Reading Group 1
How the World Came in
by Achim Hochdörfer
How the World Came in by Achim Hochdörfer made a good launch to the term in the first group reading critic because it brought up many questions ranging from “What is painting?, Where does painting go? Who is a painter? What is the role of a painter in the society?” to the art market and role of the critic in attributing credibility to the artwork.
As I always support the idea that asking questions is more important than finding answers, that these questions had been opened to the discussion was fair enough for me as afterwards, the contemplating process of the mind starts. Your brain looks for the answers, you gain a critical eye. That is why I find reading discussions very fruitful.
On the other hand, people from different backgrounds and cultures come up with different experiences and stories. While some of them think critics have a vital role in the evaluation process and for the credibility of the work, others think “an artist is the best critic to himself”. While some think that a painting should be made of paints, others may justify the idea that anything that artist creates can be a work of art with the strong reference of Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain.
Abstract expressionism and contemporary art are other subject matters put underscope in Hochdörfer’s article.
With the upheaval of modernity, the concept of art has also gone under a revolution or evolution. Mass production and the rise of consumption in society made art also subject to consumption.
Not only the themes but also the materials and techniques dramatically changed. Dadaism, avant-garde art and such protesting schools fired up new debates. To put it another way, for instance, being avant-garde involves exploring new artistic methods, or experimenting with new techniques and materials in order to produce “better art”. But what constitutes “better” art? Does it mean painting that is more aesthetically pleasing? Or more meaningful? Or more vividly colored? More retinal? The questions go on and on… Likewise, Dadaism challenged most of the fundamentals of Western civilization after World War. And once you start challenging, art is on the foreground to get affected by it. Change at all terms is inevitable in art.
Given today, an age of digitality and technology, can you think of art without technology? We are already introduced to new terms such as digital art, video art, interactive art a moreover we have been introduced to the first painting of a robot artist. So maybe we can keep the discussion on “Can a robot be called as an artist? And its painting a painting?” or more importantly, what if robots make “better art” and replace human artists? J
How the World Came in,2018
Watercolor on acid free paper
Terror on Earth,2019
Jelly pen on black paper
Terrorism, Torture and the Spectacle of Images
by Anthony Downey
Terror etymologically is derived from the French Word “true” which means shake, tremble. In English it means “fear” and "terrorist" is described as the person who spreads fear.
Why, how and from whom are we afraid of? That is what makes the issue of terrorism complicated and ambivalent. Because there is not a government, there is not a nation or even particular people that you can fear from, fight with an escape from.
Terrorists can be anyone and can give harm at any time like they (?) did at 9/11 or they did in Istanbul Sultan Ahmed Square in 2015 or like they did in London underground.
Another intricacy is those terrorists can be terrorists for you but defenders of their human rights for me. Furthermore, although Downey claims terrorism is the greatest challenge of today’s elected governments, I would say governments are also interrogated for whether they are intervined in backing up terrorist groups. The USA, Germany, Belgium, France are notorious countries from the side of Turkey as Turkey thinks and has proof that they are providing financial support to PKK ( Kurdish terrorist group based in the Northern Iraq-Southern Turkey border).
Thus, under the shadow of these dilemmas, the reading discussion session was quite unpleasant for me as a person who had missed a terrorist attack by almost one hour by great luck in Istanbul that ended with many casualties.
Terrorism has become a phenomenon that we have to live within our everyday lives. Every day, we are exposed to terrorist events by the media, by politics and even art. Artist reflects their impressions of fear and social degeneration in multiple ways. Downey’s article presents a selected collection of Works and artists with the impressions of terrorism. As an abstract- minded artist, I was mostly affected by Gerhard Richter’s abstractions. This led me to investigate Richter’s references and standpoints: Richter deals with painful recent cultural memory revealing success of his varied artistic strategies addressing contemporary political events. He also chooses mundane photographic sources for his imagery, denying a hierarchy of “correct” memories of the events and turning photographic indexicality against itself by employing a painterly medium.
In Downey’s article, torture and pain are handled alongside terrorism, sometimes as a result of it and sometimes apart from it. Gregor Schneider’s White Torture is a disorientating art experience unfolds in a series of sinister and hermetic corridors, cells and rooms. Doors lead off from the corridors, but some of the doors are sealed, while others open to cells. One cell contains a green steel cage, another a two-way mirror with a steel bar passing through it that dissects your reflection. One door leads to a white corridor and yet another door into a pitch-black space. As the aimless wandering and decision-making continue, stress levels rise. The emotion transferred to the viewer and the mission completed.
Al in all, art is not always reflecting the beauty. Although I always support the idea that while there is enough ugliness on earth, art should be dealing with only the good and beauty, it is inevitable for an artist to shut his eyes to the reality surrounding him. Even if it is a simulacra as suggested by Baudrillard, the artist has become so saturated with these simulacra and our lives so saturated with the constructs of society that all meaning has been rendered meaningless. Maybe, the role of art becomes vivid at that point to put some meaning to the simulacrum.
Barbarian,Modern,Civilisation,2019
White ball pen on black paper
Civilisation
by David Olusoga
I remember Albrecht Dürer’s words in his diary for what he said once he stepped onto the land of Indians, “All the days of my life, I have seen nothing that rejoiced my heart so much as these things, for I saw amongst them wonderful works of art, and I marveled at the subtle ingenuity of men in foreign lands. Indeed, I cannot express all that I thought there.”
This is what a white man uttered when he first saw how big a civilisation the black man had built on their homelands simultaneously with the White men who were lacking all the rudiments of civility, noted a surprised Chinese mariner in 1543: “They ate with their fingers rather than chopsticks, had no system of ceremonial etiquette, couldn’t understand written characters, and displayed their feelings without any self-control”, says Olusoga.
Civilization documentary series 1-2 by David Olusoga brings “the European Age of Discovery” from the 15th to the 18th centuries and puts the impact of industrialization on the art and artists of the 19th century under the scope.
Although Olusoga has a Eurocentric narration, he also honestly points out that during his visits to many countries such as Africa, Japan, China, South America, he sees slavery everywhere he looks at. He confesses the western man did not simply appreciate what he saw during the colonialism periods, but he preferred to destroy or steal the other’s heritage.
However, this destruction paved the way for other creations just like Michael Bakunin said “Distraction is a creative action”, the White man took the chance. Artists were sent to the colonized lands to picture the to-be-civilized geographies. Thu, the documentary also presents and discusses groundbreaking artists such as El Greco, Franz Halls, Meindert Hobbema, Maria Chabela, Rembrandt and even Picasso and how they were impressed what they saw, how they reflected on their canvases.
Reading in between the lines, colonialism was a brutal initiative, Olusegun implies. It destroyed much more than it contributed to human history. It was the footsteps of globalization, cultural interaction, and modernization whilst calling out alienation, superiority-inferiority, and imperialism.
Yet we can still see the legacy of colonialism. The brave civilized world was supposed to be envisioned as the sum total of perceptions, attitudes, and actions that are considered modern. However, It was supposed to be a way of being rational, virtuous, measured and respectful.
Civilization and modern systems should be building up moral and aesthetic sensitivity rather than destruction and inhumane approaches.
2nd Term UAL Catchy Lectures
Rosalind Davis is an artist and curator. It was a pleasure to listen to her experience and struggle to exist in the art jungle.
Jack-Candy Camp
That he told his journey for interdisciplinery project was exciting and useful for us.
Ged Quinn
Ged is a surrealist who carries the past objects and medieval philosophy to today. I admire his unique technique and themes.