It was a little before nine in the morning, the cab for the airport was at 10:30, and my daughter needed a new pair of headphones, the old ones having died.
Wonderful post! My favorite functional art is the 19th and early 20th century cathedrals called railroad stations all over the world. Alas, they have to be subsidized nowadays but worse art is subsidized, too.
One of them shows up in the third book of Naomi Novik's Scholomance trilogy. The NY wizards have stolen it, are using it as a hub for their magical transport network, after, presumably through political shenanigans, replaced it with a much less attractive modern station.
Music seems to me the most successful art form in the modern era. With the invention of various kinds of music replicators, prices are approaching zero, and (high-quality) music has become ubiquitous in a way that must have been unthinkable back when live musicians were needed to listen to music.
"While on the topic of gas stations and art, I note that the cars they fill up are not merely wagons for transport; they are also mobile sculptures of sheet metal and glass. Functional objects do not have to be, should not be, ugly. Castles were built to hold off enemy armies and the rain, churches for people to worship in, palaces to house the ruler and his servants; making them beautiful was only a secondary objective. The same is true for the automobiles we drive. I can easily enough imagine a museum, a century or two in the future, devoted to their beauty."
Having said that, and having just been to the museum, one thing that struck me is how comparatively boring current cars are compared to those of even a decade ago. Some of the most impressive cars as art objects though date from 100+ years ago as you can see from the online database of all the vehicles - https://toyota-automobile-museum.jp/en/archives/car-database/
he early cars look neat because they are exotic, very different from modern cars, but I don't think they are prettier. If you imagine someone who had never seen a car looking at cars from various periods, I don't think he would judge those of 100+ years ago more attractive than modern cars.
Chacun a son gout. But part of the problem with cars today is that they look very similar. The same wedge hatchback for most cars. The same botox like inflated look for most trucks. And very few of them have any decoration unless you find someone to give the car an aftermarket paint job. That doesn't apply as much to the supercar end of the market but even there it can be challenging to work out if that wedge is a Ferrari, a Lambo or a McLaren
Someone (I forget who, but it may have been King Charles when he wrote his book on architecture back in the 80s) pointed out that traditional buildings, even poor ones, have decorations around windows, gargoyles, interesting door lintels etc. Modern ones tend to bland smooth sheets of glass/concrete. The same applies, IMHO, to cars.
I wonder if the architecture case reflects higher labor costs and a switch to mass production technologies.
Back when I lived in L.A. there were two high rise buildings on opposite sides of the street just south of UCLA, one plain, one not. People in the ornamented building claimed the other was the box their building came in.
I think good design does not necessarily have to be expensive. For example modernist design successfully uses minimal material and is relatively easy to construct.
I was thinking that a style everyone is using won't strike the observer as special, and mass production makes it more likely that different things are similar.
You wrote: "part of the problem with cars today is that they look very similar. "
I agree. And on that point. Where I grew up in the Sydney suburbs in the early 70's I despised the ubiquitous generic cheaply made mass produced brick veneer houses. Now when I occasionally visit those same areas and see the few remaining well preserved examples of such houses, I am struck by their elegant functional design and subtle ornamentation.
Excellent article reflecting my own thoughts and observations over the years around public spaces and public art. A few years ago I was in Sydney in a brand new stylish shopping mall. I commented to some friends who are responsible for commissioning public art for the Sydney City Council that this mall was as good as most art installations or public art that I've seen recently. They scoffed, but I was genuinely moved by my experience. More recently I was in Tokyo and visited Azabudai Hills. The Public realm and lower-level architecture was created by Heatherwick Studio (UK) led by Thomas Heatherwick. The entire environment is aesthetically beautiful and inspiring to behold and experience.
Wonderful post! My favorite functional art is the 19th and early 20th century cathedrals called railroad stations all over the world. Alas, they have to be subsidized nowadays but worse art is subsidized, too.
One of them shows up in the third book of Naomi Novik's Scholomance trilogy. The NY wizards have stolen it, are using it as a hub for their magical transport network, after, presumably through political shenanigans, replaced it with a much less attractive modern station.
Music seems to me the most successful art form in the modern era. With the invention of various kinds of music replicators, prices are approaching zero, and (high-quality) music has become ubiquitous in a way that must have been unthinkable back when live musicians were needed to listen to music.
"While on the topic of gas stations and art, I note that the cars they fill up are not merely wagons for transport; they are also mobile sculptures of sheet metal and glass. Functional objects do not have to be, should not be, ugly. Castles were built to hold off enemy armies and the rain, churches for people to worship in, palaces to house the ruler and his servants; making them beautiful was only a secondary objective. The same is true for the automobiles we drive. I can easily enough imagine a museum, a century or two in the future, devoted to their beauty."
Come to the Toyota Automobile Museum in Nagoya (https://toyota-automobile-museum.jp/en/ ) , it already kind of exists.
Having said that, and having just been to the museum, one thing that struck me is how comparatively boring current cars are compared to those of even a decade ago. Some of the most impressive cars as art objects though date from 100+ years ago as you can see from the online database of all the vehicles - https://toyota-automobile-museum.jp/en/archives/car-database/
Thanks for the link. T
he early cars look neat because they are exotic, very different from modern cars, but I don't think they are prettier. If you imagine someone who had never seen a car looking at cars from various periods, I don't think he would judge those of 100+ years ago more attractive than modern cars.
Chacun a son gout. But part of the problem with cars today is that they look very similar. The same wedge hatchback for most cars. The same botox like inflated look for most trucks. And very few of them have any decoration unless you find someone to give the car an aftermarket paint job. That doesn't apply as much to the supercar end of the market but even there it can be challenging to work out if that wedge is a Ferrari, a Lambo or a McLaren
Someone (I forget who, but it may have been King Charles when he wrote his book on architecture back in the 80s) pointed out that traditional buildings, even poor ones, have decorations around windows, gargoyles, interesting door lintels etc. Modern ones tend to bland smooth sheets of glass/concrete. The same applies, IMHO, to cars.
I wonder if the architecture case reflects higher labor costs and a switch to mass production technologies.
Back when I lived in L.A. there were two high rise buildings on opposite sides of the street just south of UCLA, one plain, one not. People in the ornamented building claimed the other was the box their building came in.
I think good design does not necessarily have to be expensive. For example modernist design successfully uses minimal material and is relatively easy to construct.
I was thinking that a style everyone is using won't strike the observer as special, and mass production makes it more likely that different things are similar.
You wrote: "part of the problem with cars today is that they look very similar. "
I agree. And on that point. Where I grew up in the Sydney suburbs in the early 70's I despised the ubiquitous generic cheaply made mass produced brick veneer houses. Now when I occasionally visit those same areas and see the few remaining well preserved examples of such houses, I am struck by their elegant functional design and subtle ornamentation.
Excellent article reflecting my own thoughts and observations over the years around public spaces and public art. A few years ago I was in Sydney in a brand new stylish shopping mall. I commented to some friends who are responsible for commissioning public art for the Sydney City Council that this mall was as good as most art installations or public art that I've seen recently. They scoffed, but I was genuinely moved by my experience. More recently I was in Tokyo and visited Azabudai Hills. The Public realm and lower-level architecture was created by Heatherwick Studio (UK) led by Thomas Heatherwick. The entire environment is aesthetically beautiful and inspiring to behold and experience.
The Burbank Fry’s
https://myburbank.com/frys-closes-doors-nationally-new-development-already-planned-for-burbank-site/
Maybe just a little over the top.
Aren't there automotive museums now? There are certainly aircraft museums; C and I visited one near Topeka a number of months ago.
yes there are see my comment below