virtualization of design and production a thesis - Bilkent University

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. The Aim and the Method of the Study
Both the practical and theoretical issues about the objects in our daily lives
would persist to be appealing since we inevitably confront their existence and
make use of their utility. However, the representations of objects to us within the
market relations obtain a quite distinctive character compared to our actual
experiences.
Marxist notion of object as a value in the capitalist society constitutes one of the
main arguments of this study. The dichotomy of use value and exchange value of
products finds its grounds as form and function duality in terms of design. Even
if form does not correspond to exchange value literally, we may disseminate the
term ‘form’ as the image or the visualization of the product with regard to our
object of study. For Marx, the exchange value disguises or even abolishes use
value within the market relations. Besides, Adorno and Horkheimer discuss the
same problematic in a broader perspective. They argue that there is a distinctive
predomination of exchange value over the use value that explicitly reveals itself
under the monopolistic hegemony of capitalist ideology. Therefore the ground of
exploration is whether the same scenario is valid for design and designed
products in terms of form [image] and utility.
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