Minimalism: Economics, Politics, Science, & Technology
This paper was written by Richard Wong, Brian Anderson, Jonathan Li, and myself in a collaborative effort. The work of this paper was evenly distributed. My part included the introduction and the section on politics.
1 November 2021
Minimalism
Minimalism is an extreme form of abstract art that originated in New York during the early 1960s. Minimalism was identified through the use of simple geometric shapes built on squares and rectangles and characterized by extreme simplicity of form and a literal, objective approach. The word minimalism gained its popularity amongst young artists interested in resisting the stifling conventions of fine art. It was through the efforts of artists such as Agnes Martin, Donald Judd, and Frank Stella that minimalism became the movement we know today. The idea behind their work was that a work of art should only refer to itself. Minimalists attempted to rid their work of excess association by using hard edges and simple form as opposed to the typical painterly approach. While minimalism sought only to refer to itself, it could not keep itself from being influenced by the factors of its time and creating a large impact on the world beyond itself.
The late ‘50s to ‘60s was described as a time of great prosperity. The mix of a booming stock market and relatively low inflation allowed the United States to be an economic powerhouse. The United States learned from the mistakes of the ‘20s and prevented the 60s from sharing the same consequence. Many called this period the “Golden Age of American Capitalism”. One of the more notable characteristics of this time was the massive increase in childbirths. Roughly 4 million babies were born each year. This period would be known as the baby boomer generation. Due to the great economy of the ‘60s, consumer consumption was high. With the increase in materialistic desires, it is easy to see how modernism, electronic art, and Rock music would flourish in this highly capitalist society.
Modernism was a great representation of the capitalist industrial society in the ‘60s. With all the prosperity America has during the ’60s, there were some individuals worried that the impact that capitalism had on society was a net negative. Many believed that the increase in consumption was causing people to develop unhealthy materialistic desires. Minimalism was a movement that developed as a critique of modernist art. The idea of reducing things down to their simplest elements went against the ideals at the time. Minimalism showed that adding too many elements to a piece only covers up the more important elements of a piece. The concepts that minimalism represented could have been applied to help the economy of the ‘60s. Mass consumer consumption would be detrimental in the long run if practicality was not emphasized. Eventually, the mass consumption of goods would lead to the downfall of the economy.
The prosperity of the ‘60s sadly would not last. The 1973 oil embargo was an attempt by OPEC to restrict the amount of oil that enters countries that supported Israel. The restriction would cause gas prices to inflate and put a massive strain on the economy. Another economic issue during this time was Nixon’s freeze on wages and prices. Nixon believed that this would control the growth of inflation and prolong economic prosperity. Instead of controlling inflation, businesses started to lose money and lay off workers, causing mass unemployment while inflation was still high. This became known as stagflation, which is when the economy has low demand and high inflation.
The 1950s are often portrayed as a decade of prosperity, consensus, and conformity, and the 1960s as a decade of protest, disillusionment, and turbulence. The ‘60s were different from the ‘50s in many ways. By 1960, there was a TV in almost every American living room, bringing newly visible images of war, poverty, racism, and nuclear threat. There was a rise in civil rights movements, and protests and riots became commonplace due to influential leaders like Malcolm X and women becoming increasingly discontent with their futile existence as homemakers. There was a rise of what is now known as ‘counter-culture.’ The ‘60s began with a race for president between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. John F. Kennedy won by promising Americans the winning of both the space race and the cold war.
During this time, there was also the rise of the minimalist art movement. Minimalist artists of the 1960s avoided identifiable political content. They argued their work was a “pure form” free from the associations of paintings or sculpture. However, recent scholarship on minimalism has argued for its embeddedness in the politics of its day. For example, it’s argued that the use of materials like steel commented on the American military-industrial prowess. Other examples include Sol LeWitt’s white cubes drawing attention to the lack of government accountability in urban development and Glenn Ligon’s minimalist monochrome paintings which included provocative text regarding race.
Just as politics has an influence on minimalism, minimalism has an influence on politics. In contemporary political minimalism, the ideas behind minimalistic art practices are used to critically deal with cultural and political subjects. Wollheim described minimalism as creating a complex encounter with a single object. Politically, there was a rise of dedication to singular issues, evident through the newly emerging minor political parties. Many of these groups focused on a single social justice group, such as feminism, civil rights, anti-war efforts, etc. These groups introduced a minimalist approach to politics by focusing primarily on one issue and expanding it to a major political platform.
Minimalism as a movement can trace its origins back to the 1960s and 50s, spanning diverse disciplines and demographics. Science, Technology, Politics, Art, and Business support and intertwine with each other. Each subject supports and furthers the others, creating an abundance of wealth within our society. In the early 1900s, Victor Darwin L" Espinasse began researching and developing minimally invasive surgical techniques for neurosurgery. Technological innovation in later years allowed for these ideas to come to fruition.
The 60s, a time of widespread revolution made evident in the field of science by the breakthroughs pertaining to minimally invasive surgery techniques benefiting from increased regulation from governments across the globe, newly available information on public health, and rising education amongst the middle class. Overall the widespread trending of the minimalist train of thought likely affected the output of minimally invasive solutions. These types of treatments have benefited the quality of life post-surgery of many patients around the globe. Minimum meaning "the least quantity assignable, admissible, or possible" is extremely important for doctors and caregivers thinking about minimum pain and discomfort pertaining to human patients.
Minimalism has greatly impacted the music and art industries, but it has branched outwards towards other aspects of daily life. Technology from its application to its design has dramatically changed. People before the great depression were infatuated with the thought that “more is better” and this influenced the technologies of the time. For example, the presence of single-function technologies was booming with the most well-known being the iPod. After the Great Recession when money is tight and the budget needs to be down to the penny, everything became more efficient. Every single phone in the present day has the ability the iPod of the past has, but it also contains other functions that an iPod never had: calling people, surfing the web, playing games, etc. There may be downsides to the Great Recession, but because of it blossomed the growth of technology to become more compact and multifunctional. Thus providing the ability to efficiently use spaces to a better capacity.
Other aspects of modern society are impacted by advancements in technology. Art of the past was only for the mega-wealthy and their ability to obtain and preserve art pieces, but now the ability to see a masterpiece with a quick click of a button removes the necessity. Anyone and everyone can see them from anywhere. Just as art has been more easily accessible for anyone, so has a culture. Laptops, webcams, phone cameras, etc all have the ability to broadcast experiences to someone else without having them be present. For example, people don’t need to travel to Africa to experience the unique societal activities but instead can open “Youtube” to spectate someone else’s recording of their experience. This direct availability to connect people from all over the world makes the large planet a lot smaller and more easily accessible. Minimalism influenced the ability to have everything at your fingertips with a more compact and efficient arrangement of parts.
Minimalism has greatly impacted different facets of life ranging from politics to technology. It all stemmed from the mentality of simplicity while maintaining quality. Like the saying goes “Quality over quantity,” it is best to have a good result from a few than mediocre from many. As stated in economics, people believing that more is better is just as detrimental as in politics of not having a unified vision. Having the basic building blocks where having the least amount of space, supplies, goals, etc necessary is what propels the world as a whole towards a place without obsessing overabundance and abstraction. Minimalism is the movement that changed the course of human advancement in a positive notion that preserves the world and unifies the groups in a simpler manner.
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