Nostalgia is a powerful concept. The idea of “yesterday” is revered by all. The idea of what was before us is quite comforting, safe.

As I started searching through my notes I came across a section of text from the Edward Tufte data visualization seminar I attended after my first year in the program. I believe I’ve shared with you the experience of the seminar. I sat between a doctor and an electrical engineer. Bizarre. At the lunch break, I was contemplating not returning but then ran into Ross M.(fellow grad) and decided to have lunch and stay for part two. The statement above was scribbled in my notes from that day. This is the basis for the thesis direction(s) I am proposing.

NOSTALGIA 

I decided to focus on Mid-century after a conversation I had with my mother. I called her and specifically asked, “When for you, did everything fall apart?” I ask this because everything fell apart for me on 9/11. 9/11 was when I first realized there were horrible people in the world who glorify the killing of innocent people. We were all victims. No one was actually safe anymore. Back to the conversation with my mom….

The conversation was centered around asking when, during her lifetime, did everything fall apart? When did she realize the real world wasn’t at all like the June and Ward Cleaver world we were all sold on television. She recalled that the last memories she had of a better time, when everything was simple and life was beautiful, filled with the promise of a glorious future.

She recalled a specific moment, in her mid-teens, when she was in her bedroom listening to records on her record player. Those were the best times of her life. She was fully consumed with Beatlemania. Nothing brought more joy than that time of her life.

So I started combing through vintage advertising and almost immediately ran across an advertisement for American Oil Company.

Advertising and the development of new technology during this time period was filled with promise for the future. As described in the Mad Men clip I shared in class, technology is a shiny lure. Pulling you forward, promising the delivery of something NEW or BETTER.

The overall worldwide economic trend in the 1960s was one of prosperity, expansion of the middle class, and the proliferation of new domestic technology. The distinguishing features of mid-century design style consist of a classic, understated look, and clean lines with minimal fuss.

  • Functionality is important, as form follows function
  • Uncluttered and sleek lines with both organic and geometric forms
  • Minimal ornamentation
  • An exploration of different traditional as well as non-traditional materials
  • Juxtaposition of different, and sometimes contrasting materials

I am interested in the remediation of these mid-century modern technologies, with 21st-century technology tools. The remediation occurs by taking what was thought to be “groundbreaking” technology, the most advanced of that time, and re-imagining it through the eyes of emergence.

Perhaps to simplify, the concept of remediation of technologies takes the best-of-the-best mid-century technologies and transform them, making new objects, reimagined through the use of 2018 technologies, or forward focused as seen through a 2020 lens. 

As an example, Sony released the SunSet in the late 1960s. This TV was the first portable television that could be viewed by multiple people, in full sun. Cutting-edge technology that allowed you to take TV viewing outdoors. Revolutionary. The Sony SunSet was positioned as something for everyone. No matter what time of day. What if we could remediate the SunSet? How would this be represented in the 21st-century? Perhaps the TV would be color. Perhaps it would be controlled by the Sun (solar power)? Perhaps it would be biodegradable?

What if we took a vintage record player, created 21st-century sonic art, and created a physical record to play on the vintage device that would produce sound never imagined by that machine? Or re-model the record player and insert a media player with earphone jack into the record player shell. The viewer would then listen to audio files through ear-phones or wireless speakers, straight from the record player device.

What if we took a slide carousel, created a Processing sketch, shown as still slides that would be inserted into the carousel to create a 21st-century slide presentation –stop-motion animation when the viewer clicks from slide to slide. OR, a device that shows stop-motion of a 4K video. 

Other technologies: telephone, typewriter, other communications/media devices, etc.