Christian Boltanski – Personnes

28th Mar 202030th Sep 2020 lornacole99Leave a comment

Christian Boltanski’s 2010 installation ‘Personnes’

Christian Boltanski, Personnes, 2010 – photo by Didier Plowy – eva-albarran.com

Art or Design – Installation art, not functional and more about the contemplation it causes. An example of contemporary art as it challenges the boundaries of art. The components only become ‘art’ when in the context of Boltanski’s installation.

Temporary or Permanent – Was open during January and February of 2010.

Large or Small scale – On view in the Grand Palais, Paris and part of the 13,500 square metre exhibition space.

Transforming and/or Defining and/or Forming – The whole space is used and transformed due to the large crane with a metal grabber, piles and the large mound of clothes, as well as the sound of heartbeats.

Immersive and/or Distant – Viewers can walk amongst the work and alongside the piles of clothes. It is a whole experience and not something viewed from a distance.

Pattern and/or Colour and/or Repetition and/or Shape – The installation uses the repetition of piles of clothes and street lights to form the grid shape and a large mound. Repeated audio of heartbeats is also used within the space.

Before answering the questions below I also read Laura Cumming’s article with The Guardian, which can be read here.

The noise of heartbeats permeates the exhibition, why do you think that is?

makes it a more immersive experience
links to the apparent themes of life and death
feels more personal (each heartbeat is unique to a person)
can be linked to the clothes (also represent a person)
adds deeper meaning and creates further questions – are the sound and visuals connected? What happened?
also adds emotion – heartbeats can be both joyful/comforting and eerie/sombre

To what extent are the textiles transformed into something other than fabric?

they are a metaphor for deeper themes – mortality, the inevitability of death, time etc.
they symbolise someone, a life and a story
represents the loss of lives and suffering

What’s the significance of the installation title and the mechanical grabber?

the title means both people and nobodies – represent people but they are anonymous and still unknown to us
highlights issues of status, people may be known in life but we are all the same at death
the mechanical grabber may signify chance or the ‘hand of God’
also links to the idea of time and how life is short
life and death is a continuous cycle
can also link it to consumerism and poor attitudes to waste – disposable

What associations does this work conjure up in your mind?

life and death
the loss of lives – particularly through violence, murder and diasters
makes me think about the holocaust, genocide and mass murders
reminds me that death does not discriminate
I also associate it with time and how we can’t control it or how much time we have to live (can manipulate and try but death is inevitable)

Architectural uses of textiles

18th Mar 202018th Mar 2020 lornacole99Leave a comment

Designed by Morphosis architects, the Kolon One & Only Tower in Seoul, South Korea

recycled materials were used where appropriate
made from a high tech fibre which is also used to make bullet-proof vests
Thom Mayne (founder of Morphosis) – worked with Korean textiles manufacturer Kolon to create the research and development facility
A material called Aramid (reinforced fibre manufactured by Kolon which has 5x the tensile strength of iron) was used for the interconnected sunshade

DAR LUZ project by Lars Meeß-Olsohn and Ali Heshmati – installation at a light art walkway in Eindhoven, Germany

The Very Fabric of Architecture: textile use in construction | News — DAR LUZ, Lars Meeß-Olsohn, Ali Heshmati – architonic.com

the textile skin operated as a projection screen for staging a dynamically controlled light show
sensors detected movements of visitors – transmitted to the LED spotlights – colour sequences and intensity of lighting effects
attached to the wooden walkway at an angle of 15° to one another, the elastic, impregnated fabric was then stretched over stricture

Exhibitions & Books · Part 5

Zaha Hadid: Serpentine Sackler Gallery extension

15th Mar 202015th Mar 2020 lornacole99Leave a comment

The Serpentine Sackler Gallery is located across the bridge from the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens, it opened in 2013.

Zaha Hadid, Serpentine Sackler Gallery, photo: Luke Hayes – archdaily.com

Art or Design

Temporary or Permanent

Large scale or Small scale

Transforming and/or Defining and/or Forming

Immersive and/or Distant

Pattern and/or Colour and/or Repetition and/or Shape

A glass-fibre woven material was used for the main roof and body of the building. It was manipulated to the fluid shape desired by Hadid. The canopy meets the ground at three points to form a unique and contemporary shape. It is outlined by a frameless glass wall and the built-in furniture was designed with the shapes of the structure in mind. His extension uses materials, shape and form that contrast with the classical older building and therefore it is a transformative structure. This is Hadid’s first permanent structure in the UK.

Textiles are being used more regularly in architecture because they offer new materials for use in both permanent and temporary structures.

Exhibitions & Books · Part 3 · Research & Reflection

Semiotics

30th Sep 2019 lornacole99Leave a comment

Sign = signifier + signified

Signifier – the form the sign takes

Signified – the concept it refers to or represents

Example: A Crown is a signifier of royalty, power or heritage (the signified). Signs operate within systems of other signs, the crown may be shown in contrast to other signs representing headwear & relative associated status.

Magritte’s ‘Ceci n’est pas une pomme’ (This is not an apple) from The Treacher of Images

Presents a contradiction between visual and written meanings
Image of apple signifies presence but text signifies non-existence
The painting consists of two contradictory and arbitrary signs from different linguistic structures (visual and written)
Both present concept of an apple (one present, one absent)

Research point

I was asked to refer to ‘Room Three: Fantastic’ (pages 80-82) of Place by Tacita Dean and Jeremy Millar and to consider the sign of a crop circle.

Cereologist – Someone who studies crop circles, often believing they are not man-made or formed by other terrestrial processes.

Signifer – flattened crop in designed pattern

Signified – relationship between the land, unknown and possibly unknowable forces

most found in Wiltshire – traditionally home of English paganism & New Age mythology
more recently used within advertising and the manufacture of large scale designs to promote corporate brands – represent a form of supra-individual power (one wedded to capital rather than the occult)

British artist, Rod Dickinson – makes crop circles with friends and other artists, since 1999. He works at nights with simple materials – surveyor tape measure, wooden boards and rope to produce complex patterns in Southern England.

Exhibitions & Books · Part 3 · Research & Reflection

Photomontage Artist Research

18th Sep 20197th Oct 2019 lornacole99Leave a comment

John Heartfield

German artist
known for agitprop photomontages
role in Dada movement (Berlin)
juxtapositions of images & texts from mass media
political commentary often focused on Nazi action & party leaders

Example of work:

→ Adolf The Superman Swallows Gold and Spouts Tin

→ The Meaning of Geneva

1932-adolf-superman — Adolf The Superman Swallows Gold and Spouts Tin, 1932 – johnheartfield.com

Peter Kennard

London born & based artist
political nature – manifestation of struggles against economic inequality, war, climate change, civil rights
deconstructs imagery/language presented in mass media & reconstructs to bring together cause & effect

Example of work:

→ Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament – detournement of John Constable’s The Wain (Haywain with Cruise Missiles’)

Haywain with Cruise Missiles 1980 by Peter Kennard born 1949 — Haywain with Cruise Missiles’, 1980 – tate.org

Hannah Höch

German Dada artists – one of the originators of photomontage (early 20th century)
appropriated & recombined images/text from mass media
critique failings of Weimar Republic & socially constructed roles of women

Example of work:

→ Cut with the Kitchen Knife Through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany

hoch — Cut with the Kitchen Knife Through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany, 1919 – artsy.net

Martha Rosler

American artist
uses photography, video, installation, photomontage & performance
collages using magazine photography – deconstructs representations of women in mass-circulation magazines

Example of work:

→ Body Beautiful or Beauty Knows no Pain

→ Bringing the War Home (Vietnam War)

roslet — Untitled – Cargo cult (from Body beautiful – a.k.a. Beauty knows no pain), 1967-1972 – artgallery.nsw.gov.au

Glossary

agitprop – abbreviated from Russian agitatsiya propaganda (agitation propaganda). The spreading of strongly political ideas or arguments expressed especially through plays, art, books, etc. (www.britannica.com) & (http://dictionary.cambridge.org)

DADA – Dada was an art movement formed during the First World War in Zurich in negative reaction to the horrors and folly of the war. The art, poetry and performance produced by dada artists is often satirical and nonsensical in nature. (www.tate.org)

Weimar Republic – Germany’s government from 1919 to 1933, the period after World War I until the rise of Nazi Germany. (www.history.com)

Exhibitions & Books · Part 1

Gallery visit part 2

22nd May 2019 lornacole99Leave a comment

For the second part of this section, I found another piece at the Originals Art Gallery as I wanted to find something that was fairly local to me.

Curley5 — Weymouth and Portland Fishing Boats at West Bay, Sean Curley – Poole Originals

My initial thoughts about the piece is that again, it’s quite colourful yet it’s more muted down from Sue Smith’s painting. Also, I’d say it’s not as stereotypically ‘aesthetically pleasing’ since the subject of fishing boats is more practical. However, it’s definitely more of a commercial style rather than something that’s conceptual. Despite this, I am still intrigued by it. Some questions I had about it include – when was it produced? who is in the photo? what is the history behind it? and how personal to the artist is it?

It was produced by artist, Sean Curley. It doesn’t have an official title but is referenced as ‘Weymouth and Portland Fishing Boats at West Bay’. Similarly to the previous piece, I couldn’t find much information so again I reached out to Curley and he kindly provided some background information.

It’s an oil on canvas that was painted around 15 years ago as part of a collection for an agent or gallery, most of which are based on photographs taken from Weymouth Harbour and West Bay. Curley had painted a lot of colourful floral studies and was asked to paint another colourful subject that preferably contained a lot of blue. I’d say it’s pretty common to immediately associate the colour blue with water, particularly the sea and I guess that’s because a lot of people find it calming and visually pleasing.

In terms of linking to place, it is produced from a photo of a physical location and allows the place to be shared with people who may have never encountered it otherwise. This leads on to the idea of familiarity and a sense of place. This location is local to Curley so there is an element of knowing it and potentially associating memories with the location, therefore creating a sense of place for him. By painting it and not giving specific details, it allows the audience to wonder and contemplate the location and should they look into it, it may result in them becoming more familiar and deeming it as an actual place.

I’d say the theme of time is also apparent as it captures a place at a specific time since it was painted from a photograph. It’s quite interesting to be able to look back and see how locations change, in fishing towns like this it’s actually quite common for things to remain the same since it’s an industry many people rely on. However, overfishing has become a significant problem which may result in the use of fishing boats decreasing, therefore making this piece something that may not be able to be replicated as time passes. This is an example of how we become more educated over time and how society changes. Technology has improved and overpopulation has become more apparent, overfishing is a direct result of both of these things since technological advances and more people have meant fish are caught at a much higher rate. This conveys how time can affect place as the fishing boat shown in this piece may not be allowed to function in the future if overfishing continues to be a problem.

Like the piece I studied for Sue Smith, I also sketched and then produced my own version of Curley’s work. I didn’t have an oil based paints so instead used oil pastels.

Exhibitions & Books · Part 1

Gallery visit part 1

11th May 201911th May 2019 lornacole99Leave a comment

Unfortunately, I don’t have any big galleries locally to me but I was able to look at some artwork on display in Poole, Dorset in the museum and the Originals Art Gallery.

One of the pieces I was drawn to is ‘Trees at Pelhams’ by Sue Smith, an artist, printmaker and demonstrator. It’s a mixed media pieces trees and surrounding landscape – made up of watercolour, acrylic ink, lichen and oil pastel. Smith commonly features nature in her work and does a lot of landscapes, as well as some Still Life pieces that usually feature flowers which you can find on her website, here.

Trees at Pelhams, Sue Smith – The Originals, Poole

In contrast to a lot of the art I’ve come across in this course so far, I feel like this is a much happier looking piece. It’s very colourful and visually pleasing, however, nature also makes me feel quite calm as well and looking at it in person made me feel positive. I’m also intrigued by it because it doesn’t give too much away in regards to the backstory and I wondered if it was a physical place.

There wasn’t any information in the gallery which made it difficult to understand the piece, however, I think that allows you to develop more of an opinion of it yourself. As it’s quite bright and colourful, I assume that it’s a place the artist is quite fond of and perhaps somewhere they’d like to share.

As I couldn’t find any context online either, I actually reached out to Sue Smith herself and she kindly filled me on some details. It is, in fact, a real place – the park and grounds at Kinson Community Centre in Bournemouth and was produced about 4 years ago as part of a demonstration for a club she is now chairperson of!

Obviously, this piece links to place quite well in the sense of it capturing a physical location, however it also conveys a deeper sense of place. The painting is personal to the artist and displays a place they know and associate with certain memories, even though the viewer may not be familiar with it they are able to get a feel of it from Smith’s piece. For instance, I would imagine it’s a calm and enjoyable place to be and the piece makes me want to visit.

I also think there is an element of time shown too as it literally captures the place at a certain time. Nature and the environment is everchanging so if someone was to visit this exact spot 10 years down the line, it may look very different. As a result, it conveys how time passes and constantly affects our world and the places we are familiar with.

I also did my own painting of Trees at Pelhams by Sue Smith using watercolours.

Exhibitions & Books · Notes · Part 1

Reading about art

14th Apr 2019 lornacole99Leave a comment

After reading an excerpt from Art History: The Basics by Grant Pooke and Diana Newall (2008, Abingdon: Routledge), I wanted to share some of my thoughts on the authors understanding of the meaning of art.

It highlights how the definition and classification of various art forms have changed through history and how things like painting, drawing and sculpture – or ‘fine art’ are often separated from craft-based arts. These are things usually created for function, for instance: textiles, ceramics, jewellery, needlework etc. and are often regarded as ‘decorative arts’.

Whereas, looking at a broader definition of art, you would include any activities that work with aesthetic value so you would include things like performance, film making and architecture. I think it’s interesting that certain art forms have always been seen as having more importance or value than others. This helps to ‘demonstrate how durable and hegemonic’ those views which spanned several centuries were. Even if you take away the categorisation, all art is subject to differing views on culture, history and language.

The Institutional Theory of Art recognises that ‘art can be a term designated by the artist. On one hand, this provides great freedom and acknowledges the diversity of art, however, it could also be seen as too broad and ‘virtually meaningless’. This is a common theme that I’ve touched on already in this course; it’s becoming clear that there is a fine line between not being open enough when thinking about what art is, yet the term has potential to lose value if absolutely anything can be declared a work of art.

I found this a useful task because it’s always useful to read various views so that you can form a more rounded opinion yourself. As mentioned in the course content, theoretical texts can often use advanced vocabulary so I thought I’d note down a few terms I wanted to find a clear definition for, or if I’d not heard of them before – all of which I’ll add to a glossary in case I need to come back to them.

Hegemonic – ruling or dominant in a political or social context. (oxforddictionaries.com)

Avant-garde – new and experimental ideas and methods in art, music or literature. (oxforddictionaries.com)

Acquiescence – the reluctant acceptance of something without protest. (oxforddictionaries.com)

Modernism – global movement in society and culture (early twentieth century). Artists began using new imagery, materials and techniques to create artworks they thought better reflected the realities and hopes of modern societies. (tate.org)