Victoria Perrone
ARS225
Midterm 1
3/21/16
Oscar Wilde once said, “America is such a violent country because your wallpaper is so ugly.” The phrase may make us laugh, but this was a critical part of aesthetic philosophy. To the aesthete, our surroundings are key to our well-being and happiness. But the life of the aesthete in the 19th century was reserved just for the wealthy; not everyone had the privilege to participate in this lifestyle firsthand. Psychological distress is the highest in poorest areas, much as the result of concerns over employment, home ownership, etc. Possibly the ability to renovate one’s environment to be more pleasant would alleviate just some of this distress (though certainly not all).
A hologram is just as good as what it depicts when what it depicts is useless aside from its aesthetics. For this reason, holograms would make great replacement for a number of household items: stuffed animals, houseplants, wall and ceiling décor, wallpapers, and more. In some extreme cases, they could replace windows and other sources of lighting in the room for people who really cannot get these things.
For this project, I took examples of poor living spaces in Japan and demonstrated how they could look more colorful, brighter, and somewhat cheerier with holographic technology. While some of the items would be affordable (such as houseplants and teddy bears), some would not (such as windows) to the people living in these spaces. This could go wrong if the inhabitants still do not receive proper sunlight, simply a hologram of a window and outdoors. Whether it’s for better or worse, holographic technology could be a means for the poor to brighten up their living spaces, so long as the device is cheaper than the necessary renovations, or a new home.
