Why did members of the Independent Group discuss car styling and pulp magazines?

Members of the Independent Group discussed topics such as car styling and pulp magazines because they were committed to developing a broad-based understanding of culture that spanned from its traditional "high" forms to its popular ones.12

Meeting regularly at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London between 1952 and 1955, this group of artists, architects, and design historians approached these subjects as a form of academic inquiry. By examining mass cultural forms—which were often dismissed by modernists as kitsch—they sought to bridge the gap between everyday life and fine art. This intellectual philosophy significantly influenced the work of key members, such as Richard Hamilton and Eduardo Paolozzi, whose explorations of popular imagery helped establish the foundations of the British Pop art movement.12