Ibram Lassaw “On Inventing Our Own Art” 1938, reprinted in reprinted in Art in Theory: 1900-2000. ed. Harrison and Wood pp. 397-398
Monthly Archives: February 2009
Plastic Art and Pure Plastic Art
Piet Mondrian “Plastic Art and Pure Plastic Art” 1937 reprinted in Art in Theory: 1900-2000. ed. Harrison and Wood pp. 387-393
Constructivism
Naum Gabo “The Constructive Ideal in Art” 1937 reprinted in Art in Theory: 1900-2000. ed. Harrison and Wood pp. 385-387
“But Does it Work?” discussion at Elizabeth Foundation
But Does it Work?
Art, Activism and the Interventionist’s Gesture
Tuesday, February 24, 6:30 pm
A Conversation between Joseph DeLappe, Stephen Duncombe, and Steve Lambert
Artists/activists Joseph DeLappe and Steve Lambert join writer/activist/media scholar Stephen Duncombe to discuss what happens when artists interfere with existing structures of media in order to manipulate and use them as vehicles for political and social commentary. How do these forms of intervention compare to straight-forward art activism, and what are these artists hoping to achieve? How does one even measure success when utopia is the goal? The talk will focus on the artists’ works “dead-in-iraq”, “iraqimemorial.org” and the recent faux New York Times “Special Edition” announcing the end of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
EFA Project Space presents this event in conjunction with the exhibition Post Memory: A Collection of Makeshift Monuments, on view February 21- March 28.
On The Media: The Science of Media Relations
Being a brilliant scientist doesn’t always translate into being a good talking head on television or even a good source for a science reporter. So the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program at Stanford University was created to give scientists a better understanding of how to deal with the media. Program director Pam Matson explains what goes on at their training camp.
Reporters could do better, but isn’t it also the scientists’ responsibility to help distill complex scientific issues for the rest of us? Ten years ago, Jane Lubchenco, Obama’s pick to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, created the Leopold Leadership Program at Stanford University to sharpen scientists’ communication skills. Pam Matson is the current director. She says scientists have a lot to learn about getting their message across.
PAM MATSON: Well, I think it’s a special problem of scientists because we are taught how to communicate with one audience, and that is our audience, other scientists. We’re taught to provide lots of background information. We focus on the details of how we do the research, the uncertainty around our results, and then only at the very end do we talk about the conclusions, the bottom line. And so, I think most of us have to be taught to turn that around if we’re talking to the public, talking to decision makers of any sort, to put the bottom line up front.
On The Media: Transcript of “The Science of Media Relations” February 13, 2009
Posted in How To Win
Tagged climate crisis, empirical, perceptions, research, science, science example
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Hans Hofmann – On the Aims of Art
Included for its distinctly apolitical take on art. Hofmann is a pure abstract modernist who values the expression of the genius’ inner self rather than political content.
Hans Hofmann “On the Aims of Art” Art in Theory: 1900-2000. ed. Harrison and Wood pp. 371-374
Gropius on the Bauhaus
Walter Gropius “The Theory and Organization of the Bauhaus” 1923. Trans. H. Bayer. reprinted in Art in Theory: 1900-2000. ed. Harrison and Wood pp. 309-314
“The dominant spirit of our epoch is already recognizable although its form is not yet clearly defined. The old dualistic world-concept which envisaged the ego in opposition to the universe is rapidly losing ground. In its place is rising the idea of a universal unity in which all opposing forces exist in a state of absolute balance. This dawning recognition of the essential oneness of all things and their appearances endows creative effort with a fundamental inner meaning. No longer can anything exist in isolation. We perceive every form as the embodiment of an idea, every piece of work as a manifestation of our inner-most selves. only work which is the product of inner compulsion can have spiritual meaning. Mechanized work is lifeless, proper only to the lifeless machine. So long, however, as machine-economy remains an end in itself rather than a means of freeing the intellect from the burden of mechanical labor, the individual will remain enslaved and society will remain disordered” p. 309
“The objective of all creative effort in the visual arts is to give form to space … but what is space, and how can it be understood and given a form
.. although we may achieve an awareness of the infinite we can give form to space only with finite means. We become aware of space through hour undivided Ego, through the simultaneous activity of soul, mind and body. A like concentration of all our forces is necessary to give it form. Through his intuition, through his metaphysical powers, man discovers the immaterial space of inward vision and inspiration. this conception of space demands realization in the material world, a realization which is accomplished by the brain and hands” p. 311
“The guiding principle of the Bauhaus was therefore the idea of creating a new unity through the welding together of many ‘arts’ and movements: a unity having its basis in Man himself and significant only as a living organism
Human achievement depends on the proper coordination of all the creative faculties. it is not enough to school one or another of them separately: they must all be thoroughly trained at the same time. The character of the Bauhaus teachings derive from the realization of this” p. 311
“The Bauhaus is consciously formulating a new coordination of the means of construction and expression. Without this, its ultimate aim would be impossible. For collaboration in a group is not to be obtained solely by correlating the abilities and talents of various individuals. Only an apparent unity can be achieved if many helpers carry out the designs of a single person. In fact, the individual’s labor within the group should exist as his own independent accomplishment. Real unity can be achieved only by coherent restatement of the formal theme, by repetition of its integral proportions in all parts of the work. Thus everyone engaged in the work must understand the origin and meaning of the principle theme” p. 313
“Modern painting, breaking through old conventions, has released countless suggestions which are still waiting to be used by the practical world. But when, in the future, artists who sense new creative values have had practical training in the industrial world, they will themselves possess the means for realizing those values immediately. They will compel industry to serve their idea and industry will seek out and utilize their comprehensive training” p. 314
I wanted to post these notes on Bauhaus because it goes another step further in advancing some of the strands of Marxist theory running through some previous posts, and I think puts a useful spin on those ideas by focusing artistic production on physical objects and the built environment. Starting with the assumption that industrial production implicates all members of a society in production either as laborers or consumers, the Bauhaus sought to create a rational, popular design that was connected to a broad-based education program that empowered everyone to think about design.
The Bauhaus provides a few ways to think about efficacy
1. Effective art is realized in our physical environment and is part of our lives generally, rather than as just ‘art’ or an abstract idea.
2. Effective art must contribute to a general social uplift because of the mutual implication of all people together in collective labor – particularly in industrial production.
Jonah Lehrer on Colbert
Emotions vs. Rationality in decision making.
Artists need to embrace the emotional influence their work has in decision making.
Posted in How To Win
Tagged comedy, empirical, media, neuroscience, perceptions, pop culture example, psychology, research
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More Dada
from Hugo Ball “Dada Fragments” originally published in 1927. trans. Jolas reprinted in Art in Theory: 1900-2000. ed. Harrison and Wood pp. 250-251
“June 12, 1916 – What we call Dada is an harlequinade made of nothingness in which all higher questions are involved, a gladiator’s gesture, a play with shabby debris, an execution of postured morality and plenitude…
The Dadaist loves the extraordinary, the absurd, even. He knows that life asserts itself in contradictions, and that his age, more than any preceding it, aims to the destruction of all generous impulses. Every kind of mask is therefore welcome to him, every plat at hide and seek in which there is an inherent power of deception. the direct and the primative appear to him in the midst of this huge anti-nature, as being the supernatural itself…” [ellipsis in original] p. 250
From the eve of World War One
I wanted to post this because the historical context struck me. The author is Franz Marc, writing a proposed preface to a second edition to the expressionist text Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), which chronicled the art of the Der Blaue Reiter group from 1912-14. This preface was written at the very beginning of World War One, a conflict in which Marc himself was killed, in 1916.
This is quoted in its entirety – emphasis mine to highlight key sections.
‘Foreword’ to the planned second volume of Der Blaue Reiter, trans. K. Lankheit, reprinted in Art in Theory: 1900-2000. ed. Harrison and Wood pp. 158-159
“Once more and many times more we are trying to divert the attention of ardent men from the nice and pretty illusion inherited from the olden days toward existence, horrible and resounding.
Whenever the leaders of the crowds turn right, we turn left; when they point to a goal, we turn our backs; whenever they warn us against we hurry toward.
The world is crammed to suffocation. On every stone man has put the brand of his cleverness. Every word is leased or invested. When can man do for salvation buy give up everything and flee? What but draw a line between yesterday and today?