On the one hand, while modern industrial civilization has brought great material wealth to mankind, it has also brought a series of social and psychological problems such as the alienation of human nature, the loss of individuality, and spiritual anxiety; on the other hand, although traditional handicrafts are evocative and nostalgic, the soil on which it depends no longer exists, and it cannot re-play an important role in social production. As Hangjian said: "The era of electronic and information has arrived, and the material creation of human beings in this hundred years has exceeded the sum of all the history of the past, and there is no reason for our lives to remain unchanged." It's just that the slowly changing body and the society that changes too fast always have irresolvable contradictions, and we will miss the warmth of local craftsmanship in the dead of night. However, we seem to have no choice. ”
With the industrial transformation of agricultural culture, many traditional craft products that have achieved mass production have lost their craft value and are facing an embarrassing state of either being lost or adapting to modern lifestyles and market needs. Of course, the disappearance of traditional handicrafts does not mean that people do not need arts and crafts, do not need exquisite life, and do not need cultural feelings. What the arts and crafts need, perhaps, is a major metamorphosis.
How to clearly identify the cultural value and practical value of traditional handicrafts and find out the art forms and styles suitable for contemporary art is the premise for completing their transformation into the future. The essence of traditional handicraft is that it is a culture of craftsmanship, the importance of heavy lifting and handicraft, an effective way to prevent people from moving to the edge of alienated life, and one of the best means of buffering the tension of technology and culture.
Historically, when industrial production became the dominant force, handicrafts were truly discovered and really valued, and industrial production and handicrafts were actually an interdependent relationship, mutual value and mutual existence. When people are no longer constrained by the basic material survival, they will give more spiritual meaning to creation, such as weaving, ceramics, lacquerware and other traditional skills, in the contemporary era gradually get rid of the original practical purpose, and adapt to modern aesthetic tastes, art form style variation, and gradually move towards the current form, such as fiber art, modern pottery, modern lacquer art.
This is completely consistent with the current large cultural background. A prominent change in contemporary society and culture is the rise of mass culture, which has been popularized by the lower masses with an unprecedented wide range, leading to the generalization of aesthetics and the dailyization of aesthetics, the transformation of art into life and the art of living. Aesthetic activities have gone beyond the scope of the so-called pure art and literature, and some emerging art activities, such as advertising, fashion, popular songs, environmental design, urban planning, room decoration, TV series, etc., occupy the center of mass cultural life, and the venues of artistic activities have also penetrated from the original art museums and concert halls to the daily life space of the public, such as city squares, shopping malls, supermarkets, street gardens, etc. Most of these new art categories and activity spaces belong to the category of art design.
With the development of the times, "arts and crafts" can no longer cover all the creation activities, the extension and connotation gradually narrowed, becoming synonymous with "special crafts" and "traditional handicrafts", so in the 1999 adjustment of the discipline catalog of colleges and universities, the "arts and crafts" major was replaced by "art design". Therefore, Hangjian is very intimidated in "The Disappearance of a Term": "No matter how deeply we have feelings for arts and crafts, how many modern interpretations we make of it... In 1999, in the catalog of disciplines of the Ministry of Education, there was no "arts and crafts" major, and one word disappeared," but at the same time another word entered our field of vision, which was art design.
From the perspective of the large social and cultural background, "arts and crafts" has been replaced by "art design", and the transformation of arts and crafts to art design is the embodiment of the increasing mainstream position of mass culture, the popularization of culture to the lower level of the people, and the deep changes in society. Generally speaking, social change begins at the level of material culture and then gradually involves the institutional level and cultural level. "Spring River Plumbing Duck Prophet", the change in the concept of arts and crafts, it is precisely as a material culture, the first to feel the surge of social undercurrents, becoming the prelude to social and cultural change.