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WEEK 10

Photography

Photography: The Camera as an I

• the development of photography 

• early usages of photography 

• photography and perception (is photography objective or subjective?) 

• photography and art

(photo = light, graphos = writing)

 The History of Photography 

The history of the development of photography is also a history of the changes in Western perception.

Pictorial Vision Before Photography:

• Renaissance artists did not imitate natural human vision, they idealized it. 

• painting as a logical composition, often centrally and symmetrically organized. (NOT like photography, which is a selective description).

Late Renaissance / Baroque Pictorial Vision

the image to the left, although painted before the invention of photography, is constructed very much like a photograph: 

• non-symmetry • selectivity (just a portion of the whole subject is depicted). 

• the viewer is not the center of the subject. 

• a painting with photographic vision (a fragment / detail selected from a larger context) 

• it is balanced not by symmetry but by visual weight. 

• the whole subject (the church) is not shown, just a portion of it.

public paintings (created by the intellect) 

                            X 

private sketches (inspired by the eye, spontaneous) 

• drawings and paintings that showed fragments and details were called “sketches” and “studies”. 

• in the late 19th century Impressionists elevated oil sketching to the level of serious public art.

• emphasis on momentary visual experience & faithful documentation of light.

Invention of Photography

   • The camera obscura (“dark room”) had been known since the Ancient Egyptians (2,500 years ago)

   • certain artists (particularly Jan Vermeer) used camera obscura as a drawing aid.

   • by the 18th C., portable camera obscura with lenses became available.

   • in 1837, a French theatrical scene designer, Jacques Daguerre, invented a photo-printing process: “daguerreotype” 

‣ direct positive made in the camera on a silvered copper plate. 

‣ complicated process 

‣ one-of-a-kind (only copy by hand) 

‣ long exposure time (around 10 min.)

• assumed to be the first picture of a living person. 

• the image shows a busy street, but due to exposure time (more than 10 minutes), the traffic was moving too fast to appear. 

• in 1840, an Englishman, William Talbot, found a method to “fix” the image on paper & to produce multiple copies from a single negative 

• short exposure time!

• he developed the negative-to-positive process (still used today). 

• instead of making positives on metal plates, he made negatives on paper. 

• pictures became easily reproducible.

• George Eastman invented the Kodak Camera, in 1888. 

• anyone (with 25$ + 10$) could take photographs.

19th c. Genres of Photography:

Portrait

Entertainment

• 19th c. stereoscopes used two pictures taken several centimeters apart. 

• when viewed together, the image would appear to be three-dimensional.

• the magic lantern: an early type of image projector developed in the 17th c. 

• glass “lantern” slides (transparent positives) were used to illustrate public lectures.

• the magic lantern: for entertainment and educational purposes

• the camera can reveal aspects of motion that can not be seen with the human eye. 

• for this reason, it was initially embraced by scientists in the 19th century

In Western societies and cultures:

 • photography reality, objectivity, truth BUT

 • a photograph is a human controlled construction; not an objective recording of reality.

 • every photograph depicts a way of seeing and

 • it affects the way you see things; the way you think about the world.

Photography and Context 

“The subject of a photograph always exists in a double context.”

 1. the original context (time & space) in which the photograph was taken.

 2. the perceptual context within which the photograph is viewed.

 perceptual context determines the “meaning of the photograph”

Photography and Context 

• the photography shows Japanese-American children saluting the American flag during WW2 

• shortly before Japanese-Americans were rounded up and relocated in detention camps.

Photography as Fiction

• the photographer imposes certain order upon the original context, s/he creates the subject. . Photography as Projection 

• as a viewer, what you see is your own projected meaning. 

• your personal experience, knowledge, feelings, imagination affect your interpretation. 

The Camera’s Presence 

• the camera and the photographer are part of the original context.

Photography and Objectivity 

• “When you look at a photograph, you assume the role of an observer looking into an image of reality from which you are utterly separated.”

 . Photography as Equalizer 

• “In the world created by photographs, anything visible can be made important . . . To the indifferent lens of the camera, great and small are equal.

 Thus, photography influences your ideas about what is worth looking at . . .” . Photography and Truth

 • “Photographs seem truthful because they present images you imagine you would had seen if you yourself had been there . . .

19th C. Romantic view of art:

 • the use of mechanical devices damages the purity of art.

 • debate: is photography art? the camera: a mechanical device

 • “where is the art in such a mechanical process?” moreover, not one original but many copies.

• as a response, many early photographers created photographs that imitated fine art paintings.

• to achieve the “artistic” effect, photographers manipulated the negatives, painted over the print, or combined several negatives in one print.

• the Pictorialist Movement (from around 1885) strengthened the thought that photography was a fine art medium. 

• exhibitions in painting galleries and art museums. 

• in 1896, for the first time, an American museum, (the U.S. National Museum in Washington, D.C.) bought photographs for its permanent collection. 

• photography was officially recognized as art.

• some pictorialists, like Edward Steichen, even left brush marks on their hand-tinted prints in an attempt to show their equality with painters.

• since the 20th century, we no longer discuss whether photography is art or not.

• new debates:

   ‣how does photographic (mechanical) reproduction affect the value of an artwork? 

• original vs. reproduction:

   ‣where is the art; in the painting as an object or the subject?

   ‣ if art is in the subject, why are reproductions of the image are not also art?

   ‣ is the reproduction of a reproduction art?

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WEEK 7

Postmodernism

Post-Modernism in Culture and Arts

• post = after 

• Post-Modernism = after Modernism POSTMODERN:

• cultural period 

• cultural attitude 

• a critical response to Modernism’s basic features.

“POSTMODERNISM” is first used in ARCHITECTURE.

 POSTMODERN ARCHITECTURE: 

• use of modern and traditional elements together. 

• challenges functionalism & rationalism.

Contrast between Modernism & Postmodernism:

 the old shoes appear as part of a whole way of living:

 relationship between image & reality.

Contrast between Modernism & Postmodernism: 

• flat, depthless • looks like a shopwindow itself. 

• does not refer to an outside reality, but

• refers to another image (image of shop window)

• relation between images themselves = Copies without any original. 

LOSS OF ORIGINAL: 

• a general property of the production of images in postmodern society.

 Pastiche // Simulacra // retro style: 

   • mimicry of (past) cultural styles

• pastiche: an artistic work in a style that imitates that of another work, artist, or period. 

• simulations: creation of models where distinction between “true” & “false” disappears. 

• simulacra (plural of simulacrum): are copies that depict things that either had no reality to begin with, or that no longer have an original.

     ‣ simulacra precedes the original 

     ‣ the distinction between reality and representation vanishes.

     ‣originality becomes a totally meaningless concept (Jean Baudrillard)

FEATURES OF POSTMODERN CULTURE & SOCIETY: 

1) Consumerism – consumption of unnecessary items. 

2) Multinational companies – economy is directed by them. 

3) Electric and nuclear energy 

4) Computers 

5) Simulation – imitation with no distinction betw. true & false. 

6) Pastiche – imitation of past cultural styles. 

7) Time-space compression – distances shorten via technology. 

8) Globalization – complex interconnectivity.

 9) Megapolis – mega-cities all over the world: NY, Istanbul, etc. 

10) Cultural fragmentation & pluralism 

11) Viral diseases 

12) New social movements – like ecology & feminism. 

‣ the use of simulated realities characterizes the postmodern era. 

‣ features of postmodernity are in constant tension with, speaking back to and re-envisioning features of modernity. 

‣ postmodernity continues to focus on science, technology, progress.

‣ changing concepts of the human subject 

‣ effects of globalization, post-industrialization, computerization, and communication technologies on the self and on world views

MODERNISM: 

‣ an aesthetic ideology 19th & 20th centuries

‣ rejected plural styles 

‣ (new machine-style or ‘no style’) 

‣ broke with the past, history & tradition 

‣ (experiment, innovation, novelty & originality valued)

• modernism vs. postmodernism

MODERNISM:

‣ rejected ornament & decoration 

‣ valued simplicity, clarity, order & rationality 

‣ rejected the national & local ‣ favored the international & universal 

‣oriented towards the future ‣dedicated to progress & improving humanity

‣ modernism vs. postmodernism

POSTMODERNISM: 

‣both a continuation & rejection of Modernism. 

‣ favored “pluralism” = many styles together 

‣history & tradition important 

‣ retro-styles, quotations, parodies and pastiche

‣ postmodernism defines an ethos in which style and image predominate 

‣ Postmodern: “... incredulity towards metanarratives” (Lyotard) 

• metanarrative:

   ‣big story

   ‣narrative of narratives

Postmodernism and its Visual Cultures

• postmodernism complicates divisions of culture and consciousness, 

• making it impossible to absorb a critical viewpoint on culture from outside and/or above it, 

• therefore consumerism is incorporated into life and identity. 

• “we may attempt to forget or ignore mass culture, but it will never forget us” (Santiago Colás) 

• remix culture! 

• remake!

Postmodern Space, Geography, and the Built Environment The Pompidou Centre: 

• symbolizes the spirit of the 20th century 

• construction date: 1972 to 1976 • style: High-Tech Modern, Industrial 

• building type: Postmodern Art Museum 

   ‣ one of the most important museums in the world, ‣ has the leading collection of modern & contemporary art in Europe, 

   ‣ a vast public reference library, 

   ‣ general documentation on 20th century art, 

   ‣ a cinema, ‣ performance halls, 

   ‣ a music research institute,

   ‣ educational activity areas, 

   ‣ bookshops, 

   ‣ a restaurant & a café. 

• postmodernism challenges 

  ‣ the division between mass, popular culture and elitism,

  ‣ therefore blurring the boundary between “high” or elite art and kitsch.

some movies that you should take a look at 

• Pulp Fiction 

• 2001 - A Space Odyssey 

• Fight Club 

• Lost in Translation 

• The Matrix Trilogy 

• Total Recall 

• eXistenZ 

• The Truman Show 

• La Jetée 

• 12 Monkeys 

• A Clockwork Orange 

• American Psycho 

• Inception 

• Brazil 

• Paycheck 

• Dark City 

• Minority Report 

• Memento 

• Donnie Darko 

• Videodrome 

• A Scanner Darkly 

• Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind 

• Blade Runner 

• Screamers 

• Artificial Intelligence 

• Her 

• Run Lola Run 

• Kill Bill 

• Videodrome 

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WEEK 6

Art and the Mass Media

Art uses Mass Culture: 3 possible attitudes towards mass media/culture:

 1. Negative 

2. Positive 

3. Mixed

Negative responses can be: 

 ‣direct (obvious) 

 ‣implied.

Minimal or Fundamental painting (1960s-70s):

 ‣Emphasizes materials & processes of painting

 ‣To secure the identity of the painting from mass media.

Pop Art (1960s -1970s) a mixed response to mass culture:

 ‣ celebrates consumer products,

 ‣ or shows a critical response. Subjects of Pop Art:

 ‣ the modern city (not nature)

 ‣ man-made buildings, motorways, newspapers, magazines, films, television...

 ‣ popular culture & mass media

Pop Art Today 

An art movement that uses popular/mass culture items (movies, comics, advertising, television, etc.) in artworks. 

“Pop Art translates mass culture into art” 

Done by professional artists.

Began in the UK (British Pop Art) in the 1950s and spread to the USA (American Pop Art) in the early 1960s. 

The typical art style of the 1960s.

Pioneers of Pop Art

  ‣Richard Hamilton (UK) – painter

  ‣Eduardo Paolozzi (UK) – sculptor

  ‣Roy Lichtenstein (USA) – painter and sculptor

  ‣Andy Warhol (USA) – illustrator, painter, film-maker

Major Centers

   ‣London

   ‣New York 

Sexuality of the woman’s body

 ‣Similarity between metal & flesh

 ‣smooth forms & glamorous materials of the products

Pop artists belong to “fine art”, not mass culture.

Satirical - critical painting

 Politician + monster

 Left-wing party nuclear disarmament; hindered by right-wing leader Hugh Gaitskell 

Robert Fraser (art dealer) & Mick Jagger (pop star)being arrested for possession of “soft drugs”

Handcuffs: symbolizing the development of a close relationship between pop art and rock music in 1960s London.

Criticizes the so-called liberated, permissive English society.

AMERICAN POP

When Pop-Art spread to America, some critics accused the artists for copying advertisements or comics. (plagiarism)

Pop artists appropriate existing images & they place them in new contexts.

Roy Lichenstein appropriated, recontextualized that ad into “high art”.

ADVERTISEMENT 

  ‣Mass produced ‣Ephemeral

  ‣Cheap

  ‣Black & White 

  ‣Contains text+image 

  ‣ Done for selling stg. 

FINE ART:

  ‣Unique

  ‣Made by hand

  ‣Permanent

  ‣Expensive

  ‣Colored

  ‣No text

  ‣Drawn and painted for aesthetic pleasure

  ‣ Intellectual

ROY LICHTENSTEIN 

Subject: Detail of brushwork from an “action painting” enlarged.

 Irony: looks mechanically produced even though it is painted by hand. 

Criticising the Abstract Expressionism (1940s-1950s): which then became commercialised & mediatized, not highly moral anymore...

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

  ‣Emotional

  ‣ Intuitive

  ‣ Spontaneous

  ‣ Personal

  ‣ Serious

  ‣Committed 

  ‣Autographic

  ‣Moral 

POP ART 

  ‣ Unemotional

  ‣Carefully thought

  ‣ Systematic

  ‣ Impersonal

  ‣ Ironic

  ‣Non-autographic 

  ‣Amoral

ANDY WARHOL (1928–87):

 the most famous pop artist. 

Used “ silk screen ” method of mass production for economy & speed. 

his studio was called “ The Factory ”.

in his works;

Repetition: intensified the icon-like, 

stereotypical qualities of the original. 

Vibrant colors = mask 

Her make-up & smile was like a mask hiding her true self.

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WEEK 5

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WEEK 5 

The Privilege: 

Creating Art Who is a GENIUS? 

is it a natural gift to create?

 or, a talent developed thanks to privilege? 

Think of the geniuses that come to your mind 

If GENIUS is a natural gift to create, 

why have there been no or very few women geniuses? 

The Privilege: 

GENIUS = white, Northern European man an individual who can achieve, rule, invent and create

Until recently, men made history. Women were always referred to in terms of a man:

 “The wife of . . .”

 “The daughter of . . .”

 “The sister of . . .”

 “The mother of . . .” etc.

the power to invent and create depends on: 

1. the individual’s belief that he/she has the right to do it.

 2. the individual’s access to the related arenas of power and achievement 

It was long believed that this power/right/privilege was reserved for white men.

women in the history of art: 

objects of desire and the objects of the male gaze

Art History has been written with the (correct) assumption that the artists were men. 

Linda Nochlin, an art historian asked in 1971: “Why have there been no great women artists?”

 “because they were deprived of certain rights and privileges given to men”

where is the woman?

Of course there have been women artists, but they have been conveniently forgotten or marginalized in Art History.

In the 1980s, many women artists began to challenge the ‘privilege’ of creating art, that it has been a male-dominated.

Many of the women artists chose to use photography to challenge the maledominated art world.

• exploration of the construction of contemporary identity and the nature of representation 

• questions the role and representation of women in society, the media and the nature of the creation of art.

They made very personal works of art, were both creators and subjects of their work -not just objects to be looked at.

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WEEK 4

Surrealism and Difference

 SURREALISM: 

‣ a heterogenous art movement, 

‣ with no stylistic unity. 

‣ uses difference to generate meaning. 

‣ It was practiced by many different types of artists: writers, painters, poets, photographers, sculptors, and film makers

AIMS of Surrealism: 

‣ to reveal “the unconscious”, 

‣ to dis-orient “normal” expectations 

‣ to question reality & how it is represented

TECHNIQUES (and Aims) OF SURREALISM: 

‣ to shock the viewer 

‣ to confuse normal expectations 

‣ to speak from the position of the irrational, the unconscious & madness

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WEEK 3

Defining Modernism:

1. Reductionist Approach:

reduces everything to its key features or common traits.

‣ intellectuality

‣ nihilism (Nihilism: the belief that nothing has meaning or value.)

‣ a discontinuity (with the past)

‣ an attitude of detachment

‣ the use of myth to define art

‣ a feeling of alienation & loneliness

2. Historical / Sociological Approach:

explains Modernism as the outcome of historical & sociological contexts:

‣ continuation of or in contrast with Romanticism

‣ a reaction to Aestheticism

‣ an inversion of Realism

‣ a precursor of Postmodernism

‣ a product of World War I

(According to Fredrick Jameson, Peter Bürger,…)

3. A Range of Responses to a Perceived Crisis:

not a single & unified response.

Why crisis?

‣ uncontrollable change:

‣ new & powerful technological systems

‣ collapse of older systems: rationality, traditional ways of life,…

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WEEK 2

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WEEK 2

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WEEK 2