Ornamental art and architectural decoration

Condemning ornament as a crime, modernism severed the symbiotic architecture/arts connection for nearly 80 years. Postmodernism reclaimed decoration as vital to composition, but the ornament/architecture relationship was practically reinvented. In contemporary architecture, this essential, complex and ambiguous rapport is defined by a multiplicity of trends, design directions and experimental forays into the sciences and arts. This paper investigates the reconfiguration of this relationship, assesses the impact of technology on this re-shaping, providing a possible answer to the following question: since the arts are becoming increasingly specialized, is a means of artistic expression specifically tailored to built objects still possible? (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer review under responsibility of Prof. Ayse Cakir Ilhan