Category: CTS

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CTS – Truth Vs Fake News

The 20th century generated a lot of philosophical movements as well as arts one. The world changed due to multiple historical events such as the rise and fall of modern ideologies (marxism, capitalism, communism, fascism etc.) and the two world wars. These events played a major role in the perception of the world today and in the apparition of postmodern philosophy.

Postmodernism was born in reactance to modernism (in art, philosophy and especially architecture). Modernism in architecture started in the 19th century when people started to move away from the rural area to the cities. The architecture became more utilitarian and adapted to the urban life. It value efficiency over aesthetic. Architect like Le Corbusier designed a lot of modernist buildings still used today. The move to the city was caused by the industrialisation of the world and economical growth that followes. This growth help to birth new ideologies like marxism or capitalism. Indeed, modernism goes hand and hand with these new ideologies. The ideologies represented the modern era and everything it carried with it. Modernism was built on logic. It rejected past traditions
or religions, valued rationality and efficiency. It was focused on the future. It was born during the industrial era, which explains why it is a short sighted philosophy limiting itself on the historical truth. Only seeing one aspect of the truth.

Postmodernism was created by reactance to the failure of 20th century ideologies: the downfall of communism and the disinterest of capitalism to make our societies happy. Postmodernism doubt the values of modernism. This philosophy is built on mistrust of the past and what led to the world we are living now. It criticise modernism and sees it as based on the most powerful ideas at the time without looking around at for other means or other truth. It was the authority at the time that dictated the truth. Postmodernism is based on difference and rather explore multiple points of views. Postmodern philosophy acknowledge that there is not only one truth but several depending the point of view. It is looking at deconstructing the subject. This philosophy was especially developed with what Americans call the “French Theory”, with philosophers like François Lyotard, Gille Deleuze, and Michel Foucault.

Now postmodernism sees itself at the brink of an apocalyptic future, too late to fix things, too early to see the end of it. It is always caught at the brink of a possible futures. Postmodernism is disenchanted as it saw the world of the humans, and the destruction they could bring, notably with the two world wars.

Now is an era beyond modernism and postmodernism. Our world seems to be fully disenchanted and critically at the brink of an ecological disaster. Nihilism seems to be the main philosophy of our time. Though people may look up at the stars and hope to colonise space. The possibility of such future is rather optimistic. The postmodern find its roots in pessimism and irony, looking at the truth from different angle, hoping for the best but expecting the worse.

Reference

– Giddens , A. (1981). ‘Modernism and Post-Modernism’, New German Critique, 22 (Special Issue on Modernism), pp. 15-18.

– Sandler, I. (1980). ‘Modernism, Revisionism, Pluralism, and Post-Modernism’, Art Journal, 40 (1/2), pp. 345- 347.

– Falk, R., Ambasz, E. and Beeman, W. O. (1981). ‘Post-Modernism: The Social Aspect’, Performing Arts Journal, 5 (3), pp. 54-64.

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CTS – Digital Folklore

Stories are essential to the human development. It is anchored in our functioning but also culture. Early in their life, children are confronted to stories, heroes and monsters. Through fairytales, folklore and myths, we build empathy and belief. Though today, the existence of those story might seem irrelevant but new myths and folklore appear… in the digital realm!

Folklore is composed with two element : “folk” and “lore”, which could be translated roughly into “treasure” or “stuff” of the “people”. It was first created in 19th century to define the tales, traditions and general lore of the illiterate people
in a literate society, which is just a fancy way to define the people living in rural area at the time. Folklore was said to disappear as people became more educated. But instead, folklore evolved into a common knowledge or traditions shared by a group of people. In fact, any group sharing the same interest or roots could form a “folk”, so anything related to their knowledge would be considered as folklore. “Lore” used to come from oral traditions, and now, the same is happening online.
In the past decades, there was an explosion of creative content online. The democratisation of creation tools and ways to share freely and instantly help build a world of stories online (for example, Youtube). The internet was base for new folklore.

New fairy tales appeared online followed by their nightmarish counterparts. The horror genre seems to be much appreciated online, with at first chain emails, and now creepypasta (word created from the terms “creepy” and “pasta” from copy- and-paste), short horror stories with it’s own myths. A few example of folklore from creepypasta would be Slenderman (the most mainstream one), Ben Drowned (based on the video game Zelda:Majora’s Mask), Jeff the Killer (a weird mix between the DC’s Joker and Death Note’s L), or the SCP (which is bestiary of horrors and diverse creatures).

New monsters created online are appropriated by their audience which is able to reinterpret it their own way. This creation becomes fan art or fan fiction, and it help spread the lore between users of the venicular web. Ultimately, the lore belongs to the folk who can spread it however they want. Internet create its own culture and mythology.

The unconscious of the human mind allows us to create characters and stories based on the same symbolism. Though, some of the symbols might have adapt to the present time. As example, Slenderman, who wears a suit, has tentacle and no face, could easily represent a fear of corporations or government since the black suit is often associated to the CIA or other organisation operating in the shadow.

Whatever media is used, a story is a story. Throughout History, it is clear that storytelling has evolved a lot, from oral tradition to augmented reality games including books and films. The creation of folklore and legend is growing, especially with the democratisation of creative media. The imagination and creation of humans have never been as thriving as now

Reference

– Dundes, A. (1980) Interpreting Folklore. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

– Howard, R.G. (2013) Interviewed by Trevor Owens for The signal, 22 February. Available at: https://blogs.loc. gov/thesignal/2013/02/born-digital-folklore-and-the-vernacular-web-an-interview-with-robert-glenn-howard/ (Accessed: ).

– Bettelheim, Bruno (1976). The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. London: Thames & Hudso

– Christie, I. and van de Oever, A. (2018) Stories. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

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CTS – Publication Review

In this post, I will review about an album leaflet in three steps: a description, the context and a short analyse of the leaflet.

This is a four pages booklet of Ghost’s album “Prequelle”. The artwork was designed by the artist Zbigniew M. Bielak. The font cover represents a pope sat on the throne that turns into a rat-like gate to hell. Gigantic wings and cathedrals tops surrounds the pope. The drawing only uses grey and red tones. On the back cover, all the song are listed with a triptych of hellish scenes, monsters, saints and the three popes of the band. The booklet also contains the lyrics of all the song written in a gothic font, and a photography of the band, introducing the new “cardinal”.

“Prequelle” is the fourth studio album of the Swedish metal band “Ghost”. The band has a strong visual identity and concept composed of anti-clerical or satanic imagery. The singer dresses as a “demonic anti-pope” and all the musician, or “nameless ghouls”, wear masks. The band aesthetic goes against the catholic church and seems to preaches a satanist message, though, this is just the iconography not an actual belief from the band. The artist Zbigniew M. Bielak worked with the band since their second album “Infestissumam” and designed most of their artworks (from album covers to the stage design). In the story arc, “Prequelle” introduce Cardinal Copia, the replacement of Papa Emeritus III, as new blood was needed (check out the youtube channel). The album centres around the black plague that strike Europe during the middle age. It hints on how now beliefs and lies spreads and contaminates people like an illness.

The artwork of the front cover is clearly inspired by paintings from Hieronymus Bosch and Bruegel. The artwork contains a lot of biblical references, like the three cross on the right side, or the churches. But the nightmarish vision of the rat’s mouth and fiery colours reminds of hell more than heaven. We see dead people being carried away by skeletons with is a classical representation of Death during the middle age. In gothic art, there are multiple representations of religious figures, sometimes defeating the forces of hell, and multiple monster, like the gargoyles. The image uses religious undertone but turns them inside out. On the back, there is triptych, which is often use to represent saints, or holy subject. The disproportion of the characters and the building reminds of the medieval religious art. The lyrics are written like bible verse, using a gothic front, like the first printed bibles. The photography puts Cardinal Copia in the foreground while the nameless ghouls watches over him, which serves perfectly as an introduction for him. Overall, the leaflet really shows the visual identity of the band, and especially what the album is about. It is sure not for people easily shocked or offended by religious subject. The artwork correspond to the genre, as you would expect to find this album at the Metal aisle of HMV. The long lasting collaboration between the artist and the band created a recognisable imagery that suits the band and its concept perfectly.

More info and references:

Home

https://www.behance.net/zbigniewbielak/

Roberts, K. (1971) Bruegel. Phaidon, Oxford.

Fisher, S. (2016) Hieronimus Bosch. Taschen, Spain

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CTS – Seen Not Heard

Exhibitions are opportunities to showcase someone’s work, presents new things or to discover an artist. It is the curators mission to design the best path for the audience to see this subject. But there are many different ways to do so. I selected three exhibitions to demonstrate the different aspect they can take. I will talk about how the exhibition can be about an artist, a theme or a curator.

“Klimt / Schiele : Drawings” (2018) Royal Drawing Academy, London:

The Royal Academy of Arts exposes drawings from the artists Klimt and Schiele, that they borrowed from the Albertina Museum, Vienna. The rooms have white walls and a vitrine in the middle. The drawings are hanged eye level in a neutral frame. Each room has a theme clearly exposed at the entrance with an explanation. The exhibition is formal and serious. Nothing stands out except for the drawings. The artist’s work is clearly the focus, and the material of the exhibit (vitrine, frame, explanations) are as neutral as possible. This exhibition targets an audience who already knows the artists and wants a different aspect of their work, the early sketch instead of the finished painting.

“The Future Starts Here” (2018) Victoria and Albert Museum, London:

The Victoria and Albert Museum exposed more than a 100 objects of emerging technology, either newly released or in development. As soon as you enter, you are greeted by a robot folding laundry with a question written underneath him: “What makes us human?”. Each section of the exhibit is in a built in decor, the objects are presented in their environment, and the audience can interact with them: you can try a driverless car, drink some high protein soylent and create mountains with sand. The exhibition is interactive and wants to immerse the audience into it. You can feel that “the future starts HERE”, and you are part of it. The exhibit targets a large audience, from children to elderly, it just requires to be curious.

“Spitzmaus Mummy in a Coffin and Other treasures” (2018) Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna:

The Kunsthistorisches Museum asked the director Wes Anderson to curate an exhibition using the objects own by the museum. His choice is eclectic: paintings, amulets, statues, armours, mummies, etc. Wes Anderson placed the objects in an unusual way. Regardless of time period, he organised them by theme and colour. One room was entirely green and had jade amulets placed symmetrically among other green objects. He also placed items at feet level, forcing you to kneel to see them. One of the object exposed is a vitrine. It seems chaotic, but the exhibition makes sense if you know Wes Anderson’s work, where symmetry and detached humour is key. Like in his films, Wes Anderson plays with the audience. This exhibition is addressed to people who are fans the director, and wants to see how a museum curated by him would look like.

 

Each exhibition focuses on something : the artists exposed, the theme, or someone’s vision. The work of a curator is often underestimated. Curating an exhibition demands creativity to be able to show the subject in the best way possible for the targeted audience.

 

Bibliography:

The Future Starts Here (2018) [Exhibition]. Victoria and Albert Museum, London. 12 May 2018 – 4 November 2018.

Klimt / Schiele, Drawings from the Albertina Museum, Vienna (2018) [Exhibition]. Royal Academy of Drawing, London. 4 November 2018 – 3 February 2019.

Spitzmaus Mummy in a Coffin and other Treasures (2018). [Exhibition]. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Wien. 6 November 2018 – 28 April 2019.

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CTS – Dissecting the Visual

During class, we were taught how to “dissect the visual”. I wanted to try to analyse a paintings that I liked using the methodology we were taught. I chose the painting “The Wanderer Above a Sea of Mist” by Caspar D. Friedrich (1817).

“The Wanderer Above a Sea of Mist” by Caspar D. Friedrich (1817)

The painting represents a man at the top of a mountain contemplating the clouds. He turns his back to the audience and leans on a cane. The sky and the clouds are painted in soft colour (white and pale blue) and contrast with the dense colour of the mountains (dark brown, earthly tone). The character, who is often called “the Wanderer”, wears an emerald green jacket.

The cloud are painted like waves hitting the rocks, giving an impression to be above a sea. The artist used the shading to make the horizon look infinite. On the foreground, the Wanderer and the mountain forms triangle, piercing the sky, overlooking the sea and directing the eyes of the audience to the enter of the paintings. The audience seems to follow the Wanderer, and is given an impression of power and grandiose. Yet the Wanderer seems to be overwhelm by the sky, he leans on his cane and is not in motion.

On one aspect, the painting can represents the feeling of overcoming an obstacle and reaching a goal. On the other hand, the nature seems to be untamed, grandiose. The painter shows his admirations for natural wonders, and invites the audience to appreciate it with him. The sky could represents the conscience, and the mountain, the animal and material aspect of life. The human is at the junction of the two: an animal with a conscience.

Esoterically, the mountain can be interpreted as a symbol of materiality, in contrast with the sky which represents spirituality. The Wanderer is at the top of the mountain, where the earth touches the sky. He is at the frontier of the materiality and spirituality. To an alchemist, the green in his jacket symbolises the enlightenment, the one who understand the secrets of the world. The Wanderer with his cane reminds of the tarot card the Hermit, which represents a man wandering alone with a light and a cane, but symbolises the enlightenment and the spiritual quest. In addition, the clouds resembles the sea: as above, so below.

This painting is part of the romanticism movement. In the book German Master of the Nineteenth Century, Gert Schiff (1981, pp. 10) explains that “all the aspirations of the Romantics: their desire to transcend the boundaries of the ego and of the known world; their interest in the occult in nature and in the soul“ pushed the painter to go further into their representation of the world.

This paintings is rich in meaning that transcends the painter original thoughts. When digging deeper then what meets the eyes, it leaves a surreal and powerful impression on the viewer.

 

Bibliography

Chevalier, J. and Gheerbrant, A. Dictionnaire des symboles (1982). Paris: Robert Laffon and Jupiter.

Friedrich, C. D. (1817) The Wanderer Above a Sea of Mist [Oil on canvas]. Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg.

Hamburger Kunsthalle (2018) Nineteenth Century. Available at: https:// www.hamburger-kunsthalle.de/en/nineteenth-century (Accessed: 7 December 2018)

Walter, E. (ed.), German Master of the Nineteenth Century (1981). : New York: Metropolitan Museum of New York.

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Exhibition – ‘No Ordinary Protest’ at Whitechapel Gallery

You enter a dark blue room with dimmed black light and an ambient sound you’ve never heard, like a wailing drone. It feels like entering a cave to another world.


On one side you have the portraits of monsters masks under a strong black light and in the other room, is projected a documentary, followed by a short film. The documentary presents 7-year-old children discussing about environmental issues in class. Then, in the short film, we see the same children wearing monster masks made of recycled material running in slow motion toward us, edited with images of mountains dissolving. But there is a constant disturbing sound, made out of the voice of all the children, like a creature howling in deep pain.

This project was commission by the Whitechapel Gallery, Film and Video Umbrella and Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art to the British and Greek artist Mikhail Karikis. His performances and short films are focused on the sound and the human voice. He explores the emotional and physical impact sound can have on us, and he explores new way to create sound. But his work is deeply anchored with social and human reality. He exposed his films in multiple biennales and exhibition around Europe.

For this particular project, he worked with a class of 7-years-old children through workshop about sound. The children were reading the book ‘’The Iron Man’’ from Ted Hugues, which gave Karikis the idea of studying with them the sequel of this fiction: ‘’The Iron Woman’’.

This book tells the story of an iron woman appearing on earth to destroy the humans because of the way they are treating earth. She gives a ‘’disease’’ spreading by touch to a little girl that allows the little girl hear the sound of the earth, of the animals and of the plants. But they are all suffering from the pollution, and the sound is a perpetual cry from all the livings. The little girl decide to warns the adults about the suffering of the earth by spreading the disease. Fortunately the book has an happy ending.

The artist had the children debate about the book and their concerns about the future. The he asked them to create the sound from this book, using whatever they wanted (their voice, objects, etc), to finally mix the sound they created together. It wasn’t the first time Karikis was working with children (see his previous work ‘Ain’t Got No Fear’ and ‘Children of the Unquiet’).
In an interview, Mikhail explains the process he went through with the children and why he chose certain imagery in the short film. There are close-up of sand (to form the ‘’mountains’’) vibrating and changing aspect with the sound, as if they were disappearing and reforming. The artist wanted to show that the action of the children could move mountains with their voice. He has the feeling that new generation are stronger and capable of more than they think they do.

The name of the installation is important: ‘No Ordinary Protest’. It is a protest you’ve never seen before, that is out of what is commonly done. You walk into a dark room were you are greeted by real size pictures of the children wearing creatures mask in the darkness. They seem to be standing in front of you, looking right at you, as if they were directly confronting you. You’re facing an army of children wearing creatures mask.

The mask hides the faces of the children and therefore their individuality. It also hides their humanity and they seems to belong to another kind of being/creature. They are one force together that pushed aside their human nature to show their animal/creature side. With this, they show they sided with Earth, with the environment and all the being that are suffering.

There is also that sound played during the short things. Something again that we’ve never heard before. A mix of cries, drone sound, and other instrument played by the children. It gives an unsettling feeling. It makes you feel uneasy. I saw a lot of people leaving the room when the sound started to play as if this sound was unbearable to listen to for them. It is somehow, in context, shows that the humans don’t want to be confronted to the pain we cause to the Earth. They escaped from their responsibility, they could not confront the problem. But this is what this exhibition is about: to make us want to act about the environment problems we are all facing now. The artist exposed children to this issue and have them debating about it, but some ‘adults in the room’ just leave the screening? It feels like the next generation is more concern than older are to this problem. Are we waiting for the next generation to fix this?

The children are an anonymous force surrounding us and, like in the book, they are trying to touch us so we could also hear the cries of the Earth, so we could all fix this.

Reference:

http://www.mikhailkarikis.com/about-mikhail-karikis/http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/about/history/

Children’s Commission 2018: Mikhail Karikis

http://www.mikhailkarikis.com/2018/08/30/no-ordinary-protest/http://www.mikhailkarikis.com/2018/08/18/text-by-prof-cathy-lane-no-ordinary-protest/

http://www.mikhailkarikis.com/2018/08/30/mikhail-karikis-interview-on-no-ordinary-protest-2018/

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CTS – Transnational Histories

‘’When you go to a museum you are simply a tourist looking at the trophy cabinet of a few millionaires.’’

Banksy

In class about “Transnational Histories”, we were taught the “Elgin Marbles” controversy. It was the first time I was confronted to the problem and I wasn’t informed at all . My curiosity pushed me to look further into the issue and I went to see the famous marbles at the British museum.
First: the object of the controversy : The marbles + a bit of history.

The “Elgin Marbles”, or as the British Museum Trustees prefer to call them, the “Parthenon sculptures” are composed of the decorative element of the Parthenon, the temple of Athena at Athens. This includes the metopes, the pediments sculpture and the frieze. The Temple was finished in 430 BC in Athens and symbolises the greatest achievement of human kind at the time. As time went by, the temple served multiple function (such as a church, or a mosque). Though, in1687, the temple was tuned into a gunpowder reserve during a war against the Venetians. An explosion destroyed the roof of the temple and it was left in ruins. During the late 17th century, the archaeologist Lord Elgin brought to England most pieces of the temple in order to protect them as fast as he could. Once in England, the marble where subject to a few scandals (cleaning methods revealing to be harmful to the marbles, etc.) and were considered as imperial spoils.

The controversy concerns the return of the sculptures to Greece. In 1983, Greece formally asked for the marbles to be returned, but the British Museum refused. At first the English government was involved but it detached itself, leaving the responsibilities of the marbles to the museum trustees. The UNESCO couldn’t intervene because the marbles are not propriety of the government. An agreement has to be found between the museums. The British Museum would agree on a change of location instead of ownership. Though, the ownership of the marbles is contested due to how they were acquired by Lord Elgin (he smuggled them to England with the help the Turkish administration at the time). The museum trustees denies this fact and claims that they should stay in England for better visibility.

This controversy asks a lot of questions about art. To who does it belong ? To a nation ? To mankind ? Where should it be ? Is the misplacement of art objects part of History of the world ? Or part of a nation’s pride ? Is it moral now to keep stolen goods ? At the time it felt justify to protect the marbles, but now that time had change, would it still be a good thing to keep them ? Would it be moral now ?
I went to see the marbles in the British Museum. They look drowned into an empty room. Now one was there to look at them. I couldn’t help but feel uneasy next to then. It was clear they did not belong here. There was pamphlet justifying their choice to keep the marbles, as if they had to and it was their duty to keep them. But the moral choice would be to bring them back, wouldn’t it ? It feels like an decadent memory of a past empire that can’t accept it’s grandeur has faded. The British museum has tons of other Greek statues, why do they want to keep these ones ? It seems absurd to me.

In a perfect world, all wonders would be returned, and we would all be able to see them. But this is not a perfect world.

References:

– saving banksy

– Pamphlet From the British Museum

– Briefing House of Commons

websites:

– https://www.parthenonuk.com/

– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Spoils

– https://web.archive.org/web/20090420232511/http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/article_index/w/what_are_the_elgin_marbles.aspx

– https://web.archive.org/web/20090513053304/http://ww2.jhu.edu/foundations/?p=8
www.parthenon.newmentor.net/illegal.htm

– https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-greece-marbles-idUSKBN1JM2T6

– https://www.dw.com/en/greece-could-use-brexit-to-recover-stolen-parthenon-art/a-40038439

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CTS : Image V Object

In this lecture we compared looking at the physical object/image and looking at a digital copy of the object/image. We also learned about the process of archiving documents. During the class, we were given documents from a collection. We had to examine the documents and to archive them. The documents where a series of educational and entertainment magazines from the collection from one of our teacher.

To archive the documents, we had to look through the magazine to find the information we needed. It wasn’t always clear what we were looking for. We had to find the common point across all the documents and determine what kind of collection they could belong to.

I was wondering the link between the collection and the collector. Why create a collection and what are they collecting?

In that case, the collection was entirely composed of British published comic books and magazines for kids. They were all starting from the beginning of the 20th century to now. Though the collection was composed by single issues, it seemed to be mainly education mixed with entertainment. The Collector has a PhD on the codification of British education in the late 19th and early 20th century. The magazines are from the same time period and later. The UAL website mentions also that the collector has published papers about multiples subjects including colonialist stereotypes in European comic books. This shows that the collection is part of a real passion the collector has.
The act of collecting and archiving is important none the less to keep a trace of human activities, discoveries or creations, and to advance in our own time, by being able to go back on what has already been done. Being able to hold a document from the past allows us to understand more about the humans before us. We can see the similarities between our society and the ones before us.

But also it seems that individual people collecting are often driven by sentimental attachment with the things they are collecting. It is often an emotional drive that motivates people to build a collection. As if they were seeking comfort in the possession of material objects.
Though physically holding a magazine that was published more than fifty years ago was an unique experience. With the ads and the content of the magazines, it was amusing to imagine who was reading this before.

 

References:
– UAL Website (2018) London College of Communication – People. Available at: https://www.arts.ac.uk/colleges/london-college-of-communication/people/ian-horton

– Kathy Michelle Carbone (2017) Moving Records: Artistic Interventions and Activisms in the Archives, University of California

– Brien, Ciara, O’Connor, John, Russell-Carroll, Deborah (2018) ‘Meaningless carrying-on’: A psychoanalytically-oriented qualitative study of compulsive hoarding’, Psychoanalytic Psychology, Vol 35(2), Apr, 2018. pp. 270-279.

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CTS – What Is Illustration?

This question was asked to us on the first week of the BA Illustration and Visual Media program. It opened a debate with the whole first year BA students. It was a very interesting start but this debate left me rather confused. I’ll have a lot to learn this year.

The entire IMV BA program was reunited in a room. More than 120 students in the same room (pretty oppressing setting already), and with one question: What is illustration?

They divided us into small groups to debate then we shared our answers. It was a long list of every form illustration could take, from traditional drawing in a book to abstract collage, including fabric printing, animation and so much more. It felt like everything could be considered to be an illustration.
But if everything is illustration, then nothing is?

It was more confusing than I expected. We were given a broad variety of artworks that were seen as illustration. But i wasn’t able to see the common link between all of them. I realised my definition of illustration was very limited compared to all the possibilities this art offered.

I tried to think about this question in another way: what is not illustration?
The etymology of the word comes from the latin ‘illustrare’ meaning to shine a light on. To illustrate seems to be defined by a goal rather than a specific media. I will do more research on this.

I realised with this class that I needed to be open to new ways of making my art and at the same not to lose my style and my personality. I have explore news techniques and experiment, and at the same time stay close to my personal obsessions/themes.