This exhibition at the V&A wasn’t high on my list but I popped in as was in the area and was surprised to find it connected to so many other aspects of our lives in ways I hadn’t anticipated.
Spoiler alert: no actual car photos in this post.
Aspects covered included the role of women in early racing as it was one of the first sports not reliant on the superiority of physical strength
The introduction of standardisation for production line efficiency; who hasn’t heard of time & motion studies? A whole section illustrated some of the research techniques used to find the quickest and fastest way for humans to work in the factory.
And the concept of standardisation also developed in the 20th Century. Even humans, varied as we are, were subject to the same idea. Here is a sculpted pair of the “perfect” standardised man and woman, derived from the statistics of the time.
Compare this with Graham, a much more recent “human”, best adapted to withstand car crashes. I know which one I’d rather be.
And lastly, this advert from Esso, proudly bragging about the amount of energy they produce every day from oil.
So, where next? We have the creativity and ingenuity to change again so governments and corporations must act fast. They know it and so do we.
