Lecture 12: Chronologies 10: Synthesis

Just a recap of sorts for the entire module itself.

• Praxis = Reflection -> Theory -> Action ->
• Isn't art and design just about the visual? While ultimately it is, the more academic side finds ways in developing your practice and advancing it further. It isn't acceptable to blindly create away without a true concept behind it.
• And so the aims of this module is to provoke you into thinking about design, rather just 'doing it'.
• To encourage you to pursue issues in more depth.
• To form your own conclusions independently of practitioners and academics. Take what is out there in the world, and use them to position yourself to make your particular opinion on your area of interest.
• To experiment with ideas to see if they work in practice.
• What is wanted is a body work that investigates thinking, reflects deep thought, in-depth research.
• Learning Outcome 1: Knowledge and Understanding (Demonstrating a deep awareness of the subject), PEST: political, economic, social, technological.
• Some thoughts to consider: How is what I do affected by the money made from it, the social attitude, the way people think or feel about themselves, affected or limited by the resources I have?
• David Hoffman's "Dead End Streets: Photography, Protest and Social Control" is an example of what CoP hopes to represent. It is a meditation of the medium of photography and how it is used, how images are rejected, forgotten or prioritized, projecting the history  of photography in a way. Photography being used by the states as a form of control, the camera lens in a way symbolizes how heavily controlled and watched over we the people are, photography can be used to document the documenter themselves.
• Learning Outcome 2: Cognitive Skills (Demonstrating an awareness of the relationship between theory and practice)
• Learning Outcome 3: Practical and Professional Skills (To analyze and evaluate ideas from sources)
• Learning Outcome 4: Key Transferrable Skills (Research that demonstrates an awareness of critical, effective and testable processes)
• Learning Outcome 5: Synthesis (A complex, dynamic process where all the pieces come together, leading to an even bigger part of the puzzle, okay…)
• Informed Engagement: Taking a step back and just thinking things over, why you are doing what you are doing
• The realization of the theory, and through practice, through the making, you have come to realize the message behind it, what it means and how it affects the world.
• "Philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it" ~ Marx, Theses on Feuerbach
• Change the woooorrrrrrrrlllllddddddddd
• PRAXIS is about bringing theory and action together
• Research for(New skills)/behind (What is to be learnt to reach that aim)/in through (The acting of doing and making as the primary action)/ in front of (Target Audience)-> Creative Practice
• Kolb's Experimental Learning Theory is essential, that learning is a lot deeper that doing mildly different replications on what is being taught

• Practitioners are right to worry that academic study of what is essentially a hands on subject removes it from the reality of practice. Think about your research process that allows maximizing of your potential, do what you love at a better level.
• Designers often work intuitively, without knowingly applying theory. This module aims to get you to reflect on that process.

Lecture 11: Chronologies 9: Postmodernism

• Postmodernism began from the 1960s to today (Though some critics state that the movement has  ended and that we enter a phase of Post-Postmodernism)
• Postmodernism is a reaction to the rules of modernism
• It started out as a critique of the International Style (Robert Venturi's "Learning from Las Vegas", 1972, Ideas developed by Charles Jencks, 1977)
• The only rule is that there are no rules
• It celebrates what might otherwise be termed kitsch (Cheap, nasty, tacky)
•  If Modernism = Simplified aesthetic, utopian ideals, truth to materials, forms follows function
• Then Postmodernism = Complexity, chaos, bricolage (Mixing up of styles and materials), Parody, pastiche and irony
• It has an attitude of questioning conventions
• Its aesthetic = multiplicity of styles and approaches
• Theme of 'double coding', borrowing, or 'quoting' form a number of historical styles
• Knowing juxtapositions, or 'postmodernist irony'
• Questioning old limitations
• Space for marginalized discourse (Women, sexual diversity and multiculturalism)
• "I like elements which are hybrid rather than 'pure', compromising rather than 'clean',  distorted rather than 'straight-forward', ambiguous rather than 'articulated', perverse as well as impersonal." ~ Robert Venturi
• Pompidu Centre, garish colors, looks like a construction site, a bit of an eye sore, interesting to note is that it is placed so near to Notra Dame, a heritage of France
• James Stirling, a really important figure of Postmodernism, Neue Staatsgalerie, while following Postmodernism features such as the usage of overly bright colors, plays with some more traditional designs, has a sense of humor
• Taking the functionality of a kettle and turning it into a postmodern piece of art (Same features, but more expensive)
• Juicy Salif is unnecessarily expensive for a juicer (It is simply its peculiar sci-fi-ish design that makes it so specially priced), pretty much, if you got money to spend and wish to show how stylish you were at the time, only you would purchase it
• Roy Lichenstein's "Drowning Girl" replicates the comic style deliberately, the attention to detail is massive
• "Michael Jackson and Bubbles" was a tasteless parody of porcelain figurines, obviously making a commentary about the late musician
• "Mother and Child Divided" by Damien Hirst, possibly comments on the painting of the Madonna and child, about how a mother loses her child
• "Everyone I have ever slept with" by Tracey Emin, provokes what people first see, especially of a female artist
• "My Bed" represents the breaking down of relationships, an autobiographical piece of are
• "Au Naturel" pushes the boundaries of what female artists were able to draw at the time
• One of the first black artists to be successful in britain, Chris Ofili, represents the black society and culture, "No Woman" portrays a murder case that took place around the time where a young teenager was murdered, it was apparently also a shocker to the media to see the Virgin Mary as black
• Is Chris Ofili making a serious comment about society or just undermining it?
• Postmodernism challenges conventions, David Carson's layout work was never meant to be legible, but more aesthetically stylish and pleasing
• Bonhams makes a parody of a parody, with the Tesco soup can parodying Andy Warhol's Campbell soup can
• And his Kate Moss parodying the Marilyn Monroe
• In conclusion, the Postmodern attitude questions conventions
• It isa shift in thought and theory investigating 'crises in confidence'
• It is a space for new voices

Lecture 10: Chronologies 8: Modernism

• Modernism is a philosophical movement in the arts, that along with cultural trends and changes, arose from wide-scale and far-reaching transformations in Western society in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Among the factors that shaped Modernism was the development of modern industrial societies and the rapid growth of cities, followed then by the horror of World War I. Modernism also rejected the certainty of Enlightenment thinking, and many modernists rejected religious belief. Modernism, in general, includes the activities and creations of those who felt the traditional forms of art, architecture, literature, religious faith, social organization and activities of daily life were becoming outdated in the new economic, social, and political environment of an emerging fully industrialized world.
• Modernity's Concept: The quality of being modern, using the latest techniques or processes, up to date or contemporary
• Modernism's Concept: Early to mid 20th century movement in art, design, literature, and the arts in general
• Arguably, the process of modernization allowed Modernism to develop and flourish
• How the Western world became modern, seeing as the pre modern world was governed by the Church, Monarchy/Aristocracy, Patriarchy (A system or society dominated by man)

• St Peters in Rome, represents the power it holds over the western world and its colonization, making it a huge influence to society

• Jean-Honore Fragonard, "Swing", a frivolous  cynical depiction of the lifestyle of the rich and the poor

• In 1750-1789, the Industrial Revolution, generally seen to start with Thomas Telford's Ironbridge of 1789
• Fully takes hold of 1830s-1840s: The Development of factories (Emergence of production lines and mass production techniques), Transport infrastructure - Canals and Railways, Mechanization in agriculture leads to move from countryside to cites, Emergence of the working class
• 1750-1789, the age of enlightenment, which saw the dawn of modern philosophy, research and science, hence commencing the questioning of religion
• Important writers and thinkers are Voltaire (1694-1778), one of whose key works is "Candide" (Or Optimism) of 1759, and Denis Diderot (1713-1784) who compiled the first encyclopedia

• Rembrand van Rijn, "The Anatomy Lecture of Dr Nicolas Tulp", 1632, the study of the human body and the coming of modern medicine

• The experimenting in proving that all living things need oxygen
• Key Dates: (1751-72) Publication of Diderot's Encyclopaedia, (1776) American Declaration of Independence, (1789) French Revolution, (1804) Napoleon crowned Emperor, (1814) Bourbon Restoration, (1830) July Revolution

• "Liberty Leading the People", a depiction of Patriotism and Liberty, though more to the preference of man

• "View from the Window", Joseph Nicophore Niopce's first photography, that took 20 hours to develop

• "Boulevard du Temple", 1830, Louis Daguerre, in a way the commence of stereotypical photography, considering the shadows and exposure as well as the set of subjects, making a rather massive impact to art at the time

• "The Two Ways of Life", 1857, Oscar Rejlander, the portrayal of two separate lifestyles in a photograph, the "Good and the Bad", not necessarily a religious image, it however still gives across that message, protected identities of the models who were depicted negatively in it

• "The Great Wave", 1850, Gustave Le Gray, mediums are shown to change at that point in time, with different focuses and compositions

• Bohemianism, "Bonjour Monsieur Courbet", 1854, the mocking and negative view people have of artists

• Realism, "The Cleaners", 1857, departure from romanticism and the development of a social conscience

• A metaphor for the downfall of society, "The Hireling Shepard"

• "Evening on Karl Johann", Edvard Munch, an alienation between people

• "Olympia", the ideal of a strong woman, despite whatever occupation she held

• "Bathers of Asnieres", 1859-1891, depicts two sides, with the left side showing the working class on their break, while the upper class enjoying a typical day out in contrast to them

• "Les Damoiselles D'Avignon", 1907, Pablo Picasso, considered one of the world's most important artworks, seeing how it changes the way the world is seen in terms of nude art particularly, with abstractism
• "In or about December 1910, human character changed." ~ Virginia Wolf

• Picasso developed cubism

• Umberto Boccioni began the development of a style that visualized movements and speed
• Germany began developing Expressionism

• "Fountain", changes the face of art seeing as anything could practically be transformed as a form of art, it was/is considered another important piece of artwork to the world
• In design, and especially architecture various tenets: "Form follows Function", Truth to Materials

• Leads to a minimalist aesthetic - Adolf Loos - Ornament and Crime, 1908
• Best represented by the Bauhaus, and the International Style, the architectural style of modernism
• Often has note of high aesthetic and moral seriousness
• Bauhaus was initially born out of optimism, an aspirational reaction to WW1, with a view of harnessing to improve people's lives
• Ends up doctrinaire, almost blind obedience to rules, above all
• IKEA embodies a lot of the ideals of Modernism

• Villa Savove Poissy's designs depicts cleanliness, sleekness, and all around modernism, despite being more than a hundred years, it is still considered very modern for its design
• Type is a modernist obsession

• Leather and steel frames became materials for modernist furniture design
• Barcelona Pavilion, 1920, key architectures of modernism, with minimalist spacing, high polished surfaces

• "Let's Squash Fascism  gets picked up by other forms of advertisements, where words aren't necessarily required but strong (If not obvious and literal) visuals

• Glass House by Philip Johnson, a highly iconic design of modern housing, with the huge usage of glass and steel, in a way depicts that it a design only for the rich, not the masses, showing the failure and falling of modernism

• Seagram Building New Work, had a minimalist design, with a whisky color scheme to it, again not for the masses, but for those that can actually afford it
• Capitalism and money making in the western world
• Modernism starts off attempting to rectify the wrongs of the world during the war, only to go downhill of the World Wars.
• Aim to harness new technologies benefit society, rather than destroy it
• Key features of it are minimalism, truth to materials, form follows function

Lecture 9: Chronologies 7: Communication & Mass Media

• Mass Media is a means of public communication reaching a large audience and of communication that reach large numbers of people in a short time, such as television, newspapers, magazines and radio
• The mass media are diversified media technologies that are intended to reach a large audience by mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place varies. Broadcast media such as radio, recorded music, film and television transmit their information electronically. Print media use a physical object such as a newspaper, book, pamphlet or comics, to distribute their information. Outdoor media is a form of mass media that comprises billboards, signs or placards placed inside and outside of commercial buildings, sports stadiums, shops and buses
• In the art school context, it is known as communication design/visual communication and graphic design (Typography, Branding, Advertising, Propaganda, Printed Media, Packaging, Social Commentary/Activism, Signage)
• Areas for consideration are the origins of Graphic Design, and its relationship to fine art, advertising, capitalism, political tool (Especially when its used for social awareness and symbolisms of capitalism), postmodernism and social conscience

• The Bison and Horse cave painting documents how visual communication goes far back enough to the stone ages

• Giotto di Bondone, The Betrayal, done by 14th century painter Fresco, the visual form allows a form of communication for the illiterate
• The artist occupation was seen as important as they are made to communicate visual messages to others

• John Everett Millais, Bubbles, 1886, when inserting text into an image, does it turn a piece of fine art into a form of advertising or graphic design?
• The term Graphic Design was introduced in 1922, William Addison Dwiggins (A successful american designer) quotes: "In the matter of layout forget art at the start and use horse sense. The printing-designer's whole duty is to make a clear presentation of the message - to get the important statements forward and the minor parts placed so that they will not be overlooked. This calls for an exercise of common sense and a faculty for analysis rather than for art."
• Alternate names and definitions of the term are "Mechanized art', "Visual Communication", "Graphic Design is the business of making or choosing marks and arranging them on a surface to convey an idea.", "… graphic design, in the end deals with the spectator, and because it is the goal of the designer to be persuasive or at least informative, it follows that the designer's problems are twofold, to anticipate the spectator's reactions and to meet his own aesthetic needs."
• "Whatever the information transmitted, it must ethically and culturally reflect its responsibility to society." ~ Josef Muller-Brockman

• Edouard Manet(1832-83) captures modern society, with socializing advancing as week as leisure activities
• British design progresses as seen in the update of the London Undeground Map
• Oska Schlemmer, the Bauhaus logo was created around the same year the term Graphic Design was coined, the logo sets the standard for logo designs
• Kandinsky shows how images and text need not be arranged on a perpendicular strange line
• Links between Graphic Design and different disciplines, e.g. Fine Art, Advertising are arguably becoming increasingly blurred
• Although born out of consumerist/capitalist interests, Graphic Design is arguably becoming increasingly concerned with social issues

Lecture 8: Chronologies 6: Photography

• Photography is a form of valuable documentation, a form of evidence to any sort of event.

• Functioning as an evidential role as it records a historical event, a very early image of a general strike, the photographer's position does not make himself clearly visible as he takes it from the back, simply being another man in the crowd.
• "In many contexts the notion of a literal and objective record of "history" is a limited illusion. It ignores the entire cultural and social background against which the image was taken, just as it renders the photographer neutral, passive and invisible recorder of the scene."~ Clarke: 1997:145 

• "How the Other Live" is a written and visual account/Study of the tenements of New York by Jacob Riss in 1890, revealing cultural ideologies of ethnicity, poverty and 'the other side'. Riss used this superficially as for tool for social reform, but made a lot of money lecturing to middle classes. 
• Photography used through educational means, the content is questionable as it all seems set up with all of the subjects bring so properly posed in the shot (They are clearly aware of the photographer's presence), it places the middle class in a negative light with the superficial air of menace displayed here. 

Jacob Riis, "A Growler Gana in Session (Robbing a Lush), 1887

•  It has been researched that the scene of this photo was actually staged, Riis paid the subjects with cigarettes (WHAT), making this non-documentary  

Lewis Hine, "Russian Steel Workers, Homestead", 1908 

• This one was less about propaganda and more about the human condition. In contrast to Riis' staged works, the immigrants here, despite still bring portrayed as poor, as show with steely dignity and honor. Hine describes himself to be a sociological photographer, and fortunately his work has brought about real changes in the law. 

Lewis Hine, "Duffer Boy", 1909

• Simply shows a subject at work, without making him a pitiful subject, never exploiting him. (You go Lewis!) 
• Farm Security Administration was created by Franklin Roosevelt to increase public awareness of the problems of migrants. 

Margeret Bourke-White, "Sharecroppers Home", 1937  

• Photos at the time would have been used for Life Magazines and such, the images told the story in companion with the text to double confirm the truth. 

Russel Lee "Interior of a Black Farmers House", 1939

• Shows a different perspective of the lifestyle, by not making the subject a victim of poverty, but people with deeper stories to them. 

Dorothea Lange, "Migrant Mother", 1936
"I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, 
as if drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained
 my presence or my camera to her but I do remember her asking 
me no questions. I made 5 exposures, working closer and closer 
from the same direction. I did not ask her name or her history…" 

• A classic convention of the Madonna and child, in a way a symbolic mother figure. Dorothea later reflects on this photo, seeing that gathering the image was more important than truly interacting with the subject herself 

Bill Brandt, "Northumberland Miner at His Evening Meal", 1937 

• An ordinary life that becomes part of museum culture, an image of the english class system, every aspect of the image has a larger meaning, that nothing is neutral. 

Post modern, the redefinition of documentary, radical, giving a more unique perspective of his subjects.

• The Magnum Group was founded in 1947 by Cartier-Bresoon and Capa, with ethos of documenting the world and its social problems. 

Hints of surrealism here.

• "Photography achieves its highest distinction - reflecting the universality of the human condition in a never-to-be-retrieved fraction of a second.", The Decisive Moment, Cartier Bresoon  

Henri Cartier Bresson, FRANCE. Paris. Place de l'Europe. Gare Saint Lazare. 1932 

• A classic decisive moment, the pose of the man jumping the puddle mirrors the post of the dancer in the background. The scene is almost like a stage set that the photographer has found, waiting for the moment to strike.

Robert Capa, "The Falling Soldier", 1936 

• The photo was claimed by a Catalan newspaper to be all staged, the "soldier" was not photographed near Cerro Muriano in Andalusia as it was so claimed to be, but about 50 km to the south-west, far from the frontline and on a day when there was no military action. 

Robert Capa, "Normandy, France", 1945 

•  Introduces the idea of the photographer being a part of it all, taking the role of a soldier himself. 

Hung Cont Ut, "Accidental Napalm Attack", 1972 

• An anti-war image of sort as it exposes the real effects of the 'accident' and an extreme presentation of human suffering.  

Robert Haeberle, "People about to be Shot", 1969 

• The photographer of the shot had told the shooters to delay the execution just so that he could have this photo taken. 

Don McCullin, "Shell Shocked Soldier", 1968

•  After Vietnam, being just as traumatized, McCullin went on to photograph children and landscapes as a form of retreat. 
• Documentary exhausted, "To speak of documentary photography (at this point in its history) is to run headlong into a morass of contradiction, confusion and ambiguity, a position made more problematic by the way in which the increasing sophistication of visual technology makes it difficult to know what is 'real' and what has been 'faked'." ~ Clarke:1997:163 

Jeremy Deller, "The Battle of Orgreave", 2001 

• A reenactment of the event that took place in 18 June 1984. 
• "Deller is both preserving the memory of political struggles which no longer have force in the culture, and indicating how contemporary sensibilities have come detached from those histories which have formed it." (Nash: 2006:49) 
• How does one make documentary work? Without attempting to force a setting or to disrespect the subjects? 
• Has the Deutsche Borse turned into a conceptual art prize? 
• Judges of the photography contest appear to favor experimental art images over traditional photographs - as last night's victory for Sophie Ristelhueber demonstrates.