A P P R E C I AT I N G
KITSCH ALEXIA ASGARI
WHAT IS KITSCH?
Kitsch appeals to human standards of beauty on a superficial level, generally using exaggerated representation. In Kitsch and Art TomĂĄĹĄ Kulka proposed: 1. Kitsch depicts a beautiful or emotionally charged subject 2. The depicted subject is easily identifiable 3. Kitsch does not significantly enrich our connection to the depicted subject
THE DUCK Kitsch became a key and controversial part of the postmodern movement with Learning from Las Vegas, which argued validity to this type of commercially driven architecture
NOVELTY ARCHITECTURE The “ducks” as samed by Learning from Las Vegas, could be seen lining America’s highways. These buildings clearly expressed what was inside without room for interpretation. Their purpose is commercial rather than aesthetic.
The Big Duck Hampton Bays, Long Island, New York https://architizer.com/blog/inspiration/collections/novelty-architecture-ducks-arrested-development/
Longaberger Basket Home Office Newark Ohio https://architizer.com/blog/inspiration/collections/novelty-architecture-ducks-arrested-development/
Abrams House by Venturi and Brown Pisttburg, Penselvania
House in Delaware by Venturi and Brown New Castle, Delaware
https://www.iconichouses.org/icons-at-risk/abrams-house-aka-squirrel-hill
https://www.iconichouses.org/icons-at-risk/abrams-house-aka-squirrel-hill
POSTMODERNISM As a reaction to the clean simple architecture of modernism, ornament was taken to the extreme with the postmodernist movement.
Memphis Collection of Dennis Zanone https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/completely-obsessive-dennis-zanone-on-his-sprawling-collection-of-memphis-design-4406
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Duncan Hall by John Outtam
M2 Building by Kengo Kuma
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https://www.dezeen.com/2020/02/14/less-bore-book-celebrates-postmodern-architecture-forms/
https://www.dezeen.com/2020/02/14/less-bore-book-celebrates-postmodern-architecture-forms
IMPRACTICAL OCCUPATION Another Duck encroaching on the contemporary is the Chait and Day Binoculars building by Frank Gehry. He constructed a theater and library within a sculptural set of binoculars constructed by Claes Oldenburg. This was completely impractical, as the building developed a peculiar floor plan. But the enormous set of occupiable binoculars was distinct and theatrical in the LA landscape. One couldn’t miss the theater.
Chait / Day Binoculars Building by Frank Gehry Los Angeles, California https://www.designboom.com/architecture/lego-house-bjarke-ingels-group-big-museum-billund-denmark-09-28-2017
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CAMP KITSCH
WHAT IS CAMP?
Sontag distinguishes camp into “low camp” (kitsch just for fun) and “high camp” (kitsch for fun and commentary) with both having a performative nature. “High Camp is the whole emotional basis for ballet, for example, and of course of baroque art…High Camp always has an underlying seriousness. You can’t camp about something you don’t take seriously. You’re not making fun of it, you’re making fun out of it. You’re expressing what’s basically serious to you in terms of fun and artifice and elegance. Baroque art is basically camp about religion. The ballet is camp about love…”
Note on Camp by Susan Sontag
Ezra Miller MET GALA 2019 https://www.designboom.com/architecture/lego-house-bjarke-ingels-group-big-museum-billund-denmark-09-28-2017
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WHERE KITSCH BECOMES CAMP As kitsch becomes an undeniable aspect of popular culture and is accepted into the world of art, it becomes a tool not of necessity or commercial representation but intentional humor and playfulness redefining it as camp.
Lego House by BIG Billund, Denmark https://www.designboom.com/architecture/lego-house-bjarke-ingels-group-big-museum-billund-denmark-09-28-2017
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ENTERTAINMENT & EXHIBITION As future architectural needs lend themselves to kitsch design in the goal for immediate gratification, ideas around the subject change. As the founder stated, “It’s all about fun.”
Ice Cream Museum by Maryellis Bunn San Francisco
“Ant Farm” by WORKac of New York Miami Museum Garage
“Urban Jam” by Clavel Arquitectos of Spain Miami Museum Garage
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article211256659.html
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article211256659.html
MVDRV Expo 2000 Holland Pavilion at World Expo in Hannover, Germany https://www.mvrdv.nl/projects/158/expo-2000
CONTEMPORARY DUCKS: DUBAI ARCHITECTURE Dubai is a city that makes “ducks” the architectural standard. A location that heavily relies on tourism, Dubai leans on the playful and recognizable typology for immediate appeal and gratification of visitors, and no other commentary making it low camp. Although the buildings are contemporary and grand, they still serve as a commercial device like the “ducks” of the past.
Burj Al Arab Dubai, United Arab Emirates
The Frame Dubai, United Arab Emirates
The Green Planet Dubai, United Arab Emirates
https://www.skyscrapercenter.com/building/burj-al-arab/402
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/dubai-frame-opening/index.html
https://www.architectmagazine.com/project-gallery/the-green-planet_o
POSITIVE CONOTATIONS: ATTRACTING CONSUMERS Another Commercially intended example of kitsch is the Galleria Gwanggyo by OMA of Korea. Clearly this mall catches eyes with its geode appearance. Internally the architectural concept is excavation, which is reflected on the outside by large scale literal symbolism. The associations consumers have with geodes and gemstones as discovery and luxury cause people to imprint their existing associations onto the high-end mall.
Galleria Gwanggyo by OMA Gwanggyo, South Korea https://www.wallpaper.com/architecture/galleria-department-store-gwanggyo-oma-korea
HIGH CAMP: COMMENTRY THROUGH KITSCH OMA also produced the plans for this department store in the 360 mall in Kuwait. They took the idea of an additive department store and translated that physically. The temporal nature of the store is represented through physically interchangeable spaces/units. The bold colors creating distinctive galleries help create differentiation in the retail spaces where displays are continuously fighting for attention. This is high camp as it creates commentary through direct expression of meaning regarding the retail experience
The Exhibition Hall at 360° Mall Kuwait City, Kuwait https://archello.com/project/the-exhibition-hall-at-360-mall-kuwait-city
EXPERIENCE IN UNEXPECTED SPACES This metro station emphasizes its subterranean nature in a highly aquatic area through an underwater themed experience. The rich blue walls and speckled LEDs are bold. Going up the escalator and looking into the illuminated crater above, one gets the experience of ascension out of the water.
13th Art Station of Naples Metro System Naples, Italy https://www.schindler.com/com/internet/en/media/behind-the-scenes/customer-projects/2019/toledo-metro-station-naples.html
KITSCH OF IDEALS
IKEA: MARKETING A LIFESTYLE IKEA is known for its marketing of an ecoconscious minimalist lifestyle, with clean designs and organic materials in displays. IKEA though must be recognized as entirely fake. From the fake plants they sell to give one the appearance of an ecofriendly lifestyle to the illegal logging in national forests they use to source material, and widespread mass production of cheap disposable furniture, the idea that IKEA truly is minimalistic and ecofriendly is false front achieved by design.
BUSKBO Armchair by A Fredriksson/J Hultqvist/W Chong https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/buskbo-armchair-rattan-70434311/l
A GARDEN AS A COMMODITY Grow Room by IKEA markets the garden itself rather than the tools to produce a garden. It dictates how one structures a garden and how one tends to it. One can assume that someone with a preexisting garden would not start from scratch with this structure. It is marketed to nongardeners to impose the lifestyle of community gardening upon them. Though in form it appears to be simple, the meaning behind the object is powerful
IKEA GrowRoom https://www.designboom.com/design/ikea-space10-the-growroom-flat-pack-spherical-garden-02-20-2017/
ECO-KITSCH IN THE EYES OF CONSUMERS IKEA ‘s new store design signals a hub of ecosustainability through the trope of a “green building” It takes itself seriously in conveying an idea of eco-friendliness through design in hopes that a consumer would then build that connection to the company.
IKEA Vienna Westbahnhof Store Austria https://www.dezeen.com/2020/01/23/ikea-vienna-westbahnhof-car-free-store/
BoKlok Low Cost Housing United Kingdom https://www.dezeen.com/2019/06/26/ikea-build-low-cost-housing-uk/l
MINIMALIST KITSCH The Cora house stands out amongst the local Brazilian scene as a stark white icon of minimalist architecture. The massing of the building was decided by the slope of the land, giving it a form composed of several rectangles. Rather than windows the entrance is an excavated void, avoiding the additive appearance of doors and windows on traditional homes on the facade. Increasingly in residential developing, minimalism has become the crutch of building. The developer can market this standardized lifestyle rather than fitting the existing lifestyles of the inhabitants. Cora House Bloco Arquitetos Brazil https://www.dezeen.com/2018/07/19/bloco-arquitetos-white-cora-house-sloped-site-brasilia/
KITSCH OF CONTEMPO RARY AVANTGARDE
WHAT IS AVANT-GARDE?
Avant-garde is not strictly defined by form, rather connection to the politics of the bourgeoisie “In seeking to go beyond Alexandrianism, a part of Western bourgeois society has produced something unheard of heretofore: avant-garde culture. A superior consciousness of history-more precisely, the appearance of a new kind of criticism of society- a historical criticism - made this possible.�
Art and Culture: Critical Essays by Clement Greenberg
TROPES OF THE CONTEMPORARY Anamorphous ellipsoid forms, united in a skin of curved and reflective glass make this skyscraper appear to be an icon of modern design. The attempt at contemporary connotation, and in turn connection with sophistication and advanced technology, is clear and unquestionable.
OPPO Headquarters by Zaha Hadid Architects Shenzhen, China https://www.dezeen.com/2020/01/31/zaha-hadid-architects-oppo-headquarters-shenzhen-china-architecture/?li_source=LI&li_medium=bottom_block_1
Heydar Aliyev Center by Zaha Hadid Architects Baku, Azerbaijan https://www.archdaily.com/448774/heydar-aliyev-center-zaha-hadid-architects
Sixth Street Viaduct by Michael Maltzan Architecture Los Angeles, U.S.A. https://www.mmaltzan.com/projects/sixth-street-viaduct/
Ultimately, kitsch ranges across several intentions and styles. Kitsch can be appreciated as a tool to communicate meaning. Rather than concern itself with form it acts on the needs or wants of the structure, making them evident. It can be used as an act of rebellion or act of consumerism. By allowing the viewer to immediately understand the structure and implement their own connotations, the buildings are resonant. .