Design in Our Lives”; The Museum of Modern Art

Ergonomics - the study of peoples work efficiency in their work environment.


LOW FUNCTIONALITY :

- The Post War Kitchen 

One of the first things that caught my attention on the design floor of the MOMA was the Post War Kitchen. From my first glance and understanding of what it was I knew that this was of Low Functionality. Due to the old make-up and appliances it just wouldn't be efficient in the working environment of a more modern person. The antique look and old set up would be a hassle to use and get accustomed to. To make the Post war kitchen more ergonomic I would update the look of the kitchen , changing the appliances and making them more up to date and of greater use to the modern human. 

- Sweepers Clock 

 The sweepers clock was one of the most interesting designs in the MOMA. Its literally created from two men sweeping garbage clockwise. this is definitely a low functional object because no human has the time to stand there and watch two men sweep trash to watch every second, minute and hour. Along with the fact that the time might not be accurate because the clock is made by two men natural human beings just like everyone else who also make mistakes . One way that i would change this design to make it more ergonomic id by putting metal plates instead of the two men that would push the garbage around as if it were an actual clock , just to be more accurate and to save more time.


HIGH FUNCTIONALITY :


Mine Kafron Wind-Powered Deminer -

The Mine Kafron Wind-Powered Deminer is an indestructible toy made by Massoud Hassani from his personal experience in his home town Qasaba in wartorn Afghanistan. Losing many friends to the detonation of the land mines when going after their toys , he decided to create a large toy that would go onto the land-mine and be able to resist the attack of the detonation. It would merely detach but would be able to reassemble. made of bamboo and biodegradable plastic parts this design is of high functionality because it serves a purpose, and its useful.

Christina Frederick " Home Motion" :

This slide show was a blueprint to the differences between a good and bad kitchen and how the differences played a role in its efficiency. With this it described how a kitchen from for example " the post war kitchen " which was found next to this , differed from the modern day kitchen. it explained how that kitchen would be difficult for a person from the modern day because they wouldn't be able to adapt to the appliances. it also showed the break down of each appliance and how it differed from the appliances that we use now. for example how long it would take to boil a cup of tea now as opposed to back then. I found this played the role of high functionality because it gives a breakdown of appliances and how they've advanced .




                                              Sources 

http://www.moma.org

Sweeper's Clock

Date:

2009

Medium:

Video (720:00 min.)

Credit Line:

Gift of the designer

MoMA Number:

764.2011

Mine Kafon wind-powered deminer

Date:

2011

Medium:

Bamboo and biodegradable plastics

Dimensions:

87 x 87 x 87" (221 x 221 x 221 cm)

Credit Line:

Gift of the Contemporary Arts Council of the Museum of Modern Art

MoMA Number:

923.2012

The Postwar Kitchen 

Date:

1936

Medium:

Gelatin silver print

Dimensions:

8 x 10" (20.3 x 25.4 cm)

Credit Line:

Gift of the Farm Security Administration

MoMA Number:

323.1938

Christina Frederick " Home Motion"

Date:

1931

Medium:

Pencil on tracing paper

Dimensions:

16 1/2 x 21 1/2" (41.9 x 54.6 cm)

Credit Line:

Lilly Reich Collection, Mies van der Rohe Archive

MoMA Number:

R9.139

Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary

Extra Credit 1

         

 Of all the artworks from the Magritte : The Mystery of the Ordinary gallery the one that i chose was the Girl Eating Bird ( Pleasure). This painting skirts the lines between reality and fantasy because it uses nature and a human which lives in the natural world , but the fantasy part comes into play with the girl eating a bird for pleasure. This picture is basically expressing the tie between what is built in to be right and wrong apart from what it actually is. For example , in reality no person goes outside picks up a bird and eats it , finding it pleasurable. Yet, if we were not taught to right from and just lived as human beings this may have been a normality for us. This painting crosses ties between reality and fantasy because it takes things from the relative realm or what we have been taught to see as ordinary or natural and warps it into fantasy by adding imagination or the unthinkable.

Illustration Collage project #3

The story I chose was about a woman's personal experience during the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. In this story she explains how she was working in the towers on the 99th floor watching the first plane flying toward her window. she then went onto explain how her  boss saved the lives of a few of her co-workers and herself by leading them to a staircase as the first plane came toward the building. The woman then goes on to tell about the events that took place the following day and the phone call she had gotten from her boss's son saying that his father had never made it home. He had made it out of the building but i was hit by falling debris when letting a man use his phone.With my collage i tried to illustrate the story line by collecting all the information from the story and breaking down the important parts. for example the background is an actual image someone had taken from their cellphone of the second plane going into the tower. This event was actually taking place at the time Labetti had been running down the stairs from the 99th floor with her coworkers. I added a target like swirl over that image to show confusion and to also display how every innocent person in that building was a target that day. I then added a picture of people frantically running down stairs to show what i envisioned when Labetti said that she and her colleagues were running down the exit as the plane was coming toward the building. Below that i added a tomb stone which represents the Boss that had saved them and all the people that were lost in that historic moment. There is also a phone ringing off the hook to show the frantic phone calls that had been going off and the phone call that Labetti had received from her Bosses son. And Lastly I added the wings for the Boss Ron who sacrificed himself for his co-workers.

Chelsea's Galleries Reaction Field trip 5

    While at Chelsea's Art Galleries we were allowed to channel our inner artist by going around pretending to be Art Collectors. With this role we were to choose two art works from two of the galleries we went to and decide wether we would buy these pieces or not based on our Aesthetic Emotions.  The Two Galleries that I chose my Art Works from were the post culture with Artists Tamar Halpern and Torben Ribe , and The Tanya Bonakdar gallery which hosted Art Works from Artists Sol Lewitt.

      From the Post Culture gallery I the artwork that i chose as one that struck an aesthetic emotion in me was the Tamar Halpern Degradation of Film made in 2013.This piece was made with Ultrachrome ink, linen and archival ink jet paper on linen ; its dimensions are 68 × 58 in. This of the many pieces that i saw is definitely one that I would like to have in my house for personal keeping. I chose this one because its different it varies in textures and colors and it doesn't have a focal point it keeps the eye moving and the color choice used adds to its limits of attraction.


    For the second Art work that I chose it was one that was really weird in a sense after i learned what it was. at first glance looking at it in the Gallery i was confused as to what was going on with this piece. There was this beautiful painting , but it was being blocked by a fern. This is definitely one piece that i wouldn't have chosen to purchase or display anywhere because the tree standing in front of the painting although it may be cool by choice isn't the best because the idea of it blocking that beautiful painting is crazy to me , like what was Ribe's   point or idea for putting that tree in front of his work. For example in the image on the left the Fern really looks out of place. There was on moment where i had to peek behind it and thats what really got to me like really ! WHY IS THERE A FERN HERE IS THIS APART OF THE ART WORK . On the Left is an actual image that I took myself of the Artwork behind the Tree. Its vibrant eye catching colors would have deemed it a great seller in my eyes butt i guess the tree was the focal point.

  From the Sol Lewitt galley the two pieces that I chose were both art works created by him and they were totally different from anything that I had seen at the other Galleries . The First piece was the piece that i had chosen to either sell or keep for my own personal flattery because it was a piece that i would enjoy seeing in my home when I woke up. I really found this work of art to be one of my favorites because of its size , the fact that it stood so tall taking up the entire wall along with the vibrant color pallet just made it amusing to the eye. This Piece is called Wall drawing #564. It was made in Venice Italy on June 15 and its a Color ink was . Fun Fact : Lewitt wasn't the first Artist to create the Wall drawing so its not originally his. In the picture i chose to display the artwork it actually shows how tall the artwork is compared to the normal human being so I found this one kinda cool.        
      For my least favorite from that Gallery i chose the Sol Lewitt 12x12x1 to 2x2x6 created in the 1990s. its a painted wood artwork that stands 98x37x57 1/2 in.this was the most boring piece of all the artworks in that area because everything else was not boring and that one piece was just well there, it seemed oddly out of place and had a very bland organic look to it . where as all the other Sol Lewitt art works were of vibrant colors and were intriguing to the eye . This is not a piece I would want in my house because it doesn't fit in with my idea of Art , nor does it cause any Aesthetic Emotion when i see it. it just looks like a blueprint or model of some sort or building to me

  Tamar Halpern 
" Degradation of Film "
  2013

  Torben Ribe 
" Composition With Tree "
  2011

  Sol Lewitt 
" Wall Drawing "564 : Complex forms with color ink washes superimposed"
  2013

   Sol Lewitt 
" 12x12x1 TO 2x2x6 " 
  1990

Art and Identity: The Museum of Modern Art

    For our first class field trip we went to the MOMA. During this trip we were given the chance to explore the world of modern art. We were then allowed to roam museum seeing first hand many of the artworks we analyze in class. With this we each gathered our own personal experience on views of different artists . Then tying in the Aesthetics of art placing the works we had chosen to break down into three different categories based on what we felt that work of art said to us . these three categories being : Personal, Historical and Cultural. 

     Lynn Hershman "Roberta’s Construction Chart #2" created in 1976. With this work of art Lynn Hershman chose to portray what many believed to be her alter ego Roberta Breitmore. When Hershman would portray herself as her alter ego she would wear large amounts of makeup a blonde wig and a particular clothing style. it was said that she lived alone in a small apartment and would create personal ads to search for men who she would then use in her performances. She was just like any other person she had a checking account, drivers license and even saw a psychiatrist regularly. In this photo you may notice little scribbles and notes randomly written around the face. these were the notes that Hershman wrote to show the differences between herself and her alter ego Roberta Breitmore.

Andy Warhol. Campbells Soup Cans - From 1956 till now Campbells soups have been a household brand. With its countless theme songs and numerous television commercials it has definitely evolved. This brand has grown to become what we know now as one of the biggest soup companies in the world , starting with one basic chicken noodle soup and branching out to be The worlds famous soup company. Campbell's soup passed down from generation to generation with a new twist every time. it is said that with this photo Warhol was trying to portray the stacking of Campbells cans in its original form in a way that the viewer would be feel a connection to the soup they know and love .

                                     

Jose Clemente Orozco ( Mexican , 1883-1949)

in this painting my Jose Clemente in 1931 using oil on canvas Orozco created a painting to portray Emiliano Zapata and the Zapatistas during the Mexican Revolution, taking place from 1879 to 1919. In the painting it shows the Zapatistas also known as peasent followers marching to what would be their death. this painting shows the hardships Mexicans had to encounter fighting for independence and freedom . 

   These three works of art by Lynn Hershman, Jose Clemente, and Andy Warhol each have their own unique style. Yet their art is still able to connect with the aesthetics of art and fall into the three categories. Each of these artworks portray their own historical , cultural, and personal backgrounds but its what stands out about them or their stories that places them where they deem more interesting. 

José Clemente Orozco (Mexican, 1883–1949) 

Zapatistas

Date:

1931

Medium:

Oil on canvas

Andy Warhol (American, 1928–1987)

Campbell's Soup Cans

Date:

1962

Medium:

Synthetic polymer paint on thirty-two canvases

Lynn Hershman Leeson (American, born 1941)

Roberta's Construction Chart #2

Date:

1976

Medium:

Chromogenic color print, printed 2003