
That's the quick and easy version, anyway. I don't think it really has anything to do with whether the future sucks or not.