MoMA : Applied Design - Functionality

HIGH   FUNCTIONALITY: 

"Basic House" (Prototype)
Artist: Martín Ruiz de Azúa
Polyester , 200 x 200 x 200 cm (1999)

Martin de Azua's "Basic House" is an artwork which has high value in respects to functionality. This artwork was a prototypical design for a portable home which was mainly meant to house the less fortunate in society. The purpose of this work is quite noble and charitable but that is not what constitutes it as a high functioning artwork. It is extremely light and transportable as it can be folded up like a "handkerchief" and is energy efficient as it is powered through the hot air emanating from grilles in urban streets. 


"Mine Kafon wind powered demenir"
Artist: Massoud Hassani
Bamboo and bio-degradable plastics, 221 x 221 x 221 cm (2011)

Hassani's "Mine Kafon" is a marvelous work of art as it is quite aesthetically potent as well as technically proficient. The artwork resembles a sphere with toilet plungers emanating from the center with the rubber heads pointing outwards. The perfect symmetry (dimensions) of the design allow for this invention to be rolled on vast plains like a giant ball or boulder. The purpose of this artwork was to suppress the explosive damage of a land mine. This artwork is high in functionality as it serves its intended purpose, by absorbing the blasts from land mines and neutralizing their crippling power.


LOW FUNCTIONALITY: 

"Blur Building" (Switzerland)
Artist : Diller & Scofidio 

This artwork is an architectural design of a building which is placed in a location where the atmosphere and environment play a key role in the aesthetics of the artwork. The Museum only has a photo image of the building but the caption states that 35,000 different hoses shoot out water at high speeds in order to spray the area with mist. The final product depicts a building immersed in clouds (fog). The piece is low in functionality as it serves no formal purpose other than to be appreciated aesthetically. The use of 35,000 hoses could render this as high in functionality to some but my criteria relies on the use of the artwork outside of the purpose of being appreciated as art. 

"Oxygen House Project"
Artist: Douglas Darden
Pencil, crayon, ink, chalk, and paper (1988)

Douglas Darden's "Oxygen House Project" is quite the unique artwork. The concept itself is different, but the presentation of the artwork with a fictitious backstory is also appealing, stylistically. The drawing is of a tent filled with oxygen designed for a fictitious character, in need of oxygen after a train derail. The object is low in functionality as it serves a rhetorical being. It cannot be used by any human being but most definitely can stimulate minds and enthrall imagination. Had this artwork been used for a specific individual or used for a performance art, perhaps it would have merited a higher rank of functionality


**REFERENCES**   http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?SHR&tag=AppliedDesign