Environments by Design
Abstract
In the course of the 20th century, many researchers studied the social and cultural ideological consequences of Western society’s artistic achievements—a significant reference in this regard was the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory. This study, however, focuses on the first decades of the 21st century but seeks to update and answer one of the Frankfurt School’s main questions concerning technological development, and social challenges; namely, whether contemporary art and architecture operate interdependently with institutional and globalized market structures to find social solutions or merely focus on their own milieus or on mass culture entertainment. On the one hand, artistic achievements are part of the cultural development that occurs within territorial limits. On the other hand, concerning deterritorialization, these achievements are related to space-time, images moving in the face of the perception-image (Deleuze 1983-1985). Therefore, it is not trivial to distinguish the political and economic aspects of a social fact from its immediate need to find solutions for the urban environment. To this end, this article discusses the historical achievements of practical and aesthetic developments through artistic actions, design, and architecture, while taking into account the public space–physical or digital–through the images, sounds, and integrated planning that represent local and global challenges to a sustainable environment. Hence, it considers artists, composers, designers, and architects who have consolidated their achievements through interactions with technicians, politicians, scientists, and technologies. Accordingly, this paper addresses the formulation of a better understanding of the complexity of cohabitation, that is, urban lives. The urban space has always been one of the main environments in which musical, artistic, and cultural achievements, integration, and new developments transpired (Schmidt 2011). For example, the relationship between sounds and images in the urban framework aims to expand the limits of architecture. As stated by Jean Nouvel, “an architect is like a filmmaker,” using a combination of space, music, and images. Finally, the city is discussed within a structure of contemporary universality related to urban transformation, democratic ideals, and aesthetic experience, especially in relation to the moving image (Schoolman 2020).
Christiane Wagner (Germany), has been a visiting research professor at the Contemporary Art Museum of the University of São Paulo (MAC USP), working on the research “Musical Iconography and the Relations between Music and Visual Arts in the Contemporaneity” and “Heritage Interpretation: Museum, Culture, and Society.” She has a Ph.D. in Sciences of Art and Aesthetics, Université Paris 1 (Panthéon-Sorbonne), First Class Honors Thesis (magna cum laude): “Aesthetics, Contemporary Image. Analysis of the Concept Innovation.” In Germany, her doctoral degree (Doktorgrad) was recognized by the German Ministry of Culture and Education for her doctorate at the Sorbonne. She was also professor and researcher of Aesthetics and Sciences of Communication, Institute of Arts (UNICAMP, Postdoc, CAPES Fellowship, 2014-2018). She holds also a Ph.D. in Design and Architecture and Master’s degree in Sciences of Communication from the University of São Paulo (ranked as the best university in Latin America). She attended the Academy of Visual Arts, Frankfurt and later, in São Paulo, she majored in design at the School of Fine Arts. She gave lectures and participated in panel discussions on Aesthetics and Sciences of Communication at Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart, Germany; ACTE Institute, Æsthetica – Art et Philosophy, Université Paris 1 (Panthéon-Sorbonne); and in many international conferences. She is also an editor of Visual Sociology and executive board member of the research committee on Sociology of Communication, Knowledge and Culture (both research committees at International Sociological Association), a scientific committee member of Center for Open Access in Science (COAS) and is also active in the German, French, European and International Aesthetic Associations.