SYMBOLIC DESIGN AND KITSCH PRODUCTION IN ARCHITECTURE IN A HYPERREAL POSTMODERN CONTEXT

Kitsch can be defined as the unimaginative product of a false

relationship that the image, which is detached from the place, time and context it

belongs to, establishes with a different reality. Kitsch which tries to influence a

large number of people by using the common values, expectations and tastes of

the consumer society in the hyperreal and multi-identity cultural environment of

the postmodern age, leads to the rapid consumption of products with high

emotional intensity and simple. The change in the dynamics of consumption

culture and the rapid consumption of selective image production by the society

paved the way for kitsch production in architecture.

In the postmodern world, which is the paradise of stylistic diversity, the use of

ready-made images and simulacra, loaded with connotations that take the pulse

of the consumer, has become widespread over time in art and architecture. The

main reasons for this situation are; the use of architecture as a propaganda tool,

the impact of global capital on art and architecture, the change in the tastes, needs

and preferences of the consumer with the influence of the culture industry,

technology, mass media and changing consumption culture.

In the capitalist economic order based on mass production and public

consumption, kitsch products have become an indispensable part of daily life.

While kitsch aesthetics previously appealed to the subculture and the middle

class, it is now among the preferences of the capital class in today's era where

the continuity of consumption is considered important. Architecture has become

one of the main consumption areas of political kitsch production with the use of

ideological images and is used as a propaganda tool.

It is important to show the reasons why kitsch is preferred, its usage areas and its

relationship with society, to understand the importance of the concept and to

determine its place in the future art and architecture. In this context, this study is

aimed to reveal the aesthetic, socio-cultural, economic and political dimensions of

the kitsch phenomenon in architecture, the reasons for the widespread use of

kitsch in the postmodern period and its possible usage areas in architecture.

Keywords: Architecture, Kitsch, Postmodernism, Hyperreality, Image use,

Consumption Culture