telluri–what?!?
telluricAesthetic is an online gallery of user-created avatars based on perceptions of the Philadelphia cultural aesthetic. Each avatar samples the symbolic connections people make between personal artifacts (e.g. clothing and accessories) and cultural labels. Based on feedback from Philadelphians ages 18-35, I am designing an avatar builder that will feed into a filterable gallery. The gallery will allow viewers to visually compare perceived differences and commonalities of Philadelphia’s cultural subgroups.
In other words, Philadelphians can create an avatar based on what they wear, and then they can view, filter, tag, and comment on these avatars in the telluricAesthetic gallery.
telluricAesthetic seeks to answer the question
“How do Philadelphians ages 18-35 translate personal artifacts, such as clothing and accessories, into cultural identity?”
Background:
According to Britannica.com, a telluric current is a “natural electric current flowing on and beneath the surface of the Earth.” Wikipedia states telluric currents “result from both natural causes and human activity, and the discrete currents interact in a complex pattern.”
The concept behind telluricAesthetic is that there are subtle but powerful under-currents of meaning that pervade our society’s cultural groups. Because of the fast pace and short attention span of our society, we tend to overlook the depth of cultural meaning and instead focus on what we see soley on the surface—cultural aesthetics.
A little theory:
In the book Subculture: The Meaning of Style, Dick Hebdige applies a semiotic interpretation to the subcultures that emerged during the 1960s and 70s in the United Kingdom. He first lays the foundation for this analysis with a citation of the Oxford English Dictionary’s lengthy definition of culture. It begins with “the action or practice of cultivating the soil; tillage,” and a bit further states, “the cultivation or development (of the mind, faculties, manners), improvement or refinement by education and training.” (Hebdige, 5) Hebdige explains how the various schools of thought that surrounded the idea of culture beginning in the late eighteenth century have evolved over the past several centuries, largely through the channels of literary criticism. Both Raymond Williams and Roland Barthes examined culture through the lens of the signification of cultural meaning and values. (ibid., 6)
My aim in this project is to adopt a similar semiotic approach and apply it to the various cultural groups predominant in Philadelphia. However, I am no literary critic or media theorist. I am interested in using semiotics as an interpretive tool for effectual visual communication and design. I am also interested in propelling the current wave of social media that empower consumers to become creators and disseminators of content. To this end, I am employing a participatory design process in which I investigate and interpret the semiotics of Philadelphia’s cultural groups through their very members.
