German Sociologist, wrote Metropolis and Mental Life in 1903
He is asked to write about the role of intellectual life in the city but turns it around to write about the effect of the city on the individual
At the start of the 1900's the city was beginning to really develop which causes people to feel alienated and small against the big surroundings
"the resistance of the
individual to being levelled, swallowed up in the
social-technological mechanism."
— Georg
SimmelLouis Sullivan ( 1856 -1924) Architect
- Instigator of Form follows function
- Father of the modern skyscraper
- Mentor ro Frank Lloyd Wright
"Skyscrapers represent
the upwardly mobile city of business opportunity"
Charles Scheeler
Photographs the new industrial world as if it were sculpture- paints them in a positive light, embracing the new surroundings.
Modern Times - Charlie Chaplin (1936)
Conflict between humans and industry
The Flaneur
'Flaneur' translates to 'stroller', 'lounger' or 'saunterer'. It is somebody who observes the city, taking it in and commenting upon it, they are a part of the crowd and apart from the crowd at the same time. They are all about 'experiencing' the city which was a big focus of a lot of art and design at the time.
The photographer has a lot of similarities to the Flaneur, as they document the world they see around them in a light that they think suits the mood and mentality of the time.
Links to the isolation and confusion that came due to the development of modernity are still visible in contemporary photography
References to the clash between humanity and modernity are evident in pop culture in the films Metropolis and Bladerunner.
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