INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Let flash back to the Machine Age, the period in American history that gave us the assembly line, the first nonstop transcontinental flight,
regular radio broadcasts, and the first robot capable of performing more than 20 movements
These technological advancements inspired a style of art called Precisionism, popularized by big names like GeorgiaO&Keefe, Charles Sheeler
and Charles Demuth.
The Cult of the Machine exhibit at the de Young museum in San Francisco is a reflection of attitudes toward machines and
robotics during the Machine Age, the period between the two world wars during which industrial efficiency was the reigning mantra
In an era where efficiency was seen as both beautiful and as a threat, there was an influx of art inspired by anxieties people had about the
rise of industrial technology
The exhibit rehashes the &are machines a friend or foe to humans& debate through a Precisionist lens with a thorough, possibly too thorough,
collection.
Curated by Emma Acker, the exhibit is predominantly Precisionist works
Precisionism is an early 20th century American modernist style that was born from artists who synthesized European cubism and futurism with
the American vision of industrial, urban themes
We see smokestacks, factories, bridges and skyscrapers painted with geometric, smooth techniques.
Technologists today have expressed concern
about the takeover of robotics, decline in manufacturing jobs, losing control to AIs, biased algorithms and the loss of craftsmanship to
Every tech company has a strategy around machine learning and AI
Venture capitalists are investing in robotics startups
There are robots designed to make pizzas
Robots that autonomously deliver goodsthrough the last mile
Autonomous vehicles designed to replace drivers and flying cars on the horizon
Tech continues to make our world more efficient and convenient, but it impossible to predict whether machines will eventually help or hinder
When strolling through the Cult of the Machine exhibit at the de Young, one starts to wonder if this line of questioning will ever
end.
Duality of machines as light and dark
The de Young collection is a balance between the anxieties Americans felt toward technology
during the Machine Age, mixed with the hope that technology brought to a more connected, convenient world
One gallery dives into menacing interpretations of what technology meant during the period
Charles Sheeler &Suspended Power,& a 1939 oil on canvas depicts a large machine hanging over a few small humans in a factory — a stark
representation of the immense, barely-controlled power technology can exert over humanity — and how with one mis-engineered piece, we
The piece is the star of the exhibit, encapsulating the looming, unquantifiable threat of the future.
Artists certainly saw the darkness
in America worship of industry
Take Charles Demuth&s, &Incense of a New Church,& 1921
Here a factory is compared to a church, smoke to incense.
Much of the exhibit is scenes of factories, smokestacks and urban landscapes
void of humans, movement and color
The pieces themselves look like they were painted by machines, with no brush strokes to be detected
It could be the combination of the monotony of this art — the quantity of motionless urban landscapes — that makes parts of the exhibit
But that just may be the point.
Clarence Holbrook Carter &War Bride,& closes the exhibit
A bride stands to face her groom, a machine.
The absence of human error evokes anonymity and alienation that exist in a technological
There an eerie emptiness to these close up shots of mechanical systems
Yet they are the small pieces that make up our world.
Confusing efficiency with beauty
During the Machine Age, the demand for efficiency
became the driving force of the modern era
Its easy to see how efficiency was confused with beauty, rather than seen as the fulfillment of economic needs
Yet artists were finding meaning in the intersection of art, commerce and industry.
I speak in [the] tongue of my times
The mechanical, the industrial
Anything that works efficiently is beautiful.& & Charles Sheeler.
This exhibit is not by any means beautiful
There is nothing here that one might be inspired to hang on a living room wall.
However, for the first time &artists started to discover
beauty and meaning in our American fabric of industry and production and elevated it to the level of fine art,& says Acker
&The ideas and themes explored in the works from this period seem to resonate so much with our current moment
That what I wanted to emphasize
Precisionism was the springboard for thinking about larger themes around our relationship to technology during the Machine Age and today
And how the excitements and anxieties Americans experienced around tech innovation are reflected in our same social forces today.
Conflict
between humans and machines
Perhaps the most interesting part of the exhibit is an interactive feature that invites visitors to select three
words out of 30 to express what technology means to them
Some of the options are: creative, interconnected, revolutionary, automated, isolating, surveillance, collaborative, addicting, alienating,
cold.At the end of the exhibit the most frequently-selected words are displayed in a collective word portrait.
The word cloud is updated
every three seconds, and is contrasted with another word cloud
The other is a composite of Machine Age terms describing technology, drawn from 1920s-1930s American periodicals
Size and color of the words is determined by how frequently it appeared in the texts
It seems the visitors of this exhibit have more optimistic views of tech than the media during the Machine Age did.
Overall the exhibit
connects two views of technology: a cult-like promise of a better engineered world, and the crushing fear of the unknown threatening
humanity livelihood.
Where does this leave us now&We can relate to [the Machine Age] now as we enter this 4th industrial revolution
We&re looking forward with excitement and some trepidation toward disruption, displacement and changes on the horizon,& says Acker.
Cult of
the Machine: Precisionsim and American Art runs throughAugust 12, 2018 at the de Young Museum in San Francisco
For those interested in exploring how tech has shaped art throughout American history, this exhibit is one to see.
