After some conversations with the teacher, I decided to change the subject of my cultural text, so here is the poster.
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InrōThe Inrō Is a traditional Japanese small decorative container originated at the 16th century case for holding small objects, suspended from the obi ( Japanese dress). The Inrō as the actual purses or wallets are a way to carry our belongings with us when we go out home, such money, tissues and mobile phones among others. In this case we have a little case to carry just the necessary but we can appreciate that over the years the bags that we wear are related with the society of consumption. Furthermore, as almost all the objects in old times the Inro were made by craftsman and nowadays almost all the wallets, purses or bags are manufactures, and they can by shipped all over the world in just days. Also, this are objects that are used for almost all the ages, like little kids to carry their books and pencil cases, adults to carry money, the ID, makeup, phones... people with diseases to carry their medicines, etc. Moreover, I think that in our actual society the people do not appreciate what they possess. For example, we can take a look to the Inrō and see that is not only a case but also is a piece of art from beginning to the end, but nowadays people only appreciate if there is a brand written down the object, and almost all of them seems the same. Rose WindowThe rose window is the generic word used to a circular window divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery, specially used in churches of the Gothic architectural style. To understand the meaning of the rose window and its symbolism, firstly we should go back to the Roman Empire and the concept of the Oculus. This circular window, which the finest example would be the Pantheon, was done not only to allow the light to get inside as the sun lights the earth but also to provide with a mysterious atmosphere to the worship area of the building. Knowing that and the theories of Suger of Saint-Denis about how the light and is God itself, we can glimpse the importance of the light and the glazed openings in the Gothic architecture. Where the light was something more than just something that allows the people to see but something valuable and important for the human beings. In order to spread and disseminate this concept to the major number of people, this kind of openings are located in the center of worship and knowledge of the Middle age, the churches and cathedrals. Finally, I think that because of the artificial illumination, now the concept of light is something that we just take for granted. Forgetting how it can influence in our perception, our mood, our health and so go forth. Paul Michel Foucault was a French philosopher whose theories addressed the relationship between power and knowledge. To understand how his thoughts has been highly influential even for how we understand art, firstly we need to understand his methodology. For Foucault, the society always sees and classifies the reality that surround us in order to make it more understandable. Usually, we tend to do it following some sort of natural qualities such as colour, behaviour, morphology and so go forth. However, Foucault states that how is actually done does not depend in some sort of natural disposition but on cultural reasons. Therefore, each society in each historic period sees the reality according to what they believe is the truth and consequently all this truths makes what we know as knowledge, which he called connaissance. One example could be how in the Middle Age because the in a natural way we see the planet Earth as horizontal, is become a scientific knowledge that the planet was flat. Having this into account how we can relate this to art? Well, usually all the art theorist has seen the art and more in particular the paintings as connaissance as long as they express the knowledge of that time reality. Say, how paintings spread the sacred scriptures, which were the knowledge of that time, or how the actual reality is in the realistic paintings in the modern era. On the contrary, Foucault insisted on a further distinction between this connaissance and the knowledge that comes from the paintings, which he called savoir. In this savoir, he considers that the perception of the reality that came from a painting depends not only upon the painter’s culture, attitude, tradition and the time when he did the piece, but also from the culture of the person who is analysing the piece of art. That is why, how a painting and the knowledge that it possesses could be interpreted in a completely different way if it is done by a person from the 18th century or a person nowadays. All this is explained by Foucault in the painting of Las Meninas from Velazquez. For him, this painting is the perfect example of this savoir as in the painting it exist the ambiguity of who the real models are, either the kings of the viewers. As a consequence, Foucalt argues that this piece gives more importance to what is representing is how the viewer will embrace that, instead of just showing the reality of the moment. I completely agree with Foucault’s thesis about art, specially having into account that the contemporary art is mostly produce bearing in mind the viewer’s interpretation rather than showing the reality. Funny thing is that even this concept of how the observer affects in what is studying it has been extended into science with theories such as the General Relativity and the Heisenberg's indeterminacy principle. Bibliography:
Michel Foucault and the point of painting, CM. SOUSSLOFF. History: Contemporary Perspectives on Method. Volume 32, Issue 4, pages 734–754, September 2009 The order of things: an archeology of the human sciences, M. FOUCAULT. New York: Vintage Books, 1973 Las Meninas. Las palabras y las cosas, EC. FROST. Madrid:Siglo XXI, 1978 The text talks about the animated pornography and how is related enclosed by film and animation. There is a big taboo surrounding the pornography, and even if it is one of the richest industries around the world, and the most consumed a lot of people refuse speak about it or recognize that they watch it. The writer highlight that because animation is not real the animators can do anything weather if it is etic or not. Pornography is not a new creation of the modern era, as it exists since the prehistory, with nude and erotic Palaeolithic objects or paintings or also in ceramics in Greece or Roma. Across the time we can find erotic representation in all around the planet such as Japan, China, India, Persia among others. Furthermore, those all representations are the predecessors of the modern animated pornography, being all these representations made from non-real characters. Moreover, seems that when we represent a non-real erotic or pornographic symbol is more ethical and social accepted that a real one. In my opinion pornography is not a bad thing, but there are some aspects that I do not like, for example the way that almost all the movies are shot only for the men pleasure, being the women just an object. Also there is a gap with some of the representations in animated pornography where we can find character that seems kids abused for old people, having relations between each other or doing other bizarre things. To sum up, we need to change a little bit the vision about the pornography but without forget that even if something exist do not means that it is ethic. Bibliography: Capino, J. (2004). Filthy Funnies: Notes on the Body in Animated Pornography. In: Animation Journal. Vol 12 Image: Suzuki Harunobu - Geese descending on the koto bridges ( Kotoji rakugan) Glossary: Hyperbolically: Obvious and intentional exaggeration, an extravagant statement or figure of speech not intended to be taken literally. In animation one of the most exaggerated figures would clearly be body language and facial expressions. This came from the major influence of the 40´s director Tex Avery who made animated series filled with hyperbolic expressions and constant sexual references. Thanks to him, this tool has been used in many animated movies and series such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit or The Simpsons.
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AuthorLaura Miranda Moreno Archives
January 2017
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