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How Minimalism Is Rooted in Fascism
Unpopular opinion, I know, but hear me out.
I bet you’re thinking, “Here we go again, everything is bad nowadays,” “Why can’t we just have something nice?”
I’m sorry for spoiling your day. But, it is; minimalism is rooted in a supremacist mindset. Not in the modern, OMG, all yt people are racist way, but born from good old-fashioned European supremacy. So before you marykondo your apartment and give away all your favorite childhood toys, take a look at the history of minimalism.
Adolf Loos
Adolf Loos, a fellow Austrian, laid the foundations for the minimalist movement in architecture and design in the early 1900s and became one of its influential pioneers. He influenced the Bauhaus movement, pissed of Emperor Franz Josef, and is rightfully considered one of the godfathers of minimalism.
His designs and architecture are beautiful, no doubt. But, I have issues with the mindset behind it.
“The development of culture is concurrent with the removal of ornaments from objects of daily use.”
See how he links possessing “culture” with abandoning ornaments? If you look at the colorful, ornamental cultures of the Dual Monarchy he was born in, you’ll get the first indication of why this might be problematic.
In his 1910 essay “Ornament and Crime,” he introduces the “immorality” of ornament, describing it as “degenerate.” He describes the peasants in the countryside as pagans because they love ornamental articles and clothing.
He uses their tattoos to claim that the Papuans haven’t evolved to modern man's moral and civilized standards. He even compares their evolutionary state to 2-year old “Teutonic” children!
the Papuan has not evolved to the moral and civilized circumstances of modern man, who, should he tattoo himself, would either be considered a criminal or a degenerate … Tattooed men who are not behind bars are either latent criminals or degenerate aristocrats. If someone who…
