Recently I was contacted by Tasneem Patel a fine artist currently studying Contemporary Arts at the university of Huddersfield. Tasneem was interested in the Dystopian City work I conducted for my final year project and hoped to pursue the same subject for her dissertation.
She requested I anwser a few questions, this was a gret exercise for me and really got me reliving my old Uni project.
Tasneem decribes her work as the following: I want to emphasise the point where architecture can hold the expression of power in a city. How the sense of space, money and scale can challengingly cut the edge and commit insights into analysing the contemporary urban world. Within my experience to New York, I analysed the city from multiple perspectives which include, environment, sustainability, social movements, regeneration, race, class, gender, trends, culture, policy and various other factors. I want to express the idea of capitalism and the disposability’s of the art object; I have done this by creating an abstraction by etching a series of shapes, lines and structure which progresses and grows until it reaches the sky line.
Here are the questions posed and their answers: In terms of the context of our current environment, what is your vision of the ‘dystopian city’ in the future?
What do you think of my dissertation question? This question poses some interesting questions and answers; what do I consider a dystopian state. I guess this depends on whether I am thinking about what others describe it as or as what it could mean to me personally; what dangers I think are lurking under the surface. When I first think of a dystopian city I tend to think of the science fiction world, where things are all minimalist clean and clinical, where people and items are tightly controlled and monitored and science always seems to be improving, pointing to weakness or relinquishing it completely. In our current environment I think that many things related to general everyday life can be considered dystopian for example travelling around using busy transport lines or even in our own car we are controlled by our movements and there are many rules and regulations to follow, we are often in danger despite of these. I think that cities and built up areas are dystopian they are busy, overcrowded and dirty causing unhappy inhabitants.
What is your perception of a ‘dystopian city?’ Dystopian cities to me are places that are crowed and busy with many office buildings and dwellings that are too small, bright and cause us to feel stressed and unhappy being inside of them.
Do you think this will affect the future? If so, how? I know that people adapt to this lifestyle as our cities in the UK are grossly over populated and these cities are the heart of commerce. In terms of control over people I hope that people will still value their human rights and democracy and stand up for what they believe in. Living in a dystopian city is what we do especially in the eyes of some of the earlier writers. One common example being Orwell’s writings in 1984; his vision of the telescreen, which would be present in every living room is of course already true to a point.
Do you think it will have an effect on contemporary art? I think this subject will be present in modern art for all time, as people are intrigued by the future and what it holds for us. We are always looking to new technology and science to improve our lives and there will always be people who will be against this and are scared of the repercussions of these things. I think this psyche is what the artists tap into with regard to their work and why they make it.
Do you think it will have an effect on work produced by artists? I’m not sure what effect it will have on artists work, I guess it depends on whether they are relating to their environment in a positive or negative way. If we look at the work of others we can tell control is a key part in dystopian cites and this in the future may not allow for artists to express themselves fully, or at all, depending on what we are allowed to do in our own environment. Nowadays we are not allowed to express ourselves artistically on the street in public, for example graffiti or street art is greatly frowned upon by the government to the point of arrest if caught.
Do you know of any artists whose work is related to the idea of the dystopian city? Some important writers include George Orwell, Aldous Huxley and Phillip K Dick
Are there any philosophers or theorists or any other sources that look at this topic? Plato, his writings concentrate on the government.
What is your definition of our current environment? Built up areas/transport vehicles everywhere including trains cutting though the landscape/ high rise buildings and bustling places, crowed shopping centres and high streets/signage everywhere and barriers dividing us off from places/office spaces which are all white and show no personality. Politics surrounding the city control measures and restrictions/supermarkets that open all day long.
Do you think this has an impact on work produced today? Yes I think so as artists will always look to show the city as people dwell in them, they surround them. Artists take inspiration from the things that are around them or are changing around them.
What do you think will cause the dystopian city in the future? Causes in the future – I think issues surrounding power and repression of the people which cause unrest and the increased growth of the environment around us as it gets more crowed and made of concrete.
Do you think more artists will look upon this topic? Yes I think more artists will look at this subject mainly to express their own personal feelings toward their environment, maybe also to explain fears of the future or warn of things they might find distressing.
If you were to generate art work related to this idea of the dystopian city in the future, what would you create? I really like the subject matter; I would make more work surrounding the sprawling cites in the UK and other countries as well as transport systems plus the control and flow of movement around the city. I would use collage and drawing as these are the mediums I like to use, however I think a film made as a collage might work very well and this is something I have never done.
What is so significant about what one of the theorists/ philosophers/ artists have to say? Speaking of film, the film maker Godfrey Reggio was a great influence for me as his film Koyaanisqatsi was based around the city growing increasingly larger and busier. To watch the film becomes very unsettlingly but it really is no different from living such a fast-paced lifestyle in the city. The film consists of slow motion and time-lapse film footage taken in different cities in the United States. The film looks to show us the direct link between humans and their environment from the outside world to the inside. It has images representing technology’s invasion into the natural world and humans interacting with technology on a daily basis; phones or computers for example.
Dystopian views are probably most prominent in film making and one of the most popular dytopian films is possibly Blade Runner by Ridley Scott, not long ago it made an appearance on Creativepool.co.uk blog reminding everyone of Syd Mead a very talented gentleman. read more about Syd Mead on the article herehttp://blogs.creativepool.co.uk/blog/blade-runner-syd-mead-and-visual-futurism/
