Modern kültürde `ev`in nesneleşmesi: Özne üzerinden bir okuma

Abstract

Modernleşme, kentin tüm bileşenlerini yeniden örgütler. Endüstrileşme, kentleşme, kitle iletişim araçlarının gelişimi ve artan nüfusla birlikte bir metropol doğar. Modern toplumun ve metropol koşullarının yeni bir düzen oluşturduğu bir ortam içerisinde ev, modern mimarinin en belirgin hedef alanı haline gelir. Modernist öncü mimarlar, evi, modernliğe dair fikirlerin araştırma-deneme zemini olarak kullanırlar. Bu doğrultuda; evler, dönemin yeni yaklaşımlarının mikro ölçekteki deney alanı haline gelir. Evin kullanıcısı olan özneden bağımsız olarak işleyen bu süreçte mimarlık nesnesi, mimarlık nesnesinin içindeki kullanım nesneleri ve özne arasındaki gerilim çok boyutlu bir hal alır.Kitlesel üretim sürecinin merkeze alınması, çalışma hayatının standartlaştırılması modern bireyin hayatını kökten değiştirir. Birey, yeni olana adapte olmaya çalıştığı bu dönemde, evin geçirdiği değişimle birlikte tekrar sarsılır. Gittikçe nesneleşen ve idealize olan ev, hem bir `mimarlık nesnesi` olarak hem de `mimarlık nesnesinin içindeki kullanım nesneleri` olarak popüler medya tarafından sürekli teşhir edilir. Ev, modern dünyanın bir uzantısı, modern olmanın aracı haline gelmiştir. Özne, ilişki kurulamaz ideal bir nesneye dönüşen ev üzerinden kendini var etmeye çalışır. Çünkü ev, mimarlık nesnesi ve mimarlık nesnesinin içerdiği diğer nesnelerin tümüyle birlikte, özneye olmak istediği kişi olma gücünü vaat eder ve özneyi ideal olana ulaşma umudu ile kontrolü altına alır. Evin içindeki nesnelerin kendi var oluşsal dayatmalarının da (özneyi yönlendirme eğilimlerinin) devreye girmesiyle, öznenin evin içindeki özgür hareket alanı iyiden iyiye azalır.Bu çalışma, modernleşme hareketinin yarattığı ortamı ev ve modern birey üzerinden ele alarak, evin ideal bir nesneye dönüşmesi sürecindeki öznenin durumuna odaklanır. Bu bağlamda, modernleşme hareketinin bireyi ve evi uğrattığı değişime bir tepki olarak gelişen sanat mimarlık arakesitindeki üretimler ve eve dair yeni söylemler oluşturan eleştirel mekan pratikleri üzerinden mimarlık nesnesi – nesne – özne eksenindeki ev olgusunu tartışır.

Modernization reorganizes all components of the city. Due to industrialization, urbanization, development of mass media and increasing population a metropolis appears. In this era, under the ideal of rationalism and standardization many factories are established for mass production, many scientific discoveries take place and the improvement in education and employment opportunities transform cities into metropolises. This situation brings serious health and accomodation problems along and plays an essential role in social class division. In 1900s, every stage of mass production is supervised by Taylorism, which stands for the scientific productivity method genereated by Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915). Objects are broken into pieces, thus they are standardized to be connected on the assembly line. All work spaces including factories and offices are reorganized to achieve maximum productivity. After the mass production and standardization period, influenced by the Taylorist method individuals face the need to adapt to the environment shaped by the`productivity` ideal. Individuals' work principles are determined solely by this productivity concern and these individuals are expected to perform standardized tasks. This standardization of professional life changes the life of the modern individual completely. While adapting to the new conditions, the individual is shaken once more by the change in the house, which is inflicted by the standardization and mechanization processes. The gradually objectivized and idealized house is presented continuously by the popular media as an `architectural object` and `objects of use in the architectural object`.Modern society and metropolis conditions form a new order and in this environment house becomes the most obvious target area of the modern architecture. Modernistic pioneer architects use the house as a research-trial ground for modern ideas. Houses become the micro scaled experimental field for new approaches. House is the medium of being modern, it is the extention of the modern world. During this process, which is independent of the subject who uses the house; the tension among the `architectural object`, `objects of use in the architectural object` and the subject becomes multidimensional. Subject who is bounded by the rationalism of the house and standadization of the professional life begins to become standardized and passivized.With the display of the house by magazines, movies, and exhibitions, the house, which is an important part of everyday life, is no longer just a place where subject lives. It is now a half-real image, which subject sees on the magazines and admires.The modernist pioneer architects take a step further than objectivization. The house becomes an object of desire, an experimental field where ideas of individualism, freedom, rootlessness, and transparency are on display. This situation alters the relationship of the subject with the house significantly. The house, which takes over, the mission of developing novel answers to the new life styles turns into an ideal object that estranges the subject. The environment created by the modernization movement changes not only the architectural object but also objects of use in that architectural object. Because the technology has started oozing into the house and housework has found its new meaning while the industrial product takes its place in the house. The mixer, the fan, the hairdryer and the washer become the key objects -even the savior of the subject,- in reaching the ideal house which is injected into the dreams of the subject by the popular media. These objects are reproduces through commercials and define the ideal house. The house as the experimental lab of the modernism is exposed to various interventions in the context of the architectural object and objects of use in the architectural object. In particular, the relationship of the subject with the house weakens furthermore in the situations where the subject transfers his/her right to decide on the objects in the house completely. Subject tries to exist over the unrelatable idealized object of the house. The house, including the architectural object, and all other objects that architectural object consists, promises the subject the power of being whoever the subject wants to be and takes control of him/her in hopes of idealizing the himsel/herself. The existentialist imposition of objects within the house (proneness to manipulate the subject) limits the subject's radius of action.The architect uses the objects that s/he sees fit for the user of that house in the photographs and defines the ideal users of the space s/he created. In this way, fictional users who cannot be seen directly are incorporated into the marketing of the house as senseless, lifeless subject models. The modern culture, which designs and presents the architectural object and all other objects, tries to transform and idealize the subject himself/herself indirectly. In this context, the issue is not only designing the space but also designing the life of the subject who lives in the designed space.The individual designs his/her house over the desired identity s/he wants to achieve. Consequently, the individual turns the house into a message display window. The house serves as a personal exhibition site. The modern individual who gets enthusiastic about the identity the house promises, develops a fetish for the objects that s/he thinks are necessary for that identity. The refrigerator, the dishwasher, and the kitchen cabinet become the must-haves of an ideal kitchen, indirectly must-haves of an ideal life. Objects include both their own dominant existentialist characteristics and possible connotations that are created in subject's mind. Due to this fact, objects are considered important when it comes to subject-house comparison. Therefore, the `house` definition in this study includes objects that can be used with the architectural object. The object which is a human creation (non-human) can discipline (or pressure) the subject by using its physical features. It can also be turned into fetishes (by popular media and fashion triggers). In both cases, the subject goes under the influence of the object and becomes passivized.The communication between the subject and the object is not constrained by the physical features or the functionality of the object. Becauce there exist obscure areas that the subject interacts with the objects arising from his/her personal characteristics. As much as what can be brought to the mind of the subject unpredictably by the object, the connotations, guided by the commercials which can be considered as reflections of the modern world, are also a part of this obscure communication.The very condition of the modern architect turning the house into an object of desire is closely related to the modernity controlling and ruling the personal connotations of the subject. Beyond his/her personal connections, by having the knowledge of being a modern individual, the subject has developed a different perception of the objects and opened his/her personal space to the outer world. This study focuses on turning the house into an ideal object by discussing the impact of modernization movement on the house and the modern individual. In this context, by using the production in the intersection of artistry and architecture, which has developed as a reaction to the change in the individual and the house fueled by the modernization movement, the notion of the house bounded by the axes of the architectural object – the object – the subject is discussed.