During today’s lecture, we introduce the thinking of Utopia and Dystopia and how it is seen and can be used in art practice. A utopia is an imagined community or society that possess highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its citizens. It is hypothetical and lives within the metaphysics with the opposite is a dystopia. A biblical comparison is a heaven and hell, where one is perfect and the other is full of imperfections and suffering.
John Carey speaks about Utopia’s as imaginary good places and Dystopia’s as bad ones. One of the first thinkers to coin Utopia was Thomas More in his book “Utopia” and outlines an imaginary island run perfectly socially, economically, and religiously. Much of his thinking around the island is reminiscent of life in a monastery.
We see Utopia’s all the time in the movies and in TV. Perfect and non-perfect situations and worlds are created for our entertainment. Netflix’s recent series “The Good Place” is a prime example of a Utopia, it is perfectly run and nothing bad ever happens.
Utopia’s have been tried to be turned into physical places. Cities around the world have been built with the intentions of being perfectly run, forward-thinking architecture has been erected and ideologies created. However, this never works, a Utopia can not be made nor run in the physical world. Plymouth was destroyed during the second world war and was then rebuilt. Modernist architecture was built, giving people jobs and redeveloping the city. This process of recreating a destroyed city could be seen as building a utopia. Something better than the city that stood before it and would stand higher and prouder for the people that lived in it.
The digital world has opened a design for utopias. Gaming allows people to spend time in virtual worlds that have either been created for the good or the bad. Social media allows a utopia to be created and shared. People post the good, and usually, only the good on social media which makes their life look like a utopia. However, this is fickle and imaginary as it is only a snippet of their life.
Are we living in a Dystopia?
I think it is too easy to see the state of the world as a dystopia. There is suffering, famine, droughts, natural disaster, disease and human greed ruling the world. There are good things happening as well, however, I feel that with the way we are having to live our lives at the moment is in a Dystopia.
The idea of utopia is one that is subjective to thyself. It does not exist in the physical world but it can in the metaphysical. It could be a state of mind or a lifestyle that you can create within the reality of society. Dystopia is the opposite, it is a world that is imagined with a great deal of suffering, also an idea that can aline itself within the realms of reality.
My utopia is a lifestyle that I will make for myself outside of society. A self-sufficient homestead where happiness is at the heart of everything.
I think it could be seen that we are living in a dystopia. A world with war, suffering, infection, poverty, injustice, human greed and selfishness.
My creative practice is also a pursuit of expression and happiness.
Dianne Harris- Utopia and Architectural Photography
Dianne Harriss- Utopia and Architectural Photography
Draft Plan
The Structure
Intro to the photographer who’s work she is analysing, Julius Shulman’s and why the photographs were taken- to show off the property.
Next paragraph introduces “Utopia” and how it can be related to the photograph. The origins of it by Tomas More and 20th-century thinking by Fredirc James.
Then it goes onto putting the two ideas together with an in-depth analysis of the photograph. The people in the photograph and what they represent. Also looking further from the house, the city and what that represents in the time that the photograph was taken.
How the photograph can represent both Utopia and Dystopia- then going into depth about LA and the history that surrounds the city...all being represented in the photograph from the birds-eye view of the city.
I think that the case study goes further than the analysis of the photograph. It explains hows the image can represent a Utopia and dystopia. Also looking deep into the location of the photograph and the history that surrounds the city and period of time that it was taken in.