Frequently Asked Questions
What is CARI?
The Consumer Aesthetics Research Institute is a collective association of researchers and designers
dedicated to carrying on the important work of categorizing "consumer aesthetics" from the late mid-century,
when work on the subject somewhat trailed off, through today. The cyclical relationship between a culture's
collective attitudes and the visual qualities of the artifacts it generates is crucial to observe and
consider both when attempting to create timely, meaningful artwork and when analyzing the social and
economic events of the last half century. CARI is a nonprofit online institute with hundreds of members and
contributors.
What is a "consumer aesthetic?"
CARI defines a consumer aesthetic as a visual movement unified by overarching attitudes and themes that
survived long enough or became popular enough to be appropriated by capital (a bar that is being lowered
constantly as our cycles of cultural propagation accelerate). Aesthetics are grouped here roughly by the
time of their peak ubiquity, but many of them have examples to be found well outside that range as each
movement spread from avant-garde settings to vernacular use.
How does the system work?
The concept of related, named categories is simply our best idea for organizing the content we find. The
CARI system is not universally applicable; many artifacts fit either zero or very many aesthetics. Nor do
the categories have hard edges--the intent is to define groups of artifacts based on attitudes and methods
rather than pure visual similarity. Some categories span a very broad movement in design; others represent a
popular but very homogenous trend.
Are aesthetics like "cottagecore", "seapunk", etc. researched by CARI?
Our use of the term "aesthetic" as a unified visual movement with shared inspiration differs somewhat from
the common online usage to mean a lifestyle or fashion trend. For the purposes of keeping our workload
manageable, CARI mostly handles aesthetics that have broken into "mainstream" culture by way of corporate
appropriation; however, we consider online aesthetic movements equally worth studying for the same reasons
as consumer aesthetics in that they can reveal shared attitudes within a subculture.
How can I use the CARI archive?
The artifacts presented here are intended for research and reference. We do not encourage or condone
unauthorized redistribution of these materials, most of which have been granted to us in good faith under
that pretense. CARI should be used as a source of inspiration and analysis, not a source of free assets or
images. If you use images from our collection for educational, nonprofit use, please credit their original
creators as we have. Artifacts repurposed from CARI for profit or without attribution are no longer
protected by "fair use" and will be subject to copyright enforcement by their original owners.
How can I contact CARI?
For all questions, comments, and concerns, including press inquiry, please send email to:
contact [at] cari.institute.
