Modernity and Durability

Perspectives for the Culture of Design

The orthodox concept of the Modern, as it was passed down from the 1920s to the post-war era, has been in a state of crisis for quite some time. This is particularly visible in the fields of urban planning, architecture, and design. Theorists and practitioners have either fiercely defended it as a crowning historical achievement to be upheld and further cultivated, or dismissively rejected it as a short-lived and outdated episode that needs to be replaced with something different and new.

In his book Modernity and Durability. Perspectives for the Culture of Design, Architectural theorist and practitioner Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani suggests a third option: that we reformulate our understanding of the Modern, continuing to pursue its original social and humanist ambitions while radically re-examining its ideological, political, social, technical, functional, economic, ecological, and aesthetic assumptions. Our world, which continues to be shaken by dreadful wars, is also being sapped and polluted by our thoughtlessness and our greed. The capitalist compulsion to turn everything into a commodity has led to needless production and consumption, and we are both victims and accomplices of this predicament. The consumerist frenzy has brought completely new forms of exploitation and exacerbated the unjust inequalities between different parts of our world. Starting from these premises, the author puts forward a new design approach that strives for – and is defined by – durability. This is an approach that rejects the frivolous waste of resources and superficial proliferation of images that have become commonplace today. It offers an alternative to the contemporary fixation on spectacles, both hollow and dangerous, and instead calls for measured restraint and substantial simplicity.

Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani
Modernity and Durability
Perspectives for the Culture of Design
210 x 230 mm, 112 pages
15 pictures, softcover
ISBN 978-3-86922-700-9 (english)
€ 28,00
July 2018. DOM publishers, Berlin

gisela graf communications supports publishers, museums and institutions specialising in architecture, design or art, with professional press and PR work, also on an international level.

Communications — Individual concepts and texts for media relations
Connections — Media contacts, interview arrangements, events — anything that brings people and subjects together
Corrections — Editing and copy editing of texts and specialised publications, catalogues and brochures

gisela graf communications
Gisela Graf
Schillerstr. 20
D 79102 Freiburg
T +49 761 791 99 09
F +49 761 791 99 08
contact@gisela-graf.com
www.gisela-graf.com

This release was published on openPR.