I feel like it’s wrong to associate Solarpunk and Frutiger Aero aesthetics.
I know that Frutiger Aero is a huge thing for a lot of us, i do feel appeal as well. And many time when i see solarpunk image i do see resemblances with some images of back then. But i feel that there is something bad about this.
Wasn’t it just a commercial hook to make us feel like capitalism is good and green ? i mean it principally exist as design for products or images campaign, it is a pure northern capitalistic aesthetic (the worst are the white hands handing the world or the new nokia https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Frutiger_Aero)
I’m confuse when i see it infuse in solarpunk…
btw i’m french so here is my original thought :
J’ai l’impression qu’il y a un problème à associer les esthétiques Solarpunk et FrutigerAero. Je sais que ce courant est assez important parmi nous, et en premiére ligne, j’avoue j’aime regarder ces images. Plusieurs fois en consultant ce qui est proposé pour le Solarpunk ca m’a fortement rappelé frutigeraero. Pourtant je sens que quelque chose ne va pas la dedans. Est ce que cette esthetique n’a pas toujours été qu’un pantin pour rendre le capitalisme attrayant, en nous faisant penser qu’il était écologique ? Ca n’a jamais existé que pour vendre des trucs, et pour moi c’est l’essence même du capitalisme occidental. (les mains blanches qui tiennent le monde ou le nouveau nokia sont vraiment cringe https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Frutiger_Aero) Je suis vraiment confuse quand a son mélange avec le solarpunk…
I might arrive a bit late to the party, but I don’t feel an aesthetic is necessarily tied to an ideology or a way of thinking. You can see that with solarpunk aesthetic (greenery, livability and all that sort of stuff) os used by totalitarian regimes and capitalist companies.
Although it is true some aesthetics and styles always carry the nostalgia of their previous uses, as is happening in your case, I think claiming, reclaiming or simply broadening the use of a specific style is accomplishable and not unheard of. In that spirit, I would suggest we keep using them and tweaking the topics shown to move away from a possible corporativist/capitalist reading and make the message of sostenibility more clear.
Wether this type of artistic approach shows a remotely realistic future and if this mught pose a problem, and wether companies making green efforts carries more problem than benefits, are both topics worth thinking about; I feel this play also an importan role in the way you feel towards Frutiger Aero.