Jennifer Donnachie

MODERNISUM: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

I intend to investigate Modernism and more particularly housing and town planning in Europe after the war. It is called ‘the good, the bad and the ugly’ as I intend to consider the ideas and fanciful plans that the modernist architects had, the flaws in those plans that had dyer consequences for the community’s that were placed in them, and the often referred to as the ugly scare that has been left on our urban landscape. 

INTENDED RESERCH

I will look at the post war building boom and intend to use my previous field work on Cumbernauld as well as new field work as well as archival research. I will investigate the thought proses behind the tower block as well as the (long life of the) prefabs that were only ever designed to stand for ten years.

I am writing a paper in to the connection between post war modernist architecture and modern artists like Martin Boyce, Toby Paterson and Rachel Whiteread, to see wither there work is merely superficial or has deeper meaning behind it. This paper I hope to help me understand what modernist architecture means 60years on. 

In the paper I also discuss the some of the architectural giants of the time such as Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier. I will further look in to the influences they had over what we expect from our towns and homes today.

I will consider the utopian socialist aspect of the architect’s grand plans and ask if expecting everyone to voluntarily move to new locations was morally right, and look at the types of propaganda that aided the mass migration. I will also ask the fundamental question of why was there such a need for change.

METHODES AND MATERIALS

I will use methods and proses that I have used before such as printing, vacuum forming and 3D work. I will consider the use of glass and steel as these were essential to building at the time.  Cement is also a vital material and I intend to learn a lot more about it a viable material to work with.

EXPECTED OUTCOME

I intend to have gathered a large amount of source research as well as have a substantial body of development work, which reflects the subject above.

I intend to have produced two or three end works in 2D or 3D which will ether reflect the good, the bad, the ugly or a combination of all three.

Links to videos

list of you tube links for videos I've taken
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kH4zuCRL44&feature=youtube_gdata_player
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psrSxNMqCMc&feature=youtube_gdata_player
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r-H7Rt0v-g&feature=youtube_gdata_player
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm3ZqHnuAkg&feature=youtube_gdata_player
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHL0k9AX0mI&feature=youtube_gdata_player 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IR8I0VZ1zK8&feature=youtube_gdata_player
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_7orvVdNKQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player  

Final piece!

Ignorance is Bliss

as shown  before in an earlier post 'surveys, hangers and labels' (26/12/13) tied in with another post  'My own guilt' (08/01/14) I displayed at the college on the 10/01/14 a range of my dresses with my labels attached and  asked people to fill out a survey after they had had a look.
the questions I asked were;
When you are out shopping do you look more carefully at the production details food labelling than you do at clothing labels?

yes

no

Apart from the size and price do you pay any more attention to what is on the garments labels?

yes

no

 
Did you look at the labels on the clothing displayed here?

yes

no

 
If you have not already done so, please take the time to go back and read one or two of the labels on the clothing display, then write down your thoughts.

Do you think that companies should be more transparent about the ethics behind the manufacturing processes of clothing?

yes

no

Do you think we have the right to know how our clothes are produced?

yes

no

 
Thank you for taking the time to fill out this survey and please feel free to add any other comments.

 I also put a disclaimer at the end; 

Disclaimer-  The brands and makes of clothing on display do not relate to the labels that have been created , they are for display purposes only.  Nor are any of the display items for sale. For more information please go to: www.cleanclothes.org or www.ethicalconsumer.org And

I put some cards with some of the websites that I found useful on the survey table, for anyone wishing to find out more.


Findings
62.5% of people said that they looked more at food labelling than that of clothing.

54.2% of people said they do not pay attention to any thing on the label other than size and price.

70.8% of people said they did look at the labels on display (which is questionable given some answers)

29.2% when asked to write there thoughts about the labels did not.

95.8% believed company's should be more transparent about ethics behind there clothing

95.8% thought that we should have the right to know how our clothes are produced.


conclusion
I got a really positive response from some of the viewers with some clearly shocked that these manufacturing practices were not consigned to history.
there were a few that did not know what they were looking for on the label and a few that glanced merely at the price. one such person wrote 'Nice, colourful.' and another writing 'The price dose not reflect or the size or the quality of the garments.' these individuals did not take the time to read the labels even though the survey asked them to do so.  there were even a few who had a quick look at the clothing displayed and walked away without filling out a survey, and there for stayed clueless as to what the display was about, what frustrated me at first till I realised that they were proving my point. that we really are blind to some facts even when presented with them.

Fabric prints

Glasgow

 I didn't get the same response in Glasgow as what I did in Edinburgh. One reason for this was the wide pavements so people were not funnelled by the tags the way they were in Edinburgh. There were not to many places they could be hung at eye level around the pedestrian shopping area and it was hard to find an area that would allow enough to be hung in repetition, as I found this to be a real draw for the viewer in Edinburgh.                I don't think I  can say that Glasgow was successful as the only pedestrians that took a slight interest were the ones watching me put them up.

Edinburgh

I decided that the fence across from Princes Street in Edinburgh that encircled the gardens would be the perfect place to hang the labels.  This way I was not hanging them directly out side the store and less likely to for them to phone the police,  but was still in a busy public area that was full of consumers.
I was really pleased with the response I got from the public with some wanting to take a label or two away with them. One women was a teacher and wanted to take one to show her class, another was a Chinese student who admitted she had never thought about it before and I gave her the details of websites to find out more. When I stepped back it was interesting to see the publics response to them. I noticed straight away that the labels that were placed on every second post got a larger response due to their repetition. Some merely slowed on their way by, though I got an enormous sense of pride in my work when some stopped to read the labels and a few took them away.  I had other labels placed randomly on other parts of the fencing though they didn't draw very much attention.  I feel that this was very successful and am looking forward to Glasgow tomorrow.

 

Going to be busy!

Video and sound

I recorded a video of my hand going through the close rack, the camera only seeing one of my hands and following my eye. This puts the viewer in my position as if it is them looking through the rail. The eye is led through the garments one by one panning them up and down before deciding on whether to move to the next or check out the price.  The price is all the camera allows you to see the other text is so much smaller than it is only the price that jumps out at you.  I was thinking of cutting this with still images of the girls at the sewing machine or enlarging txt from the labels to hit home How little attention we pay to the labels.  I also thought the sound of the hanger over the metal rail was un-nerving and that I could perhaps tie in the sound of sewing machine and cash registers. But there's only a week till hand in and it's a late stage to be starting that.

Ready for the cities

Iv attached elastic bands to them so I can hang them quickly.  I am planning on a trip to Edinburgh on Saturday and Glasgow on Sunday to take photos of my labels on the high street.

My crude construction of a dress

My own guilt

We are all guilty of going in to shop and only looking at the price and sizes on the tags of garments. By using my own clothing some of which are my favourite dresses I am confessing my own guilt, for I have never given much if any of the other information attention.  This is usually because the other information is either about company address or types of materials. If this information was instead about origins of products and and working conditions for the people making them prehaps we would pay more attention. It could be called social conditioning but it will be interesting to see when this is put on public display how many people pay more attention to the the price rather than the rest of the information even when the facts are there to see.

thinking of printing on to fabric

the images I have of my daughters at the sewing matching look good in black and white and I was thinking of putting them on to calico to create simple dresses.

Child labour

Asked my daughter to pose at the sewing machine for me so I could get some of my own images of children in forced labour.  I was mainly thinking of siloet though believe some of the one's detailing their faces through the machine were quite successful.