Contemporary Arts

Earthworks

A form of site specific art that emerged in the mid-1960's, artists move into nature and use aspects of the landscape as part of their artistic materials.

Photorealism

A genre of art that encompasses painting, drawing and other graphic media, in which an artist studies a photograph and then attempts to reproduce the image as realistically as possible in another medium.

Myth of photographic truth

A photograph is often perceived to be an unmediated copy of the real world, but it is not.

Art criticism

Description and Analysis, Interpretation, Judgement Informed discourse about art to increase understanding & appreciation of art

Ready-made

Found sculptures So called "junk" sculptors Marcel Duchamp famously exhibited unaltered found objects such as a urinal & a snow shovel

Conventions in art

Function of art is not always to reproduce the real world as seen by observer.

Installation art

Generally indoors, installation art involves the construction of a space or the assembly of objects to create an environment; we are encouraged to experience the work physically using all our senses, perhaps entering the work itself

Installation art

Installations are generally temporary, but some installations travel to different locations and exist over longer periods of time Site-specific To be experienced as a single artwork Offers a physical experience

Open art

It resists definitions based on any set of necessary and sufficient conditions present or fourth coming.

Film & video art

Linked with the perception of time with movement in space Artists produce the illusion of moving images Time appears to flow seamlessly, as it does in the actual world of the viewer Made for popular consumption

Staged photography

Where there's a set photographer that acts like a director and tells a narrative in one image

Barthes "death of the author"

With mechanical reproduction, Focus is taken away from what the author's intent/subject for the artwork, but is from what the reader thinks of the piece. "Birth of the reader" There's instability of interpretation The ability for a viewer to add to a piece to make a collective authorship

Conceptual art

applied to artworks for which the concept (or idea) behind the artwork, and the means of producing it, are more important than the finished work itself. It usually refers to artworks from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s. sometimes there is no object at all sometimes called installations, may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions

Process art

Refers to art made from mutable materials, such as asphalt, wax, plants, latex, ice water, etc that take form as a result of processes or forces like gravity weight, flexibility, pressure, etc

High/low art

Refers to artistic traditions that previously were considered distinct but are increasingly blurred in contemporary culture High art- visual expression using established materials and media, such as painting and sculpture Low art- includes more popular arts such as cartoons, kitsch objects, and cinema

Honorific art

Seeks to identify essential aspects of a work of art, ones a work of art needs to be considered (good) work of art. "goodness" of a work of art in art history "canon" is rarely questioned (canon=greatest works of artistic merit, shaping Western culture)

Countermonuments

Serve as carriers of memory & meaning in our time for unexpected events & memories Anti-heroic Provokes emotional and political attitudes from viewers

Globalization

Set of conditions escalated since post-war period Conditions include: Increased rates of migration Rise of multinational corporations Globalization of capital and financial networks Development of global communications & transport "shrinking" of the world through commerce & communication Communities not bound geographically

Appropriation

the act of borrowing imagery or forms to create a new work of art. Think re- mixing, or sampling (as in music)

Visual culture

the aspect of culture expressed in visual images

Diaspora

the movement, involuntary or otherwise of large bodies of people, their thoughts and ideas

Space/psychic spaces

the social and psychological attributes of a place Psychic spaces: Imagined space ,Physical space ,Social space Private space Spiritual Space

Formalism

the study of art by analyzing and comparing form and style—the way objects are made and their purely visual aspects.

Mimesis

theoretical principle in the creation of art. The word is Greek and means "imitation" (though in the sense of "re-presentation" rather than of "copying"). reflection of reality, Representation, Symbol and Meaning

Form

work's style, techniques and media used, and how the elements of design are implemented.

Memento mori

"Remember your mortality" A basic memento mori painting would be a portrait with a skull but other symbols commonly found are hour glasses or clocks, extinguished or guttering candles, fruit, and flowers.

Vanitas

"Vanity" may include other symbols such as musical instruments, wine and books to remind us explicitly of the vanity (in the sense of worthlessness) of worldly pleasures and goods.

Perspective

"to see clearly" or "to look through" One point perspective; two point and three point Camera Obscura

Displacement

A central fact of contemporary culture The flip side of place, locale, home, habitation is dislocation, homelessness, journeying Conveys that America is a land of immigrants & their descendants Art is situational, examines mobility rather than site specificity

Postmodernism

A twentieth- century art movement (catch all term emerging in the 70s) ...marked by reactions against the philosophy and practices of MODERN movements. Abandonment of strong divisions of genre or hierarchy Questions the validity of the modernist emphasis on logic, simplicity, and order, suggesting that ambiguity, uncertainty, and contradiction may also have a valid place

Simulated places

Art that provides an experience to viewers while stimulated most or all senses

Narrative

Art that tells a story, either as a moment in an ongoing story or as a sequence of events unfolding over time. Some of the earliest evidence of human art suggests that people told stories with pictures.

Kinetic art

Artwork actually moves or is "live" ex) performance art

Embodying time (time as a medium) vs representing time

As a medium: The artwork actually moves or is "live" (ie kinetic art, performance art) The artwork uses media that create the illusion of movement (film, video, cinema, etc) The artwork is one in which the creative process counts for more than a finished object, and materials are intentionally in flux during the life of the artwork (process art) Representing: Counting Time Measuring Time Re-Ordering Time Expressing Endlessness

Performance art

As live presentations or on video, it rarely involves trained actors or directors. Often feature artists doing visually compelling actions

Medium, media (plural)

Media: materials & techniques used by artists Painting, drawing & sculpting (ancient) Photography (emerges in 19th century) Installation, performance, film, video, sound art (past few decades) Digital art, virtual reality, art in the social realm (recently developing) Video & audio technology attracted experimenters in the art field Became a prominent medium bcus it's time based and touches narrative structures

Rhizome theory

Characterizes research & thought that is interconnected but has no beginning & end, has no set pathways through the system, resists rigid organization & dominating ideas, & has the capacity to link together heterogenous elements.

Cult value vs exhibition value

Cult: Originally, art was meant to be magical and hidden from the outside world, a "magical" projection of early man's inner aspirations. Exhibition: Modern "emancipation" of art has increased the chances for it to be on public display as means for profit and economy.

Postmodernism vs modernism

Modernism- master narratives of history before wwii, faith in Grand Theory (totalizing explanations in history, science & culture), sense of unified centered self/individualism, idea of family as central unit of social order, heterosexual norms, hierarchy/order/centralized control , root/depth tropes Postmodernism- rejection of master narratives, rejection of totalitizing theories; pursuit of localizing & contingent theories, sense of fragmentation & decentered self/multiple conflicting identities, alt. family units/multiple identities for couplings & child raising, subverted order/loss of centralized control, Rhizome/surface tropes, no concern for depth; relational & horizontal differences.

Classificatory art

Objects x, y, and z are classified as works of art while objects a,b, and c aren't Doesn't necessarily mean it's a "good" or "bad" Go to museum to see what they display

Art theory

Offers an interconnected set of assumptions, hypotheses, and predictions about possible meanings, purposes, and & judgements of art Similar to aesthetics but more commonly used term Associated with postmodernism More politically committed Goals include attempt to reconcile different modes on analysis, while others applied one model to a wide range of practices

Aesthetics

Philosophy of art also means ones taste in art regarding things artistically Its task is not to capture the truth of our current understanding of art, but to reconceive art so as to enhance its role & appreciation.

Tableau photography

Photographs that capture staged or artificially constructed scenes made only for the purpose of photography

Walter Benjamin "the aura" / unconscious optics

The word associated with the idea that original art has a unique spirit and soul Bestowed upon a painting by the artist The aura also signifies the paintings place in space and time. Provides true originality "That which withers in the age of mechanical reproduction is the aura of the work of art"

Place

There is no such thing as a neutral or objective map. A map is only accurate insofar as it accurately represents a particular perspective or experience of the world. Artists might: Represent what it means to come from a geographic location Convey cultural or emotional qualities of a place Invent imaginary places

Site specificity

Where the work takes part of its meaning & form from the particular location where it's installed. Artists might take into account histories and memories embedded in a location & consider the current social & political conditions at a site

What are Baca's thoughts on the role of the socially responsible public artist today? What are your thoughts?

To articulate the conditions of their people and to provide catalysts for change, since perceptions of us as individuals are tied to the conditions of our communities in a racially unsophisticated society. We cannot escape that responsibility even when we choose to try; we are made of the "blood and dust" of our ancestors in a continuing history. Being a catalyst for change will change us also.

Seriality (photographs)

Uniform elements or objects were assembled in accordance with strict modular principles.

Multi-episodic format

Used in narrative art as a format that represents two or more scenes or incidents from the same story. Exs) scrolls, comic strips, ancient reliefs & paintings. May not be chronological, flashbacks can occur, main storyline split into more than one subplot.

Kitsch

Used to describe items that appeal to popular, undiscriminating, or lowbrow taste and often are of poor quality. Kitsch may also be used to describe something that is overly decorative or sentimental.

The gaze

Used to describe the relationship between the viewer and subject and the awareness of the subject that they are being "looked at", often as an "object."

Denotation vs connotation

denotation is what is photographed; Presenting evidence, literal descriptive meaning connotation is how it is photographed; relying on the cultural and historical context of the image and its viewers' lived, felt knowledge of those circumstances, evoking a magical, mythical quality.

Public art

is art in any media that has been planned and executed with the intention of being staged in the physical public domain, usually outside and accessible to all. Public art is significant within the art world, amongst curators, commissioning bodies and practitioners of public art, to whom it signifies a working practice of site specificity, community involvement and collaboration.

Syncretic

mixes or juxtaposes multiple cultural references and ideas

Content

refers to a work's essence, or what is being depicted.

Diorama

small- or full-scale models of real or imaginary environments-as a vehicle for artistic expression.