I was surprised to find an overall less reliable pattern in how political events affected furniture styles. This pattern is clear in the early years; colonial America imported its style from England, with only small variations to adapt to American life.
The pattern continued when English styles fell out of favor around the time of the American Revolution. Still connected to European roots, Americans adopted (and slightly reinterpreted) French styles. But the pattern seems to break down with the Victorian and Art Nouveau era. Victorian America saw a revival of numerous past styles, which seemed to have little connection to political events. Art Nouveau seemed to be less about reaction to political events and more about breaking free of old styles and artistic expectations.
Art Deco brought back a strong connection to the political and social events of its time. Its experimentation with new materials and emphasis on technology and speed attempted to infuse luxury into one's surroundings while the economy was facing the Great Depression. While the clean simplicity of Modern furniture seemed to have little connection to political events, Post-Modern reflected the socio-political chaos of the time, expressing the distrust of governments.
What happens when old and new collide? Or expected and unexpected? Logical and illogical?
The CATALOGUE
A list, register, enumeration; systematic or methodical arrangement
To make a catalogue or list of
To CLASSIFY
To arrange in or analyze into classes according to shared qualities or characteristics; to make a formal or systematic classification of
To assign to a position within a formal system of classification
(Alternate usage: To designate as officially secret)
CLASSIC
Archetypal; typical of its kind; representative
HYBRID
A conceptual whole made up of complicated and related parts
REPURPOSE
To use or convert for use in another format or product
NOSTALGIA
A yearning for the past, often in idealized form
The pain or ache to return home
Homesickness
Described as a medical condition, a type of melancholy, in the Early Modern period
The good old days, viewed through an idyllic lens
A longing to go back to a particular period of time
Creating an idealized form from memory
UNCANNY
Das unheimliche; literally, un-home-ly; idiomatically scary, creepy
Something familiar yet foreign, resulting in a feeling of it being uncomfortably strange
Because the uncanny is familiar yet strange, it often creates cognitive dissonance due to the paradoxical nature of being attracted and repulsed at the same time; this often leads to outright rejection, as one would rather reject than rationalize.
When the familiar is no longer that; when home is no longer home
Exploring use / repurposing of the catalogue, the human desire to classify / catalogue.
Something catalogued is at once itself and something not itself; it becomes an element in a system, an object with markers, viewed as a collection of characteristics rather than a whole.
Cataloguing / classifying as a way to understand a thing; achieve distance from it; perspective; separation.
Examples of repurposing of the catalogue:
Fight Club / IKEA catalog scene
Artists' approach to cataloguing:
http://www.pahomann.com/jd/jd.php
http://jennyodell.wordpress.com/parking-lots-and-overpasses/
http://mixedgreens.com/artist/Coke-Wisdom-ONeal-16/work/Stranger-Face-718.html
Fallowing is part 2 timeline of Taiwan.
Economic Miracle
1958 Sep 11, Responding to Communist China's artillery attacks on the Taiwan-
held islands of Quemoy and Matsu, President Eisenhower said in a broadcast address the US had to be prepared to fight to prevent a communist takeover of the islands.
1960 Jun 4, The Taiwan island of Quemoy was hit by 500 artillery shells fired from t
he coast of Communist China.
1965 A museum in the style of the Ming and Qing palaces was built on a hillside outside Taipei to house the treasures of the Forbidden City. The National Palace Museum
, Taipei, possessed 80,000 art objects.
1969 Mar 20, Senator Edward Kennedy called on the U.S. to close all bases in Taiwan.
Speedy Democratization
1971 Nov 23, The People's Republic of China was seated in the U.N. Security Council.1971 Oct 25, The UN General Assembly voted to admit the People’s Republic of China and expel Nationalist China (Taiwan).
1972 In Taiwan Giant Manufacturing began producing bicycles for foreign and domestic buyers. By 2008 it was the world’s largest bicycle maker.
1975 Apr 5, Chiang Kai-shek, Chinese statesman and president of the Republic
(1943-1950) and President of the Republic of China, Taiwan
1978 Dec 15, President Carter announced he would grant diplomatic recognition to the People’s Republic of China, i.e. Communist China, on New Year's Day and sever official relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan).
1978 Dec 31, Taiwanese diplomats struck their colors for the final time from the e
mbassy flagpole in Washington, marking the end of diplomatic relations with the U
nited States.
1979 Apr 10, The US Government established the Taiwan Relations Act which said: "to make clear that the US decision to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China rests upon the expectation that the future of Taiwan will be determined by peaceful means."
1982 Jan 11, The Reagan Administration announced that it will continue to help Taiwan produce F-5E fighter planes, but will not sell more advanced models.
1982 Jul 14, The US made assurances to Taiwan regarding arms sales.
1983 May 10, Dominica PM Dame Eugenia Charles chose to support Taiwan out of political conviction
1986 Taiwan’s Pres. Chiang Ching-kuo, the son of Chiang Kai-shek, decided to open up the political life with Democratic reforms.
1986 The Democratic Progressive Party was established in opposition to th
e Nationalist Party and advocated formal independence from China.
1988 Jan 13, Lee Teng-hui became president of Taiwan, the first Taiwan-born head-of-state, following the death of President Chiang Ching-kuo. Lee Teng-hui authorized the establishment of the separatist Democratic Progressive party (DPP).
1988 Hon Hai, a small Taiwanese plastics manufacturer, opened a factory in Shenzhen, China. By 2009 it had grown to the size of a city with over a quarter
of a million employees.
1993 The Taiwanese film "The Wedding Banquet" was directed by Ang Lee.
1994 Aug, The New Party was established by former KMT legislators who refused to accept Taiwanese separatism.
Presidential Election
1996 Mar 23, The first free presidential elections were planned. Lee Teng-hui had a landslide victory.
1997 Apr, The Taiwanese drama film “The River” was shown at the SF Film Festival.
1997 Jun 5, The Taiwan film “Mahjong” by Edward Yang was an Int’l. film festival award winner.
1997 Jul 5, It was reported that the ruling party and the opposition pro-independen
ce party had joined behind a plan to change the constitution and scrap the provincial government, a vestige of an old arrangement that considered Taiwan a part of China.
1997 Nov 29, The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won 12 of 23 mayoral and county seats and for the first time received more votes than the Nationalist Party.
1997 Dec 30, South Africa established diplomatic ties with China and ended formal ties with Taiwan.
1998 Jan 12, Former US Senator Robert Dole signed a $30,000 per month contract as a foreign agent for Taiwan.
1998 Oct 14, China and Taiwan held their first talks since 1993 and said they were working toward reunification.
1998 The film “Han Chee” (Sweet Potato) by Jean Cheng was a video essay on Taiwanese history.
1999 Feb 9, China severed relations with Macedonia after the government in Skopje recognized Taiwan.
1999 Apr 29, The US decided to sell an early-warning radar system to Taiwan.
2000 Feb 1, US House members voted to strengthen military ties with Taiwan with a 341-70 vote in favor of the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act.
2000 Feb 21, China warned Taiwan that a prolonged lack of negotiations could provoke a military attack.
2000 Mar 21, The Parliament ended a 51-year-old ban on direct trade, transport and postal links between several of its offshore islands and mainland China.
2000 Aug 14, Pres. Chen Shui-bian arrived in Los Angeles to begin a 2-week trip to strengthen ties with some of the 29 small nations that still support diplomatic relations.
2000 Sep 29, A US AM-RAAM missile sale to Taiwan was designed so that delivery would not occur unless China threatened an attack.
2001 Apr 24, Pres. Bush said that the annual process of selling arms to Taiwan, a US policy since 1982, would end. China condemned the recent $5 billion arms sale.
2001 Apr 25, In unusually blunt terms, President Bush warned China that an attack on Taiwan could provoke a U.S. military response.
2001 Nov 11, Taiwan officially joined the WTO after ministers in Qatar approved its membership.
2001 Nov 23, Taiwan announced that it would allow Chinese living abroad to visit as tourists. This relaxed a 50-year ban intended to keep out spies from the Chinese mainland.
2001 Acer, a Taiwan computer maker, spun off BenQ, a maker of LCD monitors.
http://members.shaw.ca/leksu/mainp14e.htm
