Genealogy of Taste in Art and Architecture

‘The concept of taste’ is one of the prominent concepts in art and architecture. This concept is widely used in various fields, such as interior architecture: from deciding on the quality and overall quality of the interior space to determining the materials of the place, choosing furniture and arranging the elements of the interior space, we can trace the presence of ‘taste decision’. On the one hand, it seems like a simple and obvious concept that is present in our daily product selection experience. On the other hand, due to its complexities and dependence on various factors, it seems that it is necessary to pay attention on this complex and complicated issue; With this question, ‘what meaning(s) of taste can be found in art and architecture-interior architecture? The purpose of this research is to understand the different semantic layers of taste to clarify its meaning and provide a way to enter into the discussion about it. For this purpose, the research started with the linguistic study of taste. Then, the origin of taste since it penetrated into art and architecture and the changes and transformations it has undergone until now, were explored. In other words, the way and process of the transformation of the concept of taste from long ago to the present day was followed in order to recognize different explanations and interpretations. So, this research is focused on reviewing the background of the concept of taste from the beginning of searchable moments to the fields of art and architecture-internal architecture; The three main fields of philosophy, social sciences, and psychological sciences provide the possibility of knowing the different layers of the concept of taste so that different dimensions and contexts can be explained. Studies show that almost two important milestones can be identified in the genealogy of taste in art and architecture: first, it is the moment of its emergence in the field of art and architecture, which is used instead of the word ‘judgment’. In this era, the concept of taste created a great change in understanding of subject-object relationship. The second one is the moment of its entry into the field of social sciences. This time, the concept of taste had become a means to understand consumer behavior. From the sum of these studies, it seems that five general concepts are hidden in different semantical layers of taste: beauty, distinction, lifestyle, fashion, and preference. Each of these layers, while being continuous, has a specific meaning range in a specific field; And they show us a certain aspect of taste, which will be briefly mentioned here. The concept of beauty is more theoretical and philosophical. In the philosophical discussions of taste, these two terms are mostly together. The other four terms are related to when taste comes together with choice and emerges. The concepts of distinction, lifestyle, and fashion have more social meaning and each of them shows how social conditions and status can affect taste. And finally, it should be said that when we use preference, the goal is mostly to understand the internal conditions and activities and developments in the brain.