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Lyla Rossi

6/2/2016

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How is art best understood in connection with its use in religious, political rituals of a culture? What is the meaning of art in relation to its ceremonial context? How can such works be portrayed in such a way that viewers in a museum will be able to understand this critical aspect of their meaning? ​How has modern curation become an art of it's own, and how has it made art more accessible to the public?

The Art of Ritual

ritual (noun) 
      ...the prescribed order of performing a ceremony, especially one characteristic of a particular religion or church
      ...a series of actions or type of behavior regularly and invariably followed by someone


"Ritual is in fact an inevitable component of culture, extending from the largest-scale social and political processes to the most intimate aspects of our self-experience. Yet within this universality, the inherent multiplicity of ritual practices, both between and within cultures, also reflects the full diversity of the human experience. It was then neither pure coincidence nor primitivist exoticization that placed ritual at the center of the development of anthropological thought: it was instead ritual’s rich potential insights as an object of sociocultural analysis."

Cultural Anthropology,American Anthropological Association (http://www.culanth.org/curated_collections/4-ritual

Case Study: The Art of the Americas

Integral to the culture of many Native American tribes was ritual dance, which was meant to call upon guardian spirits. These dances incorporated elaborate dress and striking masks, which added to the spectacle of the ritual. ​
The Hamatsa society utilized Hamatsa masks within their particular dance, which re-enacted the taming of Hamatsa, a cannibal spirit, and his attendant spirits, within the ceremony of initiation of new members to the society. Using masks like this heightened the drama and vibrancy of Native American rituals, which reflect the concepts of their culture and beliefs. ​
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Attributed to Willie Seaweed, Kwakwaka’waka Bird Mask, Alert Bay, Vancouver Island, Canada. Prior to 1951. Cedar wood, cedar bark, feathers, and fiber, 10” x 72” x 15”. Collection of the Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver, Canada.
Costume art can be hard to curate effectively, because the museum setting can lend little to portray the “vivacity” these pieces would have in performance. To showcase pieces like these, curators could dress mannequins in the traditional manner in an attempt to translate the context of these pieces.
In other cases, ritualistic art is not meant to be portrayed to the public, much less in museums. This applies to the sand painting tradition of the Navajo tribe, as sand painting was made in association with the chants of shaman-singers in healing and blessing ceremonies. Shamanism was an essential channel for ancient cultures to communicate with their deities, and remains an important aspect of ritualistic art. The sand paintings are meant to prompt the restoration of harmony to the world during these ceremonies, but were also meant to be destroyed by nightfall of the day on which they were made.
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Hosteen Klah, Whirling Log Ceremony, sand painting; tapestry by Mrs. Sam Manuelito. Navajo, c. 1925. Wool, 5’5” x 5’10”. Heard Museum, Phoenix Arizona.
Sometimes, curating ritualistic art would require a curator to provide modern interpretations of a ritualistic tradition or otherwise exhibit an innovative twist on the medium of the ritualistic art in order to create permanence. Either way, blurbs of explanation could accompany these pieces to establish the historical significance and proceedings of the ritual. In the realm of sand painting, for example, Hosteen Klah, a more contemporary artist, began to incorporate sand painting into weaving, who used his new medium to expound on other ritualistic tradition and ceremonies of the Navajo culture. ​

Ultimately, curation needs to contextualize the artworks within a time period and culture, and that's sometimes difficult in our contemporary society, where people are coming more and more detached from things that they might not understand or identify with. Cecily Cullen, a modern curator, attempts to put Native American culture and indigenous identity in a new light in her exhibition "Cross Currents." The artists that she exhibits use their art to ritualize their own expression and highlight how their culture is and should be portrayed, often incorporating ritualistic art. 

Contemporary Interpretation

"I’m contemporary, I’m Native American and I’m an artist."

Case Study: The Art of Africa

Sometimes, photography is the most effective way to contextualize ritualistic art, and this was especially emphasized in the Africa chapter. Photography can show the spectacle of the performance and the active purpose of a ritualistic piece. Portraying ritualistic art in this way can also reveal the repercussions of traditional ritual in modern day, as these ceremonies and practices have carried on to the age of cameras. ​
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Five Masks in Performance Dossi, Burkina Faso. Bra Culture, 1984. Wood, mineral pigments, and fiber, heigh approx 7’.
A small number of traditional rituals and ceremonies remain in the contemporary societies of Africa, particularly marriage ceremonies. Marriage rituals are especially complex and conventional, as they are age-old practices, and also involve the whole community and many families. Scroll through National Geographic's Photo Gallery of African Marriage Rituals by Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher to get a glimpse of some beautifully ornate artwork and understand the context behind the photos. Often times, photography, as in this case, can also give a face to these rituals and capture the humanity within these rituals. 
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Afar Daughter, Djibouti

The Art of Curation

​curate (etymology: from the Latin word, curare meaning "to take care")
     ... (n.) any ecclesiastic entrusted with the cure of souls,as a parish priest.
     ... (v.) to take charge of (a museum) or organize (an art exhibit)
     ... (v.) to pull together, sift through, and select for presentation

Four Steps of Effective Curation:
  1. Preservation, protecting the heritage of art
  2. Selection of new art
  3. Connection to art history
  4. Displaying and organizing the work

Albert Barnes: the Barnes Foundation

Albert Barnes, who originally made his fortune off of a breakthrough pharmaceutical, serves as a model example of a connoisseur of curation. For Barnes, curation facilitated “the advancement of education and the appreciation of the fine arts,” so in turn, he devoted most of his personal wealth and livelihood to the development of the Barnes Foundation, which houses a vast collection of artworks from artists and cultures that span the globe. Barnes curated his works to emphasize patterns of color, light, line, and space within individual artworks and throughout ensembles. This provided a different lens through which to view the art, in all its cohesion and deviation. Barnes projected his own interpretations on his curation.
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The Alliance of American Museums reports that there are approx. 850 million visits to American museums on a yearly basis.
​Modern museums and exhibitions have become ritualistic in their own rights. 

According to Barnes, art could make you a better citizen. In my interpretation, this is because you are encountering and pondering different perspectives, which can often be portrayed through ritualistic art. But, ultimately, art represents humanity, no matter what or how you might practice.
“It’s the curator’s job to bridge the gap between the material they’re presenting and the people they’re presenting it to. Some things are more self evident than others, and it’s the job of the curator to provide as much or as little interpretation as the material needs."
This video essentially asks “What is a Curator?” and answers with a variety of interpretations. Most importantly, however, the video reveals the true purpose of curation and the obligations of curators in presenting and coordinating exhibitions. The video especially emphasizes the relationship between the artist and the viewers, and how it is up to the curator to translate the significance of the work and engage the viewers. ​

Bibliography

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Evelyn Saunders

6/2/2016

9 Comments

 
What is the relationship between art and society?
Looking 
Across Cultures and Time

Inspiration

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Does art imitate life – or is it the other way around?
 
​    "Traditionally, we have believed that art imitates life. The painter represents what he or she sees by producing a scene on a canvas. The sculptor does the same with bronze or stone. A photographer or film maker does it even more directly. A writer describes life in his or her books. This simple concept is known as mimesis.
 
    But some have questioned the one-way nature of mimesis by arguing that art also changes the way we view the world, and in fact, life sometimes imitates art rather than the other way around. The person who first articulated this belief effectively was Oscar Wilde. Speaking about the foggy conditions in London in the late 19th century, he wrote that the way we perceive them changed because of art. Referring to the “wonderful brown fogs that come creeping down our streets, blurring the gas lamps and turning houses into shadows” he argued that “poets and painters have taught [people] the loveliness of such effects”. According to Wilde, ‘They did not exist till Art had invented them.’" 
- excerpted from Theory of Knowledge.net

Initial Ideas

    What came first the chicken or the egg? – This is a cliche question for the ages, but the principle applies in a surprising number of situations.

   In this excerpt from an article found on Theory of Knowledge.net the author, Michael Dunn, explores the same question in the a special context – “does art imitates life – or is it the other way around?” What came first? What spawns what? Where is the inspiration coming from?

    The article then proceeds to set up a compelling argument for how various works of art in different historical settings have changed the way people think. Interestingly, Dunn focuses almost entirely on the idea of arts intellectual influence on man, which does provide a stronger argument for his extend theory - that art is the point of origin and that society learns from these works, but he focuses on a rather traditional, western list of citations for support.
     
​   In the realm of art history we can refocus author Michael Dunn's statement on generalized society to look at specific cultures - specific, nonwestern cultures to maintain an awareness that is sensitive and helps to complete the picture our studies have begun to create.

An Exploration of Cultures - 
​Through Images

     This is a selection of works that bridge cultures and times. Please explore and discover any personal connections you see or patterns you notice.
Bowl From Banpo, near Xi'an, Shaanxi. Neolithic Period, 5000-4000 BCE Painted Pottery 17.8cm Banpo Museum
Dancers in Ceremonial Attire 5000-2000 BCE Section of rock wall painting Tassili-n-Ajjer, Algeria
Deep Vessel with Handles Middle Jomon period ca. 3500–2500 B.C. Earthenware with cord-marked and incised decoration H. 13 in. (33 cm)
Fragments of Large Lapita Jar From Venumbo Reef Solomon Islands 1200 - 1100 BCE Clay
Stirrup-Spouted Vessel in the Form of a Llama (500 B.C. – A.D. 100)Peruvian, Chavin styleTerracotta with polychrome slips 9.5 x 8.5 x 4.5 in.24.13 x 21.59 x 11.43 cm.
A Reception at the Palace detail from a rubbing of a stone relief in Wu family shrine Jiaxiang, Shandong. Han dynasty, 151 CE 70 x 169 cm
Vishnu Lying on the Cosmic Waters Reliefe Panel in the Vishnu Temple, Deogarh 530 CE Sandstone height 1.5 meters
Miniature Mosaic Mask 600-900 Maya, Mexico or Guatemala Jade 2 x 1.5 x .75 in.5.08 x 3.81 x 1.91 cm.
Womb World Mandala Japanese, Heian Period, late 9th century. Hanging scroll with colors on silk 6' X 5' 1/2"
Seated Willow Branch Gwanse'eum Bosal Korea. Late 14th Century. Hanging Scroll with ink colors and gold pigment on silk height 159.6 cm Sackler Museum
Commemorative Portrait Head 16th - 18th century Akan culture Ghana terracotta with traces of polychrome 12 x 8 x 5½ in 30.48 x 20.32 x 13.97 cm
Jahangir and Prince Khurram Feasted By Nur Jahan 1617 Paint and gold on paper. 25.2 X 14.3 cm Freer Gallery of Art
The Great Wave, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji Katsushika Hokusai Edo period, ca. 1830–32 Polychrome woodblock print; ink and color on paper 25.7 x 37.9 cm
Poupou Panel From The Te-Hau-ki-Turanga 1842-1843 Wood and red pigment height 140 cm
Ngady Mwaash Mask DRC, Kuba People Late 19th - mid 20th century Wood, pigment, glass beads, cowrie shells, fabric, and thread height 31.8 cm
Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri Man's Love 1978 Synthetic polymer paint on canvas 2.15 X 2.57 m
Wu Guanzhong Pine Spirit 1984 Ink and color on paper 0.7 X 1.61 meters
Fukami Sueharu Sky II 1990 Celadon-glazed porcelain with wood base 7.7 X 112.1 X 24.2 cm
“The Red Mean: Self-portrait, 1992” acrylic and mixed-media on canvas Jaune Quick-to-See Smith
Maqbool Fida Husain From the Theorama Series: Vedic 1994 Limited Edition Color Print 60 X 92 cm
Julie Mehretu Dispersion 2002 Ink and acrylic on canvas 90" X 144"

The Flow of Art 

      Above, are a series of images that are meant to to represent cultures and eras in an iconic way. They have been arranged chronologically to further aide the idea of a direct progression and flow throughout time across cultures.
​
Your Perspective Goes Here....


Early East Asian pottery begins the exploration of culture in the
        Central Asian culture hearth. People make art out of necessity. Pottery is the
                beginning. 

                     People and their culture move from this hearth to Japan.             
     Pottery is made of coils of clay that is distinctive -                             
beautiful, functional work.
                     The spread of people across the                                     
              globe pushes on, and we have                                 
​                          the peopling of the Americas. And                             
                                              where people go culture and pottery go.                     
​                           Here, the clay has begun to take specialized forms as the pottery
                                   takes on zoomorpic forms that speak to their cultural
                                            
​                                                                 ....

​

      Art is not a simple subject to synthesize, so please share your thoughts and any connections you might have found while exploring the photos and this will be updated accordingly.

     Human art production begins in a very humble singular node, just like people, and from which point it branches out and explodes across the earth. In the above collection, I have worked to create some themes and have discovered other things while I was working, so I became far more interested in the developing a modulating form that is organic and interactive.

    Your Perspective On Art Flow

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Closing Thoughts

    An idea is one of the most infectious and potent things to invade a human being and, according to the Theory of Knowledge article, art is playing a major role in the infection. Seeping into our minds and tinging our very beings with its effects.

     Art is powerful.

​     It is a gripping form of communication and expression for mankind, and that expression has shaped the world around us. Art has formed our impressions of things and made up our minds on things.

​
    In some respects, this can be really quite unsettling. Commercial empires master subliminal messages and have a hand in the finances of almost everything, plastering us in ad after ad (see video bellow for an extension of this idea).

     However, art’s “effect” on humankind is perhaps better seen as a relationship in which man makes art and art makes a man - they undeniably influence each other, but it is a mutual relationship. From this point of view, it is possible to see art as a more intrinsic human quality. Something about it completes us. The work finishes us, and so we are never done working. 

Video

Art, Visual Culture, and Media Education:
Promises, Problems, and Possibilities

This video provides a very interesting conversation that helps link art with modern issues as it explores this in connection to media and media education. The speaker does a great job of describing and discussing the images he chooses to include, but since they can not be seen in the shot please consider his discussion of ideas in the context of our the images studied this year and along with the videos above.

​BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dunn, Michael. "What Is the Relationship between Art and Society." Theoryofknowledgenet. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 April 2016. <http://www.theoryofknowledge.net/areas-of-knowledge/the-arts/what-is-the-relationship-between-art-and-society/>.

Stokstad, Marilyn, and Michael Cothren. Art History. Fifth ed. Harlow: Prentice Hall, 2010. Print.
​

​Collections. VMFA, n.d. Web. 20 April 2015. <http://vmfa.museum/collections/art/>.

"Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History." MET, n.d. Web. 19 May. <http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works/>.
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