Why Modern Architecture Emerged in Europe, Not America: The New Class and the Aesthetics of Technocracy  

Oleh:

Gartman, David

Jenis: Article from Journal - ilmiah internasional
Dalam koleksi: Theory, Culture & Society vol. 17 no. 5 (Okt. 2000), page 75–96.
Topik: aesthetic theory; Fordism; Frankfurt School; mass consumption; mass production; Pierre Bourdieu
Fulltext: 75TCAS175.pdf (85.58KB)

Isi artikel

Using theories by Pierre Bourdieu and the Frankfurt School that causally link art to class interests, this article examines the differential development of modern architecture in the United States and central Europe during the early 20th century. Modern architecture was the aesthetic expression of technocracy, a movement of the new class of professionals, managers and engineers to place itself at the center of rationalized capitalism. The aesthetic of modernism, which glorified technology and instrumental reason, was weak and undeveloped in the US, because this class defined by its cultural capital was quickly integrated into modernizing corporations, where it was compelled to cater to the emerging mass market and drop its distinctive aesthetic. Modern architecture emerged mainly in interwar central Europe, because here industrial modernization was blocked, forcing the new class to pursue an alliance with state managers pushing modernization. Thus unencumbered by the demands of the mass market, modern architects were free to express their machine aesthetic in state-financed housing projects.

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