What to make of renewed fascination with art deco and the steampunk subculture?
1) There is the socioeconomic reason of erosion of social democratic institutions in the Western world and default gradual semi return of English speaking countries to decadence and emulation of styles from the 1920s.
2) There is the end of the government focus on the space program and thus a switch of public focus towards privately funded heroism for which 1920s explorers offer some guidance. Art Deco shows mostly privately funded optimism about the future, dynamic economy, technological progress, heroic capitalism, and a sort of a high fashion
culture that the Western world now lacks. Steampunk subculture is an escapist geeky elaboration on the same theme and a troubling example of the past being a shinier inspiration than the present. Psyche's escape into deep retro should be considered by futurists and their attempts to market their visions.
3) There is also technology (and thus culture) enabled individualism that no longer belongs to only children of the rich. People want to be explorers of various realms and the cost of flying technology decreases, we should see first (
obviously often unsuccessful!) attempts. Art deco and art generally is key in current attention deficit visual age if 21st century Wright Brothers types want to get their projects off the ground.
Take a look at the lobby of Empire State Building, it is otherworldly. Notice energetic yellow lights as well as gears and celestial body hieroglyphics on the ceiling. Neat.
The reach of this modernist yet luxurious style went as far as the subway stations of Soviet Moscow. Previously we mentioned how we want our flying house to be the iPhone of the sky. The title picture shows one illustration of such a design. Neat, slick, with blue and white shades. Yet something feels a bit cold about it. Is it possible to have neo art deco design that bridges the luxurious futuristic art of yesteryear with the ergonomics and sleekness of 21st century technology? Surely we'd be able to sell our flying house better among the more emotional types of people? This would tap certain current popular cultural attraction towards hyper femininity and hyper masculinity of the 20th century.
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| 1930 Henderson inspired 21st century art deco motorcycle |
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| And now a flying motorcycle version |
Humans want fuzziness and comfiness alongside their technology. Currently, these fuzzy comfy designs are provided in an increasingly played out cartoony style found in social networking sites and software applications. Neo art deco provides an alternative to sliding towards Japanese style hyper cartoony cuteness in the decades to come.
Besides comfort, art deco airships, blimps, and Zeppelin imagery have and still are being used as symbols of progress whether in cartoony, fantasy, actual, or stylized form. Here are some random examples.
The key reason of airships capturing attention of steampunk fantasy and art deco modernism is that they are "ocean liners of the sky" allowing luxurious travel, permanent home, and headquarters. Rockets, helicopters, and airplanes cannot be decorated to nearly the same extent even in ridiculous steampunk sketches (which often have the tackiness level of a 17th century royal Spaniard ship). It doesn't feel right.
To make a house fly, an artistic understanding and bridge should be constructed between the past and the future that takes into account psychological needs of both the flying enthusiasts themselves and the public at large. Understanding fascination with escapism into artsy "alternate earths" is one of the steps towards creating the type of future we want on our real earth.
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| Chrysler building lobby |
