Introduction

Abstract

This book is about the ideas that lie behind images and objects of the twentieth century, more than it is about the images and objects themselves. The practice of making images, of making objects, of exploiting the visual, goes far beyond the act of manufacture — important though an understanding of materials is. Practitioners, whether artists, designers or architects, need to understand how their culture works in order to communicate successfully to their audience. Unless those engaged in acts of communication, in this case visual, understand the expectations of their audience, unless they have carefully considered who their audience might be, unless they are aware that they are in fact engaged in a complex dialogue, then the objects they create will have resonance for themselves but not necessarily for others. Practitioners cannot afford to work in an intellectual vacuum; to do so would be to undermine the power of their work to communicate to others. Architects, designers, photographers and artists all work in a culture that conforms to certain ideological principles (sets of governing ideas) which determine the way in which objects and images are both presented and understood. Only by understanding the context in which they are working can visual practitioners make complete sense of how they fit into the culture that surrounds them.