Geschmacklose Wohnungseinrichtungen der 70er - Interior desecrations of the 70s

Auf der Suche nach Fotos typischer 70er-Jahre-Einrichtungen entdeckte ich folgendes Buch:

Looking for interior design photos of the 70s to illustrate my new project about Modella doll’s furniture, I found this book:

James Lileks: Interior desecrations: hideous homes from the horrible ‘70s. 2004

Ich erwartete grelle bunte Plastikeinrichtungen und vielleicht ein paar witzige Kommentare dazu, aber Lileks hatte andere Absichten, als er das Buch zusammenstellte:

I expected some typical 70s rooms and some funny remarks about striking colours and plastic furniture – but that was not what I got. Instead Lileks states:

“I want everyone who thinks the’70s were hip to realize that this decade was the absolute opposite of hip. It was a breathtakingly ugly period.”

"Friends don’t let friends paint and drink."

Tatsächlich hat er die häßlichsten und abstoßendsten Fotos aus amerikanischen Wohnzeitschriften dieser Zeit zusammengestellt, um seine Behauptung zu belegen. Kein Foto zeigt einen Raum, den ich für mein Projekt gebrauchen kann, trotzdem war ich überhaupt nicht enttäuscht, denn Lileks findet die lustigsten und witzigsten Vergleiche und kleine Geschichten über die gezeigten Räume, so dass ich mich wunderbar amüsiert habe – auch wenn er manchmal sehr drastisch und mordlustig wird.

And he really found the most hideous and ugly pictures from American magazines to prove his point of view. But apart from loathing this period he is full of witty ideas to make fun of the shown interior “desecrations” – sometimes he is a little bit bloodthirsty in his metaphors but I found myself giggling and laughing most of the time and being not in the least disappointed that there was not one room in the whole book that I found beautiful.

"Here we have a mix of old green crap, new green crap, and some stunning green transitional crap, all of which serve to give this room the exhausted, mealy flavour of overcooked vegetables."

"Stock up on water and pemmican – if we set out at dawn we can cross the room by nightfall! We establish base camp at the coffee table, and assault the sofa tomorrow." (Left)

"Surrounded and outgunned, the lamp and pillow held out as long as they could." (Right)

"Once upon a time these magnificent beasts roamed the land in herbs that seemed to stretch to the horizon.

Years of slaughter for their prized pelts have reduced them to a mere handful, and they are currently a protected species. This is one of the last remaining pairs.

Attempts to mate them in captivity have been unsuccessful. For which one can only give thanks."

Curious to see rooms described as follows?

"Perhaps there’s such a thing as “room karma.” If something horrible has happened in a space, the room must suffer along with those who perpetrated the evil. It will come back first as an ugly mess, then purify itself with incrementally better redecoration over the course of time.

     This would be the first reincarnation, then." (p.31)

(about a green sofa in a blue ugly environment)

"The only possible explanation: the sofa was bolted to the floor and wired to a bomb that would kill anyone if they tried to remove it. No other reason why this thing would be here in this picture." (p.69)

"Extra credit for the light fixture, which looks like a prop from the original Star Trek series. This is not a compliment. When Trek designers wanted props, they looked for household items so ridiclulous they had to be from the future. By those standards, this is from the thirtieth century." (p.71)