O design de interiores como prótese de gênero: um estudo sobre a Casa Cor Paraná (1994-2017)

Abstract

In this work I aim to investigate strategies of objectification of femininities and masculinities through interior design in the context of the state of Paraná in the last decades, discussing the prosthetic character of the materialities resulting from this practice. For that, I take as object of research photographs and texts of divulgation referring to rooms exhibited in Casa Cor Paraná in the period between 1994 and 2017. Casa Cor Paraná is an architecture, design and landscaping show that occurs annually in Curitiba, with the objective to foster relations between high-income consumers and professionals and companies from the sector. Throughout its history, the exhibition has presented interior design proposals that build ideas about ways of living, about the family and about gender relations. To carry out the analyzes, I adopt an approach affiliated to Cultural Studies and I also use as reference works in the field of image studies. I adopt an interdisciplinary perspective, based on theoretical contributions from Gender Studies and Material Culture Studies. I also establish a dialogue with works developed in the disciplines of Design, Architecture, History, Anthropology and Sociology. I try to argue that the rooms exposed in Casa Cor Paraná can be understood as gender prostheses that objectify specific subject positions. With this, I intend to reinforce the fundamental role of technology in the construction of gendered bodies and subjectivities, arguing that materialities direct postures, gestures and movements, and also influence interests, attentions and affections. I note that Casa Cor Paraná has privileged a nuclear family model, composed of a heterosexual couple, daughters and sons, as well as a model of house characterized by the high specialization of rooms and the tripartition in social, intimate and service areas. These models are linked to femininities and masculinities which, while intersected with other social markers such as age and profession, are usually constituted within normative standards. These subject positions are produced through strategies such as applying references to nature, incorporating sober elements or elements aligned with pop, futuristic and high-tech languages, and using body images as decoration. In addition, femininities and masculinities are constituted, in the context studied, in association with specific activities and interests, such as sports, gourmet cooking, alcohol consumption, artistic and creative practices, or the design and consumption of artifacts such as cars and jewelry. The strategies identified reveal markers in terms of social class, sexuality and race/ethnicity and, although generally framed in hegemonic patterns, also allow observing displacements that evidence the contingent character of gender binarism.