#Modernism

Bauhaus is the mysterious movement that proclaims "form follows function" while deeming ornamentation a luxury to be stripped away. It heralded rationality, yet ironically produced a multitude of identical boxes masquerading as houses. From architecture to furniture and typography, it turned every space into a sterile stage, leveling individuality under the guise of a stern revolution. In practice, however, it was merely a trend device to make buildings more marketable, laden with its own irony. In any case, its most ostentatious claim remains its claim of minimalism, a paradox embodied in steel and glass.

De Stijl was a 1917 Dutch collective-cum-manifesto that insisted on reducing reality’s complexity to a grid of horizontals, verticals, and primary colors to proclaim the beauty of universality. Under the banner of abstraction it ruthlessly excised emotion and context, flattening canvases into what looked like electrical wiring diagrams. It coerced painting, architecture, and furniture into its austere simplicity, locking artists in neat little cages. Thus, under the noble guise of versatility, every vibrant personality was swallowed by a world of three colors and straight lines.

Postmodernism is the intellectual prank of dismantling meanings only to deny any new assembly, a kaleidoscope chasing its own tail. It doubts the act of questioning itself, turning skepticism into a virtue. Meanings are hollowed out and celebrated as a festival of interpretation fragments. It revels in wordplay while expertly avoiding any final conclusion. Ultimately, its noble declaration that everything is relative becomes the immutable truth that changes nothing.