Produced for the Bachelor of New Media Arts core subject: NM1000 Introduction to New Media. The course provides an overview of communication technologies and art production in the 20th century.

1. Introduc)on
to
New
Media
NM1000
|
Townsville
1909
-­‐
2009
A
Techno-­‐Futurist
Century
II

2. To
New
Horizons
|
General
Motors
Futurama
Exhibi)on
|
1939

3. The
Future
Designing
a
Vision
of
Society

4. “
Some)mes
at
night
I
lie
awake
in
the
dark
and
try
to
recapture
the
vision
and
the
sound
of
The
World
of
Tomorrow.
I
try
to
remember
how
the
pastel
ligh)ng
glowed
on
Mad
Meadow
in
Flushing:
soT
greens,
orange,
yellow
and
red;
blue
moonglow
on
the
great
Perisphere
and
on
the
ghostly
soaring
Trylon.
I
think
with
a
sense
of
sweetened
pain
of
nights
when
I
sat
by
Flushing
River
and
saw
The
World
of
Tomorrow
reflected
on
its
onyx
surface,
in
full
colour,
and
upside
down...”
Meyer
Berger
|
speaking
a;er
The
New
York
World’s
Fair
|
1940

5. The
Future
Designing
a
Vision
of
Society
The
World’s
Fair
was
once
a
hugely
significant
event,
the
right
to
host
it
fiercely
contested,
the
sense
of
technological
crystal
balls
and
cultural
exchange
omnipresent.
The
World’s
Fair
came
to
a
reconsMtuted
plot
of
land
in
upstate
New
York
in
1939.
Like
the
Paris
Fair
(1937)
before
it
-­‐
which
hosted
such
significant
events
(in
hindsight,
at
least)
as
the
hanging
of
Picasso’s
Guernica,
and
the
foreboding
cultural
face-­‐off
between
Russia
and
Germany
-­‐
the
New
York
World’s
Fair
of
1939/1940
was
to
be
like
no
other.
NY
World’s
Fair
|
Nembhard
Culin
|
1939

6. The
Future
Designing
a
Vision
of
Society
Arriving
at
the
outset
of
WWII,
the
Fair
of
‘39
was
a
naMonalisMc
display
of
democracy,
technological
achievement
and
naMonalisMc
pride,
designed
to
li;
America
out
of
the
dust
bowl
of
the
Great
Depression.
"The
Fair
will
dramaMcally
display
the
most
promising
developments
of
ideas,
products,
services
and
social
factors
of
the
present
day
in
such
a
fashion
that
the
visitor
may
gain
a
vision
of
what
he
might
a^ain
for
himself
and
for
his
community
by
intelligence
and
cooperaMve
planning.“
Grover
Whalen,
NY
World’s
Fair
president
NY
World’s
Fair
|
Nembhard
Culin
|
1939

7. The
Future
Designing
a
Vision
of
Society
The
‘39
World’s
Fair
introduced
a
vast
area
of
significant
“futurisMc”
developments
which
would
become
an
intrinsic
part
of
post
war
America
:
Television
Photo
copier
Pre-­‐prepared
frozen
foods
Vocal
synthesiser
Washing
machine
Air
Condi)oning
And
enthusiasMc
appearances
by
Superman
in
his
first
public
ouMng,
President
Roosevelt
the
author
of
the
New
Deal,
Albert
Einstein
the
inventor
of
the
atom
bomb
and
science
ficMon
author
HG
Wells.
Superman
|
Ray
Middleton
|
1939
Television
Launch
|
RCA|
1939

8. The
Future
Designing
a
Vision
of
Society
Unlike
the
quaint
tourist
trade
fair
feel
of
Brisbane’s
Expo
88,
our
modest
Australian
equivalent,
the
World’s
Fair
of
1939
took
on
‘mythic’
proporMons
Slogans
which
were
used
to
market
the
event
included:
“Fair
of
the
Future”
“The
World
of
Tomorrow”
“Dawn
of
a
New
Day”
“It
was
more
than
a
collecMon
of
exhibits;
it
was
a
wellspring
of
innovaMon
in
corporate
idenMty
and
promoMon.”
(Heller
&
Pomeroy,
1997)
NY
World’s
Fair
|
1939

9. The
Future
Designing
a
Vision
of
Society
In
fact
the
World’s
Fair
of
1939
was
a
predetermined
plan
by
key
players
among
America’s
wealthiest
corporaMons
to
li;
the
country
out
of
the
depression
era
and
signal
their
mastery
of
modernist
design
and
demonstrate
the
possibiliMes
of
20th
century
urban
Utopias.
This
marriage
between
naMonal
idenMty
and
markeMng
-­‐
consumer
culture
–
was
built
around
the
proliferaMon
of
consumer
goods
developed
by
America’s
leading
corporaMons
who
exhibited
alongside
naMon
states
:
General
Motors
Wes)nghouse
Chrysler
RCA
AT&T
NY
World’s
Fair
|
1939

10. The
Future
Designing
a
Vision
of
Society
In
many
ways
this
signalled
the
beginning
of
the
corporaMsaMon
of
contemporary
life
–
and
in
a
sense
the
birth
of
a
world
wide
movement
lead
by
the
West
to
blend
domesMcity
with
technological
progression.
In
an
eerily
similar
manner
to
which
conferences,
swap
meets,
culture
fesMvals,
trade
shows
and
industry
events
are
dominated
by
corporaMons
today,
this
event
was
bank
rolled
by
these
large
American
corporaMons.
These
corporaMons
invested
heavily
in
designing
this
vision
in
which
the
consumer
was
at
the
centre
of
this
technological
revoluMon.
Elektro
Robot
|
Wes)nghouse
Corpora)on
|
1939

11. The
Future
Designing
a
Vision
of
Society
Leave
It
to
Roll-­‐Oh
|
Wes)nghouse
Corpora)on
|
1939

12. The
Future
Designing
a
Vision
of
Society
The
Middleton
Family
Visit
the
World’s
Fair
(Snody,
1939)
As
their
name
suggests,
the
Middletons
are
designed
to
represent
the
middle
class
response
to
the
Fair's
imagined
future
of
consumables
and
social
improvement.
The
film
is
classic
corporate
spin.
The
Middletons
visit
the
Fair,
but
they
only
tour
the
WesMnghouse
Building.
The
film
is
designed
to
enthrall
the
Middletons
–
and
therefore
the
audience
–
with
the
wonders
of
an
electrified
future
of
capitalist
America.
The
Middleton
Family
Visit
the
World’s
Fair
|
Wes)nghouse
Corpora)on
|
1939

13. The
Future
Designing
a
Vision
of
Society
While
the
film
follows
the
adventures
of
the
family
as
they
visit
various
WesMnghouse
exhibits,
the
plot
focuses
on
the
romanMc
struggles
of
Babs,
a
fresh-­‐faced
college
student
who
must
decide
whether
she'll
marry
her
hometown
beau,
Jim
Treadway,
or
the
European
slickster,
Nicholas
Makaroff.
More
than
offering
two
different
paths
toward
Babs'
heart,
both
suitors
represent
ideologically
opposing
antudes
toward
industrializaMon
and
progress
as
imagined
by
WesMnghouse.
It
is
a
classic
simplificaMon
of
western
propaganda
–
Marxism
and
Abstract
Art
(ie
not
to
be
trusted)
versus
homespun
values
and
corporate
servitude
(warm,
safe
and
prosperous).
“In
the
film,
Babs'
roman?c
struggle
illustrates
the
conflict
between
capitalism
and
communism
as
imagined
by
Wes?nghouse”.
(Wood,
SJSU)
The
Middleton
Family
Visit
the
World’s
Fair
Wes)nghouse
Corpora)on
|
1939

14. The
Future
Designing
a
Vision
of
Society
Not
to
be
out
done,
GM
Motors
sponsored
the
not
so
subtle,
Democracity,
the
Fair’s
central
exhibit.
Designed
by
industrial
designer
Henry
Dreyfuss,
this
was
to
be
a
truly
futurist
project
which
projected
a
vision
of
American
life
in
2039.
The
Utopian
city
was
called
Centron.
It
featured
richly
gardened
communiMes
called
Pleasantvilles
and
satellite
commercial
districts
surrounded
by
farms
and
green
belts
called
Millvilles.
All
of
this
was
linked
by
a
modern
streamlined
transportaMon
network
of
highways
and
parkways.
As
the
chairman
of
the
fair’s
design
team
declared
:
“This
not
a
vague
dream
of
a
life
that
might
be
lived
in
the
far
future,
but
one
that
could
be
lived
tomorrow
morning
if
we
willed
it
to
be
so.”
(Robert
Kohn)
NY
World’s
Fair
|
Albert
Staehle
|
1939

15. The
Future
Designing
a
Vision
of
Society
To
New
Horizons
|
General
Motors
Futurama
Exhibi)on
|
1939

16. The
Future
Designing
a
Vision
of
Society
Democracity
aside,
NY
WF
provided
a
plarorm
for
the
execuMon
of
a
modern
futurist
design
aestheMc
which
would
dominate
American
life
for
the
best
part
of
a
century:
Domes)c
life
Transporta)on
Architecture
as
expression
The
explora)on
of
space
Military
technology
The
func)on
of
the
human
form
World’s
Fair
Comics
|
1939

17. The
Designer
Designing
the
Everyday

18. The
Designer
Designing
the
Everyday
At
the
centre
of
all
of
this
was
the
industrial
designer
Henry
Dreyfuss,
whose
exploraMon
of
such
design
aestheMcs
as
streamline
and
pracMcal
approaches
ergonomics
would
shape
much
of
the
next
50
years.
The
origins
of
his
modern
futurist
design
aestheMc
and
the
accompanying
pragmaMcs
of
naMon
building
which
underpinned
the
NY
World
Fair
of
1939
can
be
seen
even
today
in
contemporary
American
culture.
J3
Hudsons
|
Dreyfuss
|
1938

19. The
Designer
Designing
the
Everyday
"If
the
point
of
contact
between
the
product
and
the
people
becomes
a
point
of
fricMon,
then
the
industrial
designer
has
failed.
If,
on
the
other
hand,
people
are
made
safer,
more
comfortable,
more
eager
to
purchase,
more
efficient,
or
just
plain
happier,
the
designer
has
succeeded."
-­‐
Henry
Dreyfuss
Henry
Dreyfuss

20. The
Designer
Designing
the
Everyday
John
Deer
Tractor
|
1939
Honeywell
Thermometer
|
1952

21. The
Designer
Designing
the
Everyday
Ma
Bell's
Princess
Phone
|
1937
Ingraham
co.
'SenMnel
Wafer'
electric
wall
clock
|
1952

22. The
Designer
Designing
the
Everyday
Hughes
500
Helicopter
|
Circa.
1950
J3
Hudsons
|
1938

23. The
Designer
Designing
the
Everyday
Thermos
Pitchers
(Model
549)
|
1935
The
American
Thermos
bo^le
co.
|
1937

24. The
Computer
Designing
the
Personal
Future

25. The
Computer
Designing
the
Personal
Future
In
1983
Apple
launched
their
new
breed
of
personal
computers.
The
Apple
Macintosh
was
setup
as
a
direct
compeMtor
with
similar
technologies
being
developed
by
IBM.
However
in
a
strange
twist
of
markeMng,
Apple
used
a
Dystopian
vision
of
the
future
to
counter
the
hegemony
of
IBM.
They
Ridley
Sco^,
the
director
of
the
1982
film
Bladerunner,
to
direct
a
TV
commercial
which
echoed
the
themes
of
George
Orwell’s
i1984.
Apple
CorporaMon
|
Macintosh
|
1984

26. The
Computer
Designing
the
Personal
Future
Apple
CorporaMon
|
1984
|
1983
Apple
CorporaMon
|
Macintosh
|
1984

27. The
Computer
Designing
the
Personal
Future
In
1997
the
Apple
CorporaMon
introduced
their
most
widely
used
adverMsing
campaign
to
date,
which
would
conMnue
well
into
2002.
Using
17
world
leading
figures
from
the
20th
Century,
Apple
used
the
significaMon
of
these
individuals
and
their
achievements
to
construct
the
possibiliMes
of
a
future
built
around
the
personal
computer.
In
this
sense
the
owner
of
an
Apple
computer
would
automaMcally
be
associated
with
this
knowledge
base
and
the
product
in
effect
would
accelerate
thinking
and
creaMvity
via
technology.
Apple
CorporaMon|
1997

28. The
Computer
Designing
the
Personal
Future
Apple
CorporaMon
|
1997

29. The
Computer
Designing
the
Personal
Future
Apple
CorporaMon
|
1997

30. The
Computer
Designing
the
Personal
Future
Apple
CorporaMon
|
1997

31. The
Computer
Designing
the
Personal
Future
Apple
CorporaMon
|
1997

32. The
Computer
Designing
the
Personal
Future
Apple
CorporaMon
|
1997

33. The
Data
Designing
Meaning

34. The
Data
Designing
Meaning
h^p://blogoscoped.com
h^p://www.labnol.org

35. The
Data
Designing
Meaning
Google
Inc
|
Chrome
Browser
/
OS
|
2008
Robert
Delaunay
|
Circular
Forms,
Sun
No.
2
|
1912-­‐1913

36. The
Data
Designing
Meaning
MicrosoT|
Windows
7
OS
|
2010
Morgan
Russell
|
Cosmic
Synchromy
|
1914

37. Sony
|
Bravia
TV
|
2006

38. Samsung
|
LED
TV
|
2008

39. Conclusions
The
Techno-­‐Futurist
Century
This
is
only
half
the
story
See
:
web
browsers,
iPods,
social
networking,
data
clouds
The
techno-­‐futurist
century
began
with
a
fascinaMon
with
technology
reflected
in
art
The
techno-­‐futurist
century
ended
by
using
arMsMc
noMons
of
product
design
and
rules
of
colour
to
sell
technology
Somewhere
during
the
course
of
the
20th
Century
consumer
culture
became
the
dominant
market
for
the
manufacture
of
electronics
These
electronics
in
turn
became
the
dominant
devices
for
the
producMon
of
art