ARH3703 Visual Culture II 2021-2023 Study Guide PDF
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2021
University of South Africa
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This is a study guide for ARH3703, Visual Culture II, offered by the University of South Africa in 2021. The guide covers visual spaces, landscape ideology, and myth-making in South African popular culture. It includes learning outcomes, assessment strategies, and suggested activities for students to use within the context of the module.
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© 2020 University of South Africa All rights reserved Printed and published by the University of South Africa Muckleneuk, Pretoria ARH3703/1/2021–2023 70731667 InDesign Florida HSY_Style CONTENTS Page INTRO...
© 2020 University of South Africa All rights reserved Printed and published by the University of South Africa Muckleneuk, Pretoria ARH3703/1/2021–2023 70731667 InDesign Florida HSY_Style CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTIONv Learning unit 1: Visual spaces1 1.1 Introduction1 1.2 Introduction to the discourse of space and place 1 1.2.1 Background5 1.2.2 Defining space and place 9 1.2.3 Space14 1.2.4 Place16 1.2.5 Ideology16 1.3 Major theorists and theoretical approaches 17 1.3.1 Henri Lefebvre 17 1.3.2 Michel Foucault 18 1.3.3 Doreen Massey 20 1.3.4 Feminist geography 21 1.3.5 Griselda Pollock 21 1.4 Varieties of spaces 22 1.4.1 Gendered spaces 23 1.4.2 Public and private spaces 24 1.4.3 Liminal spaces 24 1.5 Conclusion 29 Learning unit 2: The landscape in art and visual culture30 2.1 Introduction30 2.2 Brief historical background 31 2.2.1 Landscape as genre 31 2.2.2 Nicolas Poussin and the influence of Classicism 31 2.2.3 Picturesque landscapes 32 2.2.4 The ‘wilderness’ and the sublime 35 2.2.5 The scientific turn in landscape representation 38 2.3 Imperial landscape 40 2.3.1 Land and ‘landscape’ 40 2.3.2 The Imperial vision 41 2.4 Landscape and ecocriticism 43 2.4.1 Positions44 2.4.2 Art and environmental activism 45 2.4.3 Environmental and social justice 46 2.5 Landscape phenomenology 46 2.6 ‘Landscaping’ and the queer landscape 48 2.7 Visualising the South African landscape 49 2.8 Conclusion51 ARH3703/1/2021–2023(iii) CONTENTS Learning unit 3: Mythmaking in popular culture52 3.1 Introduction52 3.2 Introduction to myths and mythmaking 52 3.2.1 What is myth? 54 3.2.2 Examples of myths 56 3.2.3 Socio-economic influences of myths 76 3.3 Explaining myth as sacred narratives or classic myths 81 3.3.1 Classic myths in art 82 3.3.2 Examples82 3.4 Conclusion88 Bibliography 89 (iv) 1 INTRODUCTION Welcome to ARH3703, Visual Culture II. In this module we aim to elaborate on the basic ideas relating to visual culture presented to you in ARH2603. To do this, we will introduce you to the concept of visual and virtual spaces within the South African context and the ideology of space and landscape. We will also give you an analysis of myth-making in South African popular culture. As in the other modules for Art History studies, we have tried to present you with as wide a variety of contexts as possible to study. This module has been divided into three learning units, namely: Space and place Ideology of the landscape Myth-making in South African popular culture THE PURPOSE OF THE MODULE The purpose of this module is to: explain the concept of visual and virtual spaces explore the ideology of the landscape analyse myth-making in South African popular culture It is important to keep the purpose of this module in mind as you work through this study guide. In order to achieve the broad purpose of the module, you need to achieve a number of learning outcomes. LEARNING OUTCOMES FOR THIS MODULE The learning outcomes for this module form the basis of your formative and summative assessments. It is important to work through the learning outcomes very carefully and ensure that you pay special attention to the assignment questions and in turn, your answers to the assignments and (especially) the questions we set in the examination. Essentially, your success in this module depends on the extent to which you are able to demonstrate your understanding of the material we present to you in order to achieve these outcomes. After you have worked through this module you should be able to: Demonstrate an understanding of what space and place entail in the field of visual culture Identify and explain the ideology of landscape in art history and visual art Analyse and reflect on myth-making in South African popular culture How will you achieve these outcomes? You need to work through the various learning units of this study guide, each of which has its own learning outcomes. The selected graphic elements give you an idea of the type of images that the learning unit deals ARH3703/1(v) INTRODUCTION with. In addition, you will need to find further examples to broaden your familiarity with visual culture and popular culture. Once you have done this, you should be able to demonstrate your understanding of the identified problems. Keep in mind, however, that the learning units in this study guide are intended to be introductory. There is necessarily some overlapping, so do not consider each of them in isolation. The learning units provide the basis for your own research when answering assignment or exam questions, as you will find it necessary to follow up on particular issues on your own. Please read as widely as possible. Also, please remember that your personal taste or cultural background should not deter you from interpreting and evaluating works that have arisen from conditions which you may be learning about for the first time. THE LEARNING PROCESS The learning process for this module requires you to take an active part in your studies. It is not enough simply to read through the study material and the suggested reading and to leave it at that. The learning process covers the following aspects, which will be dealt with briefly under separate headings in this introduction to the module, namely our expectations of you in this module, and our relationship the assessment strategy activities (both their purpose and feedback on them) – study activities – reflective activities – further reading – learning journal OUR EXPECTATIONS OF YOU IN THIS MODULE, AND OUR RELATIONSHIP We expect you to take your studies seriously, to follow the guidance given and, above all, to take an active part in your studies, rather than a passive one that involves no more than reading the study guide. You have invested time and money in registering for this module, and we have put a great deal of time and energy into developing the module and this study guide (with all its limitations). Keep the learning outcomes constantly in mind and direct your efforts towards meeting them. Do not think that by paying no attention to your studies during the semester, and then making a massive effort in the weeks just before the exams, you can do justice to the module. Please make frequent and effective use of all the resources at your disposal, and do not rely purely on the study guide. Among the most important of these resources are those provided by the library, namely the study collection and books on the open shelves. In addition, you need to make use of online resources as explained in this study guide and Tutorial Letter 101. We undertake to provide you with personal feedback on your assignments and to encourage you in every way we can. Please feel free to contact us about aspects of your academic work in this module. You will find our contact information in Tutorial Letter 101. (vi) Introduction ASSESSMENT STRATEGY In assessing the work you submit for marking during the course of the semester, as well as your examination script, we will be looking for evidence that you meet the outcomes for this module. Quite simply, this means that you should not concentrate on memorising information, but rather on understanding it. This includes being able to apply your understanding of visual culture gained from your own active study in order to discuss questions that give you the opportunity to show whether you meet the outcomes. There is, in other words, no ‘‘syllabus to learn’’. That is why it is important that you should bear the outcomes for the module that we listed earlier constantly in mind. ACTIVITIES Because your learning strategy needs to be active, there are a number of things you need to do: Read the study material, specifically the recommended study material Look at artworks and visual texts Work through the self-assessment activities Submit all assignments on time (refer to Tutorial Letter 101) Read through the personalised feedback on your assignments Study activities In addition to submitting assignments, which are a formal way of organising your thoughts, you will also need to do various self-assessment activities, which you do for yourself and which you therefore do not submit for formal assessment. Some of the activities are structured in such a way that you have the opportunity to interact with fellow students on myUnisa through discussions and blog activities. These activities take the form of questions in the study guide on the work covered. The purpose of these self-assessment activities is to assess your own progress in the module and your progress towards meeting the learning outcomes. Reflective activities Reflecting on your progress is another of the self-assessment activities we will ask you to do. These reflective activities give you the chance to think about the work in a particular section of a learning unit, or about the learning unit as a whole, and perhaps how you might improve your study strategy. The activities include reflection on the experiences you have had in considering the artworks under discussion. Further reading Tutorial Letter 101 lists some further reading, which you should make every effort to obtain during the semester. The activities in each learning unit as well as the bibliography include sources that you may want to consult. These sources are usually of a specialised nature, and they are relevant to particular aspects of the field of study. The tutorial letter explains which readings are compulsory and which you can consult to further your knowledge on the subject. ARH3703/1(vii) INTRODUCTION Learning journal By now you should be used to the idea of using a learning journal (perhaps in the form of a loose-leaf file), in which you record your responses to the self-assessment and reflective activities, and the looking and other learning activities. If not, there’s no good reason why you shouldn’t start using one now. You may want to come back to your responses later in the semester, and possibly even revise them in the light of what you learn as you work through the rest of the study guide. Even if this is the first time you have used a learning journal and you are sceptical about the idea, bear in mind that the overriding purpose of a journal of this kind is for you to actively engage in your studies and to internalise what you learn. Merely reading through the study guide (or other study material) passively is much less effective than active participation in the learning process. A LAST WORD BEFORE WE START We hope you will benefit from exploring some of the more challenging aspects of studying visual culture, and that in the process you will be enriched and will gain an understanding of its importance. Remember: read widely, look deeply, and reflect intensively on your work. And, above all, enjoy your studies! (viii) 1 LEARNING UNIT 1 1 Visual spaces Estelle McDowall 1.1 INTRODUCTION In this learning unit the focus is on explaining the notion of space and place, and how this is relevant to the field of visual culture. You will have an introduction to the basic terms that are relevant to this field of study, as well as the main theorists in this field. You will also see how spaces can be gendered, are explained, and be introduced to the concept of liminal spaces. LEARNING OUTCOMES After working through this learning unit, you should be able to: Demonstrate your understanding of and insight into social meanings of space Discuss the key themes relating to space and place, and provide your own examples Critically consider the idea that there are different types of spaces, which are infused with meaning KEY CONCEPTS Visual culture Space Place Ideology Gender Liminal Representation Social meanings Visual texts 1.2 INTRODUCTION TO THE DISCOURSE OF SPACE AND PLACE To start this learning unit, I would like to give you some background to the relevance of studying space, then explain various important terms and how they are linked with ideology. You are probably wondering how space and place are relevant to the study of visual vulture, within the broader context of art history. ARH3703/11 ACTIVITY 1.1: SELF-ASSESSMENT I want you to think about the following spaces: a nursery school your home a shopping mall a hospital a construction site or a mine (1) Write a short paragraph about how the various spaces are laid out and what is typical about them. Then, note whom you associate with each space and their respective roles. (2) Now consider the socio-economic situations of the people you associate with each space. Log on to myUnisa and go to the discussion forum, and post your findings. Compare your findings with what other students have to say. Through this activity, I want you to realise that spaces are ideologically informed, and that these ideologies have real-life implications for people in terms of their gender, race, and social status. Space forms part of our everyday being, even though we may not consciously think about what it means in our lives. We tend to see space as a passive backdrop to our daily lives. You could be at home, and wondering whether there is enough room for another person and their furniture, or sitting in a taxi feeling that there is not enough space for more passengers. Alternatively, you could ask yourself whether there is enough space on your external drive to download the latest film. However, space as an abstract, changing concept is seldom part of our thinking. Think back to when you started primary school, and try to remember your first day of Grade 1. Everything seemed big, from the classroom to the playground. If you were to return to your primary school now that you are an adult, you would probably be struck by how small everything is. By means of this example, I am trying to show you that space is both a physical construct and an abstract concept. Look at the following images of Soweto1: FIGURE 1.1 The FNB stadium, also known as Soccer City and the Calabash, in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa (Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:Soccer_City_Stadium_Exterior.jpg). 1 These images are not representative of the complexity of Soweto and its inhabitants. 2 FIGURE 1.2 Informal housing, Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa (Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Soweto_township.jpg). FIGURE 1.3 Soweto Pride parade, 2012. (Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:Soweto_Pride_2012_(8036294929).jpg). As you can see from the images above, spaces are used and experienced differently by different people. All the images are from Soweto. If you live in Soweto, you will probably be quite familiar with the different spaces represented here. You will have very specific and personal experiences that you associate with these spaces. Think of the Soccer World Cup in 2010, when soccer fans from all over the world as well as from all walks of life in South Africa came to visit and experience life in Soweto. A lot of people thought of Soweto in terms of the images they saw of it ARH3703/1 3 during apartheid,2 and so they had a preconceived idea of Soweto. I would like to share my own experience with you. I went to Soweto in 1996 as part of a group of predominantly white art students who were going to paint murals at the magistrate’s court. The moment we entered, police stopped us and asked where we were going. They escorted us to the court and then back out again. They made sure that we got the message that Soweto was a dangerous place for white people. Many years later, I went to a concert held at Soccer City, and the atmosphere was completely different. There was no police presence, and people of all races mixed and generally had a good time together. I place Nelson Mandela’s house in a similar context – it has been turned into a museum in Soweto, which has opened up tourism opportunities for people living nearby. You can watch two YouTube videos showing visuals of Vilakazi Street, where Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu used to live, and Soweto in general, by clicking on these hyperlinks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2D1UpCkfX0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-yTMYQ_8AM&feature=youtu.be ACTIVITY 1.2: SELF-ASSESSMENT Read the history of the Soweto uprisings of 1976. You will find a comprehensive account of the events of that time by clicking on the hyperlink below. https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/june-16-soweto-youth-uprising Find images of the Soweto uprisings online or in the book The rise and fall of apartheid: photography and the bureaucracy of everyday life (2013), edited by Rory Bester and Okwui Enwezor. Now compare the images you found with the two below: FIGURE 1.4 Site where Hector Pieterson was shot, corner Vilakazi and Moema Streets, Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa (Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:Hector_Pieterson_shooting_site,_cnr_Vilakazi_%26_Moema_Streets,_ Soweto.jpg). 2 During apartheid, the state media disseminated the message that black townships were dangerous places for white people. The images that were broadcast during these times affirmed this idea. The media played a significant role in discouraging white people from entering black townships. 4 LEARNING UNIT 1: Visual spaces FIGURE 1.5 The Hector Pieterson Memorial, Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa (Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hector_Pieterson_Memorial,_ Soweto.jpg). You can find more images here: https://www.tripadvisor.co.za/Attraction_Review-g312587-d469337-Reviews- Hector_Pieterson_Museum-Soweto_Johannesburg_Greater_Johannesburg_ Gauteng.html#photos;aggregationId=&albumid=&filter=7&ff=263900574 Compare the way in which the spaces have changed over time. Write two paragraphs in which you discuss your findings. 1.2.1 Background When we speak of place and space in our everyday life, we usually use these terms as synonyms for terms such as region, area, and landscape. However, we need to think of these concepts as socially constructed, and not as fixed, static, and objective. The interest in space as a social construct originates from cultural geography. Traditional geography is concerned with the study of spaces and places. In the 1980s, geographers started to consider the idea that the social is always spatial. From here the fields of cultural geography, human geography, and feminist cultural geography developed. Cultural geography is interested in how cultures make sense of space and the way that states, empires, nations, firms, corporations, houses, and shops create identities. Space is the embodiment of cultural, political and psychological phenomena. The ways in which space is conceptualised and experienced have an impact on individual lives and social relations. Therefore, space is not a neutral backdrop for human activities. ARH3703/15 Space is a social construction. We can ask the question, what are the meanings of constructed spaces? To explain this concept, I will take as an example the well-known landmark, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. Construction of the Eiffel Tower began in 1887 to was concluded in 1889, and the tower served as the entrance to the 1889 World Fair. It was named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company was responsible for the design and building of the tower. Situated on the Champ de Mars, and 324 meters tall, it is the tallest building in Paris. It is a popular tourist destination, with between 6 and 7 million people visiting the structure each year. It is estimated that in all, roughly 250 million people have visited the Eiffel Tower. FIGURE 1.6 The Eiffel Tower, Paris, France. Initially, the construction of the tower drew criticism, and it was claimed that the tower would be ugly, and would destroy the natural beauty of the city. After the success of the World Fair, feelings towards the tower changed, and by the time of the First World War it had become a symbol of patriotism, representing strength and defiance against the Germans. With its patriotic associations, the tower has continued to fulfil a symbolic role to the present day, serving as a demonstration of solidarity in times of crisis, as can be seen in Figure 1.7. Over time, the tower has come to symbolise the city of Paris, and has come to be associated with love and romance (Figure 1.8). There is nothing in its design or placement that has a logical reference to love and romance, yet, over time and through the influence of the popular media, that is what it has come to be associated with, and the tower is actively marketed as the perfect spot to declare your undying love for your partner. All this shows how the social meanings of the space have changed over time, and through its association with certain ideas. A number of these associations are reinforced by popular culture, such as television, film, and advertisements – fashion and perfume advertisements in particular. 6 LEARNING UNIT 1: Visual spaces FIGURE 1.7 The Eiffel Tower lit up with the colours of the French national flag (blue, white and red) to honour the victims of terrorist attacks in Paris in 2015 (Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Eiffel_Tower_lit_up_in_ French_colours_after_the_November_2015_Paris_attacks.jpg). FIGURE 1.8 The Eiffel Tower as a backdrop for romantic gestures. ACTIVITY 1.3: SELF-ASSESSMENT Think of similar landmarks in your country. Make a list of these and describe how their meanings have changed over time. As you are watching films or television ARH3703/17 programmes, look out for examples of an iconic space being used to symbolise the city or country where it was filmed. Share your findings on the discussion forum. It follows that power and meaning are ‘written’ on the landscape. Particular sites acquire meanings through their use by both cultures and subcultures – think of gay communities, motor bike enthusiasts, skhothane, and train surfers, for example. ACTIVITY 1.4: SELF-ASSESSMENT Read the following article: Sonnekus, T. 2007. The queering of space: investigating spatial manifesta- tions of homosexuality in De Waterkant, Cape Town. de arte 42(75):42–57. DOI: 10.1080/00043389.2007.11877069 Note the major themes in the article, as they are particularly relevant to the study of the meanings of space. The significance of the sculpture, Release (2012) by Marco Cianfanelli (Figure 19) is tied to its location. The sculpture is not close to any main urban centres, and one may wonder why such a big public artwork has been erected in such an unassuming spot – it is situated in the rural outskirts of the small town of Howick in the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa. However, the location of the sculpture is in fact very important – it was installed close to the exact location where Nelson Mandela was arrested on 5 August 1962. To view a slideshow of the artwork, click on the hyperlink: https://www.marcocianfanelli.com/release. Here you can see the artwork from different angles, as well as how it is placed within the environment. This example illustrates both that the location of an artwork is important in terms of the meaning that it is intended to convey, and also that the artwork itself changes the meaning of the place as it relates to the historical event(s) that took place there. FIGURE 1.9 Marco Cianfanelli: Release (2012). Metal sculpture of Nelson Mandela at the site of his arrest in 1962 by the apartheid government near Howick in Kwazulu- Natal, South Africa (Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Nelson_Mandela_Capture_Site_(16084095296).jpg). 8 LEARNING UNIT 1: Visual spaces ACTIVITY 1.5: READING Read the following article: Schmahmann, B. 2018. An arresting portrayal: Marco Cianfanelli’s Release at the Nelson Mandela capture site. African Arts 51(4):56–69. https://doi.org/10.1162/ afar_a_00433 This article will give more information on the meaning of this sculpture and how it was conceptualised. As you read the article, make notes about the significant themes relating to the importance of the specific site of the sculpture, as well as the meaning of the site. ACTIVITY 1.6: SELF-ASSESSMENT Watch the video District Six and CPUT: a carto-story by Siddique Motala. [A (his) story of District Six, told through the lens of GIS. The result of research under- taken by students and staff at CPUT.] The video can be accessed by clicking on the hyperlink below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEzydbcVWV4 (1) Reflect on how meaning is produced with reference to District Six, and how it has changed from the 1960s to the present. Consider how the mapping (cartography) of the area can highlight changing social meanings of the space. (2) Identify a place with historical significance close to where you live. This could be a place from which people were forcible removed, or where an important event took place. Now apply what you learnt through the video and the previous point to the place you identified.. (3) Write 250 words in which you discuss your findings. 1.2.2 Defining space and place It is clear that there is no single definition of the concepts of space and place. However, what you have to remember is that their meanings are socially constructed. The next few activities have been designed to help you explore the complexities inherent in these concepts. ACTIVITY 1.7: SELF-ASSESSMENT In this learning unit, you are introduced to the concepts of space and place. Write a short definition of the concepts of space, place and environment. In your answer, include your thoughts on how these concepts differ from one another, and give examples of each as you have experienced them in your immediate lived environment. ARH3703/19 Now you have written down your own definitions, let us look at the dictionary definitions: ACTIVITY 1.8: SELF-ASSESSMENT The definitions below all come from the Oxford English Dictionary. Space noun A continuous area or expanse which is free, available, or unoccupied. The dimensions of height, depth, and width within which all things exist and move. An interval of time (often used to suggest that the time is short considering what has happened or been achieved in it). The portion of a text or document available or needed to write about a subject. The freedom to live, think, and develop in a way that suits one. verb Position (two or more items) at a distance from one another. Place noun A particular position, point, or area in space; a location. A portion of space designated or available for or being used by someone. A position in a sequence or series, typically one ordered on the basis of merit. verb Put in a particular position. Find a home or employment for. Identify or classify as being of a specified type or as holding a specified position in a sequence or hierarchy. Environment noun The surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives or operates. The natural world, as a whole or in a particular geographical area, especially as affected by human activity. Compare your own definitions, which you formulated in Activity 1.7, with the dic- tionary definitions given above. As you can see, the terms overlap to a degree, and it is easy to get confused. The following activity presents important readings from the discourse of space and place as defined in social studies and cultural geography. 10 LEARNING UNIT 1: Visual spaces ACTIVITY 1.9: SELF-ASSESSMENT Read the following texts: Agnew, J. 2011. Space and place, in The Sage handbook of geographical knowl- edge. London: Sage:316–330. Available at: https://sk.sagepub.com/reference/ hdbk_geoknowledge/n24.xml (Accessed 4 December 2019). Cavallaro, D. 2001. Space, in Critical and cultural theory. Thematic variations. London: Athlone:167–180. Women and Geography Study Group. 1997. Introduction (1.2 What is feminism? What is feminist geography?), in Feminist geographies: explorations in diversity and difference. Harlow: Longman:4–11. Write a short paragraph in which you compare the definitions that you formulated in Activity 1.7 and the dictionary definitions in Activity 1.8 with the way that the concepts are explained in the above sources. In the text, The practice of everyday life (1984), Michel De Certeau distinguishes space from place. He explains that “a place is the order (of whatever kind) in accord with which elements are distributed in relationships of coexistence”; a place is thus “an instantaneous configuration of positions. It implies an indication of stability” (De Certeau 1984:117). For example, the main campus of the University of South Africa (Unisa) is a place. It is located in Pretoria, South Africa. When I speak of Unisa, this is probably the image (Figure 110) that comes to mind to most people who are familiar with the institution. FIGURE 1.10 View of the University of South Africa (Unisa) main campus, Pretoria, South Africa (Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:UNISA_ Main_Campus.jpg). The university consists of a number of buildings, the most familiar being the buildings on the main campus (the Muckleneuk campus in Pretoria). The university consists of a number of colleges, schools and departments, and offers a wide range of academic ARH3703/111 programmes. It employs both support staff and academics. All these components operate together to provide tertiary-level education to enrolled students. Now let us think about space, which De Certeau (1984:117) describes as being “composed of intersections of mobile elements.” In addition to being a place, Unisa is also a space. For the purposes of our discussion I am going to refer to the Sunnyside campus, since this is where the Department of Art and Music is located. So here, the space is defined by the students queueing to register, or studying at the tables in Oak square, lecturers presenting workshops in building 12C, and so on. The university is designed as a place for education, and while this is indeed what occurs in the space of the campus, it is not the only thing that occurs there. In this sense, “space is a practised place” (De Certeau 1984:117). De Certeau explains space and place by analysing people walking on the street. Pedestrians transform the street from a place that is “geometrically defined by urban planning” into a space (De Certeau 1984:117). However, while the street is a place with clear material aspects (the tarred portion, pavements, lampposts, street names and so on) that affect the kinds of activities that it is designed for, the material aspects do not determine what will take place on it. The way that the pedestrians use the space is voluntary, and not defined by the street itself. Let us return to our discussion of the Unisa Sunnyside campus. This campus as a place has a specific location (the corner of Steve Biko and Justice Mahomed streets), and consists of several buildings: the Registration Building; Buildings 12A, B, and C; Building 13 (where the study centres and the library are located), and others. To see why we are able to describe the Sunnyside campus as a space, look at the images below. All of them are of the place, but they show different things happening, and this is what defines the campus as a space. FIGURE 1.11 Entrance to the Unisa registration building. Photograph by Estelle McDowall. 12 LEARNING UNIT 1: Visual spaces FIGURE 1.12 Justice Mahomed entrance to the Unisa Sunnyside campus. Photograph by Estelle McDowall. FIGURE 1.13 Access road behind the multimedia lab, Unisa, Sunnyside campus. Photograph by Estelle McDowall. FIGURE 1.14 At the back of Buildings 12B and 12C, Unisa Sunnyside campus. Photograph by Estelle McDowall. As you can see, there are different elements to the place that we call the Sunnyside campus. You probably have some personal experiences of being in the different spaces – perhaps you attended a lecture in Building 12C, or a studio practice workshop in Building 12B, or you have stood in a queue at the registration hall. All these experiences are what makes Unisa Sunnyside campus a space. You can find more images of the campus on myUnisa, under Additional Resources. Below I have included an image of the Unisa Art Gallery in the Kgorong Building on the Unisa main campus. You can find more images at the Unisa Art Gallery’s Facebook page, which you can access by clicking on this hyperlink: https://www. facebook.com/groups/222848047188 ARH3703/113 FIGURE 1.15 Exhibition at the Unisa Art Gallery. Photograph by Estelle McDowall. ACTIVITY 1.10: SELF-REFLECTION Think about the Unisa Art Gallery and how it becomes a space through the differ- ent exhibitions that are hosted there. If you have not been to the Unisa Space art gallery, visit the gallery’s Facebook page and try to get an idea of what it looks like and the type of exhibitions it hosts. You can access it by clicking on this hyperlink: https://m.facebook.com/pages/Unisa-Art-Gallery/133416910104660 You can also access the gallery’s Twitter account (@UNISAartgallery) here: https://twitter.com/unisaartgallery?lang=en Write a short paragraph in which you record your experiences of the gallery – these could be your experiences as a visitor, or as an artist whose work is on exhibition. Also comment on the way that the gallery exists as a virtual space. Within the differentiation between space and place, we also have to think about the relationship between space, power, and social relations. Edward Soja (in Postmodern geographies: the reassertion of space in critical social theory) states that “the organization, and meaning of space is a product of social translations, transformations, and experience” (Soja 1989:80). He uses the term “spatiality” to explain the dynamic nature of space. For Soja, spatiality affects everyday life experiences. This means that we are affected by the spaces we live in, traverse, negotiate, and avoid. It is important to know how spaces are constructed, organised, and imbued with power. 1.2.3 Space When we speak of space in visual culture, we need to understand that space is a social construction. It is not just a neutral backdrop to our lives. It reflects social relations, power, surveillance, identity, capitalism, gender, entertainment, symbolic power and so on. Many spaces exist, and they are produced by diverse social, political, and cultural processes. Space is defined in terms of what time is not. Time is associated with the concepts of progress, civilization, science and reason, whereas space is aligned with stasis, reproduction, nostalgia, emotions and the body. However, the static nature of space and its subordination to time as the privileged signifier is questioned in 14 LEARNING UNIT 1: Visual spaces the contemporary era of capital accumulation, specifically commodification, and digitalisation (Harvey 1993:7). For Soja (1996:2, 3), the “spatiality of human life” has become an important facet as a “third existential dimension” in the traditional coupling of historicality and sociality. Space consists of the physical, the mental and the social, and for this reason social relations are fundamental in the production of space (Lefebvre 2002:133). The perception of space in contemporary times has changed from the modern view that space is quantifiable, indifferent and impersonal; for Heidegger (1971:165) “[p] lace is the locale of the truth of Being” (Bauman 1998:32). Space is not merely a neutral backdrop to our being, as it can never be omitted from any experience. Consequently, space is both an abstract concept and physical reality. The multiplicity of social relations across all spatial scales is seen as constructing what we know as “the spatial.” Power and symbolism permeate space, since space is theorised as being the result of social relations, and is furthermore a complex network of “relations of domination and subordination, of solidarity and co-operation” (Massey 1994:265). Place becomes space once it is used, and in that way given meaning by those inhabiting it. Space is therefore a social product to some degree, and the manner in which it is organised and experienced is fundamental to the individual existence (Cavallaro 2001:170). Even though the idea exists that there is a “universally shared image of the world,” space is experienced as a “hierarchy of images” (Bauman 1998:32). According to Massey (1994:265), the spatial is socially constituted; she states: “The spatial spread of social relations can be intimately local or expansively global, or anything in between. Their spatial extent and form also change over time... but, whatever way it is, there is no getting away from the fact that the social is inexorably also spatial.” Space is characterised by a growing divide, as there is the local, which relies on shared identity, and the interconnected global space (Bauman 2007:74). It seems that place is no longer the most important factor when examining space, specifically when considering concepts such as globalisation, the information economy and telematics (Sassen 2001:13). However, it cannot be ignored. Moreover, these complex interrelationships between the digital and the physical world result in a destabilisation of existing hierarchies of scale (Sassen 2001:15). That which is perceived as “local,” for instance, is rather a “microenvironment with global span” even though it can be represented as a topographic entity (Sassen 2001:15). Space is no longer confined to a geographic locality, as it becomes virtual; as William Mitchell (2000:3) states, “[t]raditional urban patterns cannot coexist with cyberspace.” ACTIVITY 1.11: SELF-ASSESSMENT In the paragraph above, I state that space can become virtual. Do you think that cyberspace falls within the definition of space? Or does it refer to a specific place? Think about the online learning platform, myUnisa. I consider it to be my lecture hall, where I communicate with my students. How do you perceive it? Do you think of it as a lecture hall? Is it a specific place? ARH3703/115 1.2.4 Place Space is filled with specific, concrete human places. Place is a site of personal encounters, physical presence, social rituals, human experience, memory, desire, identity, and emotional identification. Place is constructed through social relations of power. People define themselves in terms of a sense of place. When you meet a stranger, you will often ask them where they are from, and you will introduce yourself as being from a specific place, for example, the city, town or village in which you live. The place with which you associate yourself says something about who you are. Places provide an anchor of shared experiences between people and communities. A sense of place is part of what it is to be human. Place is part of human identity. ACTIVITY 1.12: SELF-ASSESSMENT Write a short essay in which you differentiate between the concepts of space and place. Substantiate your answer with local examples. 1.2.5 Ideology Ideology was discussed in detail in ARH2601 and ARH2603. Here are two short excerpts from those study guides, just to remind you of the meaning of ideology. An ideology can be defined as a dominant worldview consisting of the nor- mative ideals, beliefs and values held by a group. Put differently, an ideology can be regarded as a map by means of which we make sense of our political and social worlds. For example, the ideology of patriarchy, which upholds the authority of men, provides a map by which people come to understand and accept that men hold the rights to power and influence in politics, in the workplace and in the domestic context. (ARH2603 study guide). Ideology sometimes reveals itself in ways which are not visible to the unsus- pecting observer. Many people would deny that they are influenced by ideo- logical thinking, thus claiming some sort of objective view on certain matters. In truth, we are all influenced by ideological thinking, which informs every decision we make and every action we take. Humans are social creatures and therefore ideological beings. To claim that you are not influenced by ideology, is a fallacy. Take capitalism, for example: who can claim that they are not in- fluenced by advertising, mass consumption and fashion? We make countless decisions every day based on making money, buying things and consuming entertainment. (ARH2601 study guide). Ideology functions as a system of social domination, which works constantly to maintain power. It is a means we use to look at the world, and to understand our social environment. It functions to simplify reality through myths and stereotypes. It also gives an idea of how to behave, and what is acceptable and what is unacceptable. It influences us in terms of the ideals we strive towards, and what behaviour to avoid. 16 LEARNING UNIT 1: Visual spaces ACTIVITY 1.13: SELF-ASSESSMENT I want you to think back to March 2020, when South Africa was placed under lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19. Now think of the images that were dis- seminated by the media. On the one hand the media showed images of deserted city centres and transport hubs, and on the other images of people jostling in long lines at shopping centres. As the pandemic unfolded, the images that media houses broadcast changed constantly. Go online and find six images that in your opinion characterise the lockdown. Then write two paragraphs in which you explain the way in which ideology functions in these images. It is important to remember that spaces are infused with ideology, since ideology forms part of our everyday lives. When you are in a specific space, you know that there are certain rules that must be followed. For instance, if you get into a minibus taxi, you know you have to pay the driver, and that you have to make space for other passengers. Similarly, when you visit the Unisa library, there are rules. When you go to a shopping mall, different rules apply – in a shopping mall, everything is designed to encourage you to spend more money. There are also rules in your home. Your family might be patriarchal, with the men being considered to have more authority than the women, or your family might be matriarchal, with your grandmother being considered the head of the family. 1.3 MAJOR THEORISTS AND THEORETICAL APPROACHES There are many social theorists who have dealt with the concept of space as social construction. In this section we will consider the thinking of Henri Lefebvre, Michel Foucault, Doreen Massey, Gillian Rose and Griselda Pollock. ACTIVITY 1.14: FURTHER RESEARCH For an overview of theorists dealing with space, read: Hubbard, P & Kitchin, R (eds). 2011. Key thinkers on space and place. Los An- geles: SAGE. This book offers a comprehensive overview of all the important thinkers in the field. The book can be found in the Unisa library as well as in PDF online. 1.3.1 Henri Lefebvre Henri Lefebvre (1901–1991) was a Marxist philosopher and sociologist who was concerned with understanding the relationship between the production of space and the social relations of production. His book, The production of space, is a key work in the discourse of social space and how places are given meaning. He considers geographical space to be fundamentally social, explaining that a place is nothing by itself, and that it depends on other places and practices to give it meaning. Spaces and ARH3703/117 places are constructed in terms of gender, race, class, ethnicity, capitalism, colonialism, modernisation, urban planning, military power, governments and so forth. This means that space and place are infused with symbolic and material power as well as value systems. Therefore, space is never ‘innocent.’ Spaces always contain traces of the processes that produced them, and as such influence the way we perceive them and interact with them. This tells us that space is socially produced. Lefebvre explains his theory by means of a conceptual triad of spatial practices: spatial practice, the representation of space, and representational spaces. Spatial practice is how the world is perceived, and is based on perceptions. This refers to the way that you use spaces. Representation of space is how the world is conceived or thought about. Here were refer to the symbolic sphere. Representational space is how the world is lived by our bodies and experiences. 1.3.2 Michel Foucault Michel Foucault (1926–1986) was a theorist in the field of critical human geography. He is recognised as a post-structuralist and a postmodernist. The main themes in his work are the generation of new knowledge through spatial analysis and spatialisation, the articulation and implementation of power/knowledge, and heterotopia. His work focuses on the significance of space and the analysis of power, or the spatiality of power and knowledge. He maintains that “space is fundamental in any exercise of power.” He considers space, knowledge, and power to be always linked, and states that these are associated with the asymmetry of power. Foucault maintains that power is relational. At no time and in no place are power relations stable. This is particularly relevant in the South African context. ACTIVITY 1.15: SELF-REFLECTION Write a short paragraph in which you discuss the idea that the asymmetry of power is linked to spatial inequalities. Refer to examples from your everyday life. Below are two images. Both are of Johannesburg, South Africa. Compare the way that the houses, residential apartments and offices, are arranged and imagine the lifestyles of the people who live there. As you can see, power lies with those who live and work in Sandton. Inequality is clear. Foucault states: “In the landscape inequality is enforced by the privacy of privileged persons and the crowding of their subordinates.” 18 LEARNING UNIT 1: Visual spaces FIGURE 1.16 View of houses on a riverbank in Alexandra township, a low-income area in Johannesburg, South Africa (Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia. org/wiki/File:Alexandra_Migrant_Settlements.jpg). FIGURE 1.17 View of Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa. Social spatialisation is fundamental in any society, since the exercise of power takes place through the organisation, enclosure and control of individuals in space. According to Foucault (1980:149), “a whole history remains to be written in spaces – which would at the same time be the history of powers – from the greatest strategies to the little tactics of the habitat.” To apply this to visual art, view the performance Chandelier (2001) by Steven Cohen. Recordings of the performance can be found at these hyperlinks: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xd64d0 https://vimeo.com/113489663 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OdkE29ln-M ARH3703/119 Steven Cohen performed Chandelier at an informal settlement under the M1 highway, close to Newtown, Johannesburg. In his elaborate wrought iron and crystal outfit, he walked to the informal settlement. When he got there, it was to find that the Red Ants3 were demolishing the informal structures. This coincidence was fortuitous for Cohen, as it exposed the brutality of forced removals. Cohen stated, “I’m messing with a society that is more shocked by the violence of my self-presentation as monster/queer/unrepresentable or whatever than by the actual violence they live with every day. It’s almost as if, because I’m alive and present, I’m more real and more threatening than reality” (Interview with Brenda Atkinson, Mail & Guardian, August 1997). This performance highlights the living conditions of the poor and shows where spatial power in a given society lies. Cohen, with his elaborate outfit, make- up, and shoes, becomes a counterpoint to the abject nature of the living conditions of those resorting to informal settlements. The work comments on discrimination, dislocation, inequality and racial confrontation. 1.3.3 Doreen Massey Doreen Massey (1944–2016) was a geographer. She maintained that space is not just something we pass through, and that in order to understand the politics of power, we need to analyse the spatial relations between people, cities, employment opportunities, and so on. In her view, the social relations that define space are not static by nature, and as a result, space is full of power and symbolism, since it is theorised as a result of social relations (Massey 1994:265). Space needs to be thought of as being composed of interrelations, “as the simultaneous coexistence of social interrelation and interactions at all spatial scales, from the most local level to the most global” (Massey 1994:264). This means that space is not about physical locality, but about the relations between human beings. Space is seen as a moment in the intersection of the arrangement of social relations, resulting in a certain dynamic, described by Massey (1994:265) as a complex network of “relations of domination and subordination, of solidarity and co-operation.” Space is created out of the vast intricacies, the incredible complexities, the interlocking and the non-interlocking, and the networks of relations at every scale from local to global. The spatial organisation of a society is not merely the result of the social, but is integral to the production of the social (Massey 1994:4). Let us consider David Goldblatt’s The transported of KwaNdebele in order to understand this concept. The series of images demonstrates the way that space is infused with power. The photographs show people who are travelling by bus to Pretoria, from the former homeland of KwaNdebele. This series of photographs shows how the spatial organisation of apartheid influenced the way people travelled and how this contributed to the subordination of certain groups during this time. You can view the images by clicking on this hyperlink: https://www.phillips.com/detail/ david-goldblatt/NY040313/37 ACTIVITY 1.16: SELF-ASSESSMENT Leers, D. 2014. The transported of KwaNdebele. Social Dynamics 40(3):599–602. DOI: 10.1080/02533952.2014.979550 3 The workers who are sent to demolish illegal informal housing structures in South Africa wear red overalls and are called the Red Ants. These workers are employed by the South African government. 20 LEARNING UNIT 1: Visual spaces Take note of the main themes involving spatial inequalities and write a short essay on how Massey and Foucault’s ideas are relevant to this series of photographs. 1.3.4 Feminist geography ACTIVITY 1.17: READING Before you start this section, it is important that you re-read Learning unit 3: Feminism in the study guide for ARH2601, The Arts and Ideology I (pp 47–84). Feminist geography considers the interplay between space, place and environment, and challenges the entrenched processes that produce and reproduce inequalities between groups of people, with gender as the most prominent dimension (Bondi & Davidson 2005:15). Space, place, and gender are interrelated concepts that are socially constructed. These categories are not stable or fixed. Feminist geography is closely related to intersectionality, since it interrogates the ways in which places and spaces are experienced by different groups of people. Similarly, the field investigates how places and spaces are associated with the presence of some, and the absence of other, groups of people (Bondi & Davidson 2005:15). Gender is an important dimension in these experiences and associations. However, class, race, and nationality are also significant and cannot be excluded from the debate. 1.3.5 Griselda Pollock ACTIVITY 1.18: READING Read the book chapter (e-reserves): Pollock, G. 1998. Modernity and the spaces of femininity, in The visual culture reader, edited by N Mirzoeff. London: Routledge:74–84. Griselda Pollock explores the role of women in the construction of modernism in terms of the masculine domain of spatial experience through observation of 19th century paintings. Pollock makes the observation that women’s place in history is always a socially constructed condition. By investigating gender power relations in art history, she links constructions of sexual differences to modes of looking, vision, or sight. She maintains that the spaces of modernism are often used as a way to deal with how male sexuality plays out through the way in which the female body is represented. ,. She interrogates the relationship between sexuality, modernity and modernism, and why the female body is a signifier for masculine sexuality. She does this because she identifies an asymmetry of power, with women being subordinate to men, which determined what men and women painted. ARH3703/121 ACTIVITY 1.19: ADDITIONAL READING These texts discuss the female body in art. Please familiarise yourself with them. Berger, J. 2003. Ways of seeing, in The feminism and visual culture reader, edited by A Jones. London: Routledge:49–52. Mulvey, L. 1989. Visual pleasure and narrative cinema, in Visual and other pleas- ures. London: Palgrave Macmillan:14–26. ACTIVITY 1.20: SELF-ASSESSMENT Identify four paintings from the era that Pollock specifies in her article. A good place to look for images is the online database Oxford Art Online, which you can access through the Unisa library’s e-Resources. You will find instructions on how to access this site on the ARTLIB site on myUnisa. Of the four paintings that you select, make sure that two are by a male artist and two by a female artist. In a short essay, compare the ways that the artists represent space in their works. Follow this by drawing a conclusion as to what this says about the position of women at the time the paintings were created. Similar to the representation of things, the visual representations of spaces are not a true reflection of reality (Cavallaro 2001:167). Spaces, and their representations, are always an embodiment of cultural, political and psychological phenomena. This confirms that spaces are not fixed, and that they are informed by changing social practices (Cavallaro 2001:167). Therefore, perceptions of spaces are relative, and informed by conscious and unconscious experiences. 1.4 VARIETIES OF SPACES As we have seen, space is not a unitary concept, and meanings that we attribute to spaces are socially constructed. It follows that the way in which society is organised will be reflected in the meanings we attribute to certain spaces. The socio-cultural environment is spatially organised into places where different kinds of social activity occur, for instance, home, leisure, sleeping, eating, shopping and so on. People move in and through many spaces each day, and spaces are coded to allow for different behaviour. Places with particular characteristics are appropriate for specific activities. Places and spaces are given meaning by society. “Space is not a passive backdrop to human behaviour, but is constantly produced and remade with complex relations of culture, power and difference” (Hubbard in Moran, Pallot & Piacentini 2013:138). Space is not a single reality, and the way it is understood differs in terms of context and experience. Its existence is based on a collection of dissimilar realities that creates a “hybrid and composite world” (Cavallaro 2001:174). Consequently, there can never be a true representation of space. 22 LEARNING UNIT 1: Visual spaces 1.4.1 Gendered spaces The Western intellectual tradition of separating body and mind, nature and culture, reason and emotion is integral in repudiating the importance and integrity of emotional experience. These dichotomies result in emotional experience being located in the realm of urban spaces, where it is associated with femininity and irrationality, as the hierarchy establishes the supremacy of reason (Burns 2000:69). The symbolic gendering of space has an effect on and reflects the manner in which gender is constructed and understood in a specific society. For instance, places of consumption are usually seen as feminine and places of business as masculine (Van Eeden 2006:64). ACTIVITY 1.21: MyUNISA – DISCUSSION FORUM Draw a rough plan of your childhood home and the area immediately around it. Now label the different areas that you identified as either masculine or feminine. Make a list of the masculine spaces and the feminine spaces respectively. Post your findings on the discussion forum on myUnisa and compare your list with those of other students. Make a summary in terms of the following two questions: (1) Which spaces are generally seen as feminine? (2) Which spaces are generally seen as masculine? Now I want you to think about why certain spaces are associated with the mas- culine and why certain spaces are associated with the feminine. Do you see any correlations in terms of stereotypical gender roles and the ‘gender’ of spaces? Write a paragraph to explain your findings. a) Gillian Rose Gillian Rose is a seminal voice in the field of feminist geography. Rose (1993) critiques the overwhelmingly masculine approach to geography prior to the 1990s. She details the importance of women’s routines in terms of spaces of the everyday and their movements across time. Rose’s discourse develops from Carol Pateman’s (1988) concept of fraternal patriarchy, which binds women in a social or sexual contract which continues their oppression. Pateman traces the origins of this so-called ‘sexual contract’ by examining social contract theory, and finds that this ‘contract’ is what keeps women subjugated in work, in marriage, and society in general. The public/ private divide is also of concern to Pateman, since men traverse the public and private spheres effortlessly, whereas women are limited to and subject to the private sphere. For Rose, ostensibly mundane everyday spaces are relevant and important to the exposure of power structures that limit and confine women. The ways that women use and move through space as part of their everyday routines are not inconsequential, similar to Pateman’s assertion that women are limited to the private sphere. Rose (1993:25) emphasises that patriarchy is reproduced in the “banal activities of everyday life.” Accordingly, the focus on women’s everyday world and women’s embodiment is central to feminist geography. ARH3703/123 1.4.2 Public and private spaces Moran et al maintain that the public/private dichotomy is an organising principle of modern life, where the private sphere is hidden and withdrawn, whereas the public sphere is open, revealed and accessible. According to feminist scholars, the public sphere is associated with masculinity and, as a result, has a patriarchal character. Conversely, the private sphere is associated with femininity and domesticity, thus becoming a site of oppression rather than freedom (Moran et al 2013:139). Therefore, patriarchal oppression is evident in the private sphere. The difference between the private and the public spheres is not distinct, but is instead a “complex arrangement of binaries”. The private sphere results in sexual oppression and reduction in agency (Moran et al 2013:139). The public/private dichotomy is reliant on perspective rather than being a fixed category (Gal 2002:81). Therefore, what is deemed private can be divided into public and private based on perspective. Similarly, privacy can be created in public spaces (Gal 2002:82). Therefore, public and private spaces are not defined by boundaries. The redefinitions of the private/ public dichotomy can be either momentary or fixed (Gal 2002:85). The boundaries between public and private are not fixed; they shift based on the interactional context in which they are used (Landes 2003:35, 36). They are based on perspectives and are ambiguous, with shifting boundaries (Landes 2003:36). According to Gal, “the principles associated with public and private coexist in complex combinations in the ordinary routines of everyday life.” Furthermore, there are no “stable boundaries between public and private” (Gal 2002:78). It is important to note that public and private do not denote specific places or domains: for Gal (2002:80), public and private are “co-constitutive cultural categories” and “indexical signs that are always relative.” The sexual division of labour refers to the unequal distribution of domestic work between men and women, where women undertake the majority of such work. Women are expected to be active in the private and domestic sphere of housekeeping and childcare where work is unpaid, whereas men are active in the public sphere of paid labour (Lyonette 2013:199). In terms of this ideology of separate spheres women are dependent on their male partners, and, therefore, disempowered. ACTIVITY 1.22: READING Read the following book chapter: Pollock, G. 2003. Modernity and the spaces of femininity, in Vision and difference: feminism, femininity and the histories of art. London: Routledge:70–128. 1.4.3 Liminal spaces Liminal space is an in-between space. Like a door, a window, or a path, it is a threshold or a gap between two spaces. It can also be a transitional space, such as an airport or a train station. To explain the idea of liminal spaces, I refer to the photographic series i am… (2008) by Dale Yudelman. You can access the images here: https://www.daleyudelman.com/i-am- 24 LEARNING UNIT 1: Visual spaces The photographic series consists of 21 images and the artist’s rationale for the project. The images consist of job-seekers’ handwritten cards that are typically found on community information boards in supermarkets, juxtaposed with photographs of anonymous people in the city. The title of each work consists of the name and mobile number of the job seeker. The individuals seeking employment are migrants from Southern African countries who have come to South Africa.4 Note how desperate they are to find employment, mostly as domestic workers and gardeners. In the series of images there are five women, three from Zimbabwe and two from Malawi. Of the men, five are from Zimbabwe, ten from Malawi, and one from Namibia. The photographic project reflects migration patterns from SADC countries into South Africa (Meny-Gibert & Chiumia 2016). South Africa is a favoured destination, since it has a stable government, good infrastructure, and economic stability, which gives the impression that better socio-economic opportunities are available for migrants from Southern African countries (Meny-Gibert & Chiumia 2016). All the job seekers state their name, country of origin, and the type of employment they are seeking. The photographs place the individuals in a state of liminality and placelessness. This results in an interplay between the private sphere of home and the public sphere of work. Similarly, the social context articulates the sense of not belonging, and ideological gender relations. In my view, locality contributes to the marginalisation of the individuals depicted in the Yudelman images; they are both out of place, and excluded from the public sphere of paid work. The photographs place the individuals in a state of liminality and placelessness. This results in an interplay between the private sphere of home and the public sphere of work. Similarly, the social context articulates the sense of not belonging and ideological gender relations. Many of the images refer to travel in some way. The individuals are outdoors, and always represented in close proximity to a road. All are walking or waiting. Jimmy is depicted as pushing a bicycle along an embankment. Only Kainos is on a bus. The only means of undertaking a journey is by walking, suggesting the poverty of these desperate people. Liminal spaces are subject to different rules and controls from those that exist in society (Sey 2011:8). Marginal and impoverished groups, such as the transnational migrants depicted in i am… occupy a contradictory space of no-place (Buys & Farber 2011:87). Individuals who stand outside society, specifically those who occupy a physical reality but not a social reality – as illegal immigrants do – continue to occupy a state of temporal liminality (Thomassen 2009:17). The subjects of Yudelman’s images exist on the margins of society in peripheral and invisible spatial environments. The state of in-betweenness or liminality is the “threshold or margin, the place that is no-place, in which the subject is rendered invisible” (Greenblatt 1995:28). The emotional images of solitary and disenfranchised individuals aimlessly wandering the streets of South African cities are an indictment of the consequences of colonialism and apartheid. These consequences play out in spatial organisation that closely follows hegemonic power relations. 4 This refers to the United Nations Global Compact Principle 4, which stipulates the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour. ARH3703/125 a) Shopping malls Shopping malls have become “icons of urban space” as a result of the radical changes in the ontology of capitalism that reflects a complete embracing of consumerism. They are also sites of social interaction (Koskela 2000:246; Van Eeden 2006:61). The purpose of the shopping mall is not only to make economic transactions convenient, but also to be a space associated with leisure and the search for pleasure, thereby making shopping an experience (Featherstone 1991:103, Miles 2010:7, 99). Bauman (1998:25) sees the mall as being designed to keep people moving without lingering long enough for meaningful social encounters; its design underpins the idea that time spent there should be for commercial purposes in support of the consumerist system. Koskela states that shopping malls have become “essentially contradicting” spaces, as they are characterised by exclusiveness rather than the openness they suggest. Conversely, the surveillance in malls is aimed at maximising profit by keeping shoppers moving and keeping undesirable elements out rather than for the safety of patrons (Koskela 2000:246). Women have relative freedom in the liminal spaces of shopping malls to engage in the pleasures of looking, socialising and strolling (Wilson 1992:101). The mall allows women to escape from the confines of the domestic sphere as imposed upon them by a patriarchal system (Van Eeden 2006:63). Moreover, it affords women a relatively safe environment in which to wander at will, even though privacy is reduced as a result of the extensive use of surveillance as a system of control and exclusion. For this reason, in the mall the perceived dangers of the street are kept at bay (Friedberg 1991:424). Window shopping affords women an escape from the domestic sphere as well as the opportunity to compare and evaluate goods (Van Eeden 2006:73). Commodified spaces, or spaces where everything is for sale – of which shopping malls are a particular example – are liminal spaces, as they are both public and private to a certain extent (Wilson 1992:96). Women in the public sphere are associated with consumption rather than production, and they are a ubiquitous presence in shopping malls (Van Eeden 2006:71). In contemporary times, shopping is still seen as a female activity, even though the traditional notions of the woman as gatherer and as being excluded from the world of commerce are no longer indisputable. Shopping is gendered as female. Women’s tentative freedom from the constraints of the patriarchal system is facilitated by the privilege of shopping (Van Eeden 2006:61, 62). Shopping is not only an activity engaged in to obtain goods, but also a leisure activity or means to escape the confines of patriarchal domesticity. Shopping is an overwhelmingly female activity, which accounts for the increasing visibility of women outside the home and for the fact that shopping malls are aimed at female consumers (Van Eeden 2006:75). Consumers are constantly navigating space in the search for items that will satisfy the desires created by the capitalist system. According to Ferguson (1994:27), women cannot disconnect themselves from the attraction of the city, specifically the activity of shopping. Publicity or advertising images are a language in themselves, and not only compete with one another, but also enhance and reinforce one another (Berger 1972:131). Advertising does not only offer choices between products; by showing the viewer others who have been transformed, it persuades the viewer to transform themself, and in that way to be the envy of others – and that which is envied constitutes glamour (Berger 1972:131). The empowerment of women as a result of the development of a consumer society 26 LEARNING UNIT 1: Visual spaces is paradoxical, given that women fall prey to the false desires created by targeted marketing, and ‘free choice’ is essentially a myth (Friedberg 1991:422). The feminisation of consumerism, especially shopping, ensures the continued dominance of the patriarchal gaze (Friedberg 1991:422). The male gaze, informed by the image of woman as commodity, is reinforced by the “modern sexual economy” and “enjoys the freedom to look, appraise and possess, in deed or in fantasy” (Pollock 1988a:79). Women’s journeys outside the home are still regulated by boundaries and limitations permitting them to take certain routes and not others, not as a result of free will, but rather by how they will be perceived in certain sections of the metropolitan environment based on society’s codes and judgements (Gleber 1997:75). Women’s mobility is restricted in many ways, for instance by physical violence, by being stared at, or by being made to feel ‘out of place’. These restrictions are not based on a specific locality, but are enforced by traditional gender roles within a patriarchal society (Massey 1994:148). Massey (1994:179) makes the observation that the limitation of women’s mobility has been a crucial means of subordination in some cultural contexts. Women continue to endure prejudice and harassment that their male counterparts never have to face (Gleber 1997:74). Women therefore simply do not have the freedom to explore the city in the same fashion as men, since the danger of being attacked is always a very real possibility, leading to the “continual containment of women” (Gleber 1997:73). To illustrate this, I refer to Bridget Baker’s The blue collar girl ( Figures 1.18 to 1.22). Baker’s The blue collar girl triptychs present us with a female protagonist, always in the same electric blue dress, engaged in a variety of activities and appearing in a variety of settings. The first panel in each of the triptychs presents a staged setting reminiscent of a woman in a 1950s Elizabeth Taylor film (Williamson 2006:159). The protagonist is seen in a domestic setting looking at her reflection in a mirror, walking down the street, visiting a tailor, sitting in an upmarket bar, at the theatre, reading a German magazine in a cinema. In all of these she is being watched without her knowledge: she never confronts the viewer’s gaze or acknowledges its existence. The activities that she is engaged in are either typically feminine or leisure activities, and are reminiscent of the task of Sisyphus, as no goal is achieved (Blanchot 2001:54). The protagonist does not engage with the crowds on the street. The reason for the latter is twofold: she is restricted by her gender to strolling aimlessly amongst the crowds, and she is more comfortable in the enclosed spaces of the city, reflective of the domestic sphere. FIGURE 1.18: Bridget Baker: The Blue Collar Girl (Valais, Switzerland) (2006-7). Lambda print and diasec at Grieger, Dusseldorf, Germany. 60 x 241.5 cm. ARH3703/127 FIGURE 1.19 Bridget Baker: The Blue Collar Girl (Durban) (2006). Lambda print and diasec at Grieger, Dusseldorf, Germany. 60 x 241.5 cm. FIGURE 1.20 Bridget Baker: The Blue Collar Girl (Delhi) (2005). Lambda print and diasec at Grieger, Dusseldorf, Germany. 60 x 241.5 cm. FIGURE 1.21 Bridget Baker: The Blue Collar Girl (Maputo) (2005). Lambda print and diasec at Grieger, Dusseldorf, Germany. 60 x 241.5 cm. FIGURE 1.22 Bridget Baker: The Blue Collar Girl (Gent) (2004). Lambda print and diasec at Grieger, Dusseldorf, Germany. 60 x 241.5 cm. The middle panel in each case shows the protagonist at a distance, performing tasks one would associate with a superhero or mythical woman on a quest (Malcomess 2009:22). Again we could compare her to Sisyphus, but here she occupies the dual position of being damned, but nevertheless having the strength not to give up (Blanchot 2001:53). Rejecting her status as passive female, she engages in action adventures in a three-dimensional space, escaping her reality of being watched and the burden of sexual objectification (Mulvey 1989:20). She subverts the notion of stereotypical gender roles, as most of the activities are associated with the masculine 28 LEARNING UNIT 1: Visual spaces – they take place out of doors, and require physical strength. The final panel reveals the fruits of her labour and the words “only you can” inscribed on various surfaces. This personalises her labour in an era when mass production by mechanical means is standard (Malcomess 2009:28). The first frame of Bridget Baker’s Blue collar girl (Delhi) (Figure 120) shows the protagonist being measured in a tailor’s shop. The placement of women in front of a mirror or shop window, as illustrated by Baker, positions them as consumers, as this becomes “the site of seduction for consumer desire” (Friedberg 1991:422). However, in the second frame she subverts her femininity and is seen pulling a heavy cart loaded with merchandise. She is thoroughly immersed in consumer culture, as both consumer and commodity in the tailor’s shop, and as vendor on the street. This comments on the inherent contradiction of women outside the home, as they are not only part of a system of buying and selling, but also of the desire to possess through the act of looking (Friedberg 1991:422). 1.5 CONCLUSION In this learning unit you were introduced to the concepts of space and place. I discussed the difference between these concepts and how you can apply them to your everyday life. Furthermore, I explained that space is infused with power. This is particularly relevant to South Africa, when we think of how space was used to enforce apartheid policies, and when we realise that the effects of these policies are still visible today. Major theorists in the field of the social production of space were introduced, and I described different types of spaces, specifically gendered spaces and liminal spaces. Throughout I linked the theory with images, and also referred to examples in visual art to explain certain concepts. ARH3703/129 2 LEARNING UNIT 2 2 The landscape in art and visual culture Leana van der Merwe 2.1 INTRODUCTION In learning unit 1, you were introduced to concepts relating to visual spaces. In that unit, you learnt that spaces are not merely neutral backdrops, but carry social, political and ideological meanings, and thus have implications for race, class and gender. In this unit we will expand on the ideas explored in learning unit 1 by looking closely at an important topic in art history, namely the landscape. We will look not only at the physical organisation of the landscape, but specifically at depictions of it, and how these depictions are imbued with meaning. The landscape can manifest physically in several ways, namely as wilderness, farm, public park, and garden. Furthermore, these can also be represented through various conventions, such as the picturesque, the pastoral and the sublime, all of which will be discussed in this study unit. These conventions are not merely ways to construct aesthetically pleasing artworks; they have embedded meaning, and reveal the ways in which the makers and readers of images think about the landscape, and also culture. John Wylie (2007:7) argues that ‘landscape’ is not merely a picture or a painting of a scene, in other words, something that we see. It also represents a “way of seeing”, and includes embodied practices of engaging with the natural world such as gardening, farming and environmental activism. Furthermore, we can use several theories or methodologies, such as phenomenology and ecocritical theory, to ‘read’ and interpret landscape representations and ‘landscaping’ practices. As you work through this learning unit, read all the articles that are suggested in the activities. You should also try and obtain some of the books in the bibliography from the Unisa library and read them. They will be very helpful for you in studying this module and expand your critical thinking about the landscape. LEARNING OUTCOMES After working through this learning unit, you should be able to: Demonstrate an understanding of the history of landscape as a genre in art history Demonstrate ability and insight in evaluating ideological meanings associated with landscape Identify and discuss examples of imperial and colonial landscape depictions and explain how these conventions continue to inform postmodern and postcolonial depictions of landscape Explain and give examples of how landscape operates as a verb 30 Explain how interpretations of the landscape are facilitated through phenomenology Explain all the key concepts in your own words and list the most important theorists associated with these concepts KEY CONCEPTS Genre Myth Imperial and colonial landscape Picturesque Pastoral Sublime Landscaping/landscape as a verb The ideologies of landscape Ecocriticism Phenomenology 2.2 BRIEF HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 2.2.1 Landscape as genre Landscape is one of the most important genres in Western art. A genre can be loosely described as a ‘type’ of painting, sculpture or any other art form. Other genres are portraiture, still life and historical painting. Up until roughly the 17th century, landscape was included in painting mostly as a backdrop to religious, historical and mythological portraits or paintings of important historical events. This is probably why, until the 19th century, landscape was considered one of the ‘lowest’ genres in painting, alongside still life. In terms of Humanist thought, humans were considered the highest form of life, and so artworks that focused on the natural world, as opposed to the struggles and accomplishments of humanity, were seen as less important. During the 17th century, a notable shift in this thinking can be identified in the work of Dutch artists such as Jan Vermeer (1632–1675) and Jacob van Ruisendael (1628–1682), as well as French artists such as Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665). In the 18th century, landscape was to become more prominent, and eventually reached its highest point in the 19th century, for reasons that we will explore later in this unit. Today, landscape remains an important and popular genre in art, and depictions of the landscape are abundant in visual culture and visual media. The idea of landscape as an art genre remains an important one for theorists, but contemporary art historical enquiry aims to deconstruct this idea and widen our understanding of what ‘landscape’ encompasses. This often necessitates the use of interdisciplinary enquiry, which brings in voices from other disciplines such as literary studies, archaeology, geography, philosophy and anthropology, to facilitate a more nuanced discussion. 2.2.2 Nicolas Poussin and the influence of Classicism Nicolas Poussin was a French baroque artist, who spent most of his life living and working in Rome, even though he was very popular with the French Academy (Adams 2007:673). Although Poussin’s work shows a continued engagement with ARH3703/131 landscape, he was inspired first and foremost by mythological content, and was heavily influenced by Classicism. Consider this work by Poussin: FIGURE 2.1 Nicolas Poussin: Landscape with a man killed by a snake, 1648. Oil on canvas, 118 X 198cm (National Gallery, London) (Clark 2006:10–11). In this painting, Poussin depicts a typically Classicist landscape. The landscape is one of calm, featuring a few scattered figures, distant buildings and a tranquil lake. You will remember from ARH2601, The Arts and Ideolog y, that the influence of Classicism can be identified through looking for aesthetic devices such as order, restraint, balance and symmetrical compositions. Also note the references to Classical architecture in the background and the classically inspired clothing of the figures, both consistent features of Poussin’s work. What makes this image (and many other of Poussin’s paintings) interesting, however, is the inclusion of a dramatic scene in the foreground – in this case, rendered in almost darkness, a man has died, crushed in the coils of a snake. This violent action, however, takes up very little of the picture plane, and despite the horror of the man who has witnessed this violence and the alarm of a woman who sees him running towards her, there is nothing to disrupt the tranquillity of the rest of the landscape. This suggests the possibility that there is something sinister hidden in the landscape, with the potential to disturb the calm and order. Art historian TJ Clarke (2006:111) notes the way in which Poussin tightly controls the picture plane, almost like a “stage setting, thereby giving an impression of equilibrium and unity”. The construction and the resulting aesthetic of the painting therefore in a sense contradict or counteract the violent subject matter. This erasure of violence is an aspect of landscape that we will see in subsequent eras of landscape depiction. 32 LEARNING UNIT 2: The landscape in art and visual culture 2.2.3 Picturesque landscapes ACTIVITY 2.1: INDEPENDENT RESEARCH Refer to the study guide for ARH2601, The Arts and Ideology. Pages 34 to 42 give some background information about important historical events of the 18th century, such as the French Revolution, The American Wars and the formation of the United States of America. These pages in the study guide also show how these political events influenced the making of art. (1) Search the internet for images of landscapes from this period. (2) What do you see? (3) Write down some of your thoughts about these images in your learning journal. (4) If you can, print these images and paste them into your journal. Landscape became and remained an important art genre from the late 18th century through the 19th century in Britain. The political events of the second half of the 18th century had been carefully observed by British politicians, and the government sought to suppress any revolutionary ideas that had the potential to threaten the stability of their democracy. Indeed, the British government believed that their system of governance was superior to that of the rest of Europe, because it was based on reason and practicality, associated with the “nature of man,” and not abstract utopian ideals, as was perceived to be the case in France (Bermingham 2002:78). This tendency toward practical arrangement, order, and clarity had an influence on the composition and aesthetics of landscape paintings and drawings produced by British artists both in Britain and also, later, in the colonies. Picturesque landscapes are ordered according to specific aesthetic principles. William Gilpin (1724–1804) (in Coetzee 1988:39) describes these as containing “distant mountains, a lake in the middle distance, and a foreground with rocks, woods, broken grounds, cascades or ruins, this foreground to be characterized by … texture… in contrast to the ‘tenderness’ of the middle and far ground”. Picturesque scenes are meant to be tranquil and uncomplicated, showing harmony between humanity and nature. Gilpin was influential in ‘training’ the viewer of British landscapes specifically to look at landscapes as an ordered collective of visual elements, creating a specific vision. A landscape, he reasoned, is beautiful if it can be made into an aesthetically pleasing painting. At the time of their publication, Gilpin’s landscapes were not popular, as Britons who visited the sites that Gilpin painted complained that the actual places looked nothing like his representations of them (Bermingham 2002:86). This, of course, is because the scenes, even though they are based on actual places, are visual and cultural constructions, asking the viewer to see the landscape in a very specific way. In his influential White writing, JM Coetzee (1988) reasons that picturesque English landscapes facilitated a “contemplation of landscape [as] a widespread cultural recreation. Belonging [to the English nation] was therefore seen to be intimately connected to its natural surroundings and a certain appreciation of it, according to very specific aesthetic principles.” ARH3703/133 ACTIVITY 2.2: PICTURESQUE AESTHETICS Consider the following example of an engraving by William Gilpin: FIGURE 2.2 William Gilpin: Landscape, 1 February 1794, 1794. Aquatint, etching and colour washes, 176 mm x 263 mm, from William Gilpin, Six landscapes, engraved by S. Alken, London 1794, [no.5] (Royal Academy of Arts, London). Write a paragraph in which you describe how picturesque aesthetics, as explained in this section, are employed in this engraving. Also consider the following: What has Gilpin placed in the fore-, middle- and background? What is the function of the winding path and the two figures? What is the effect of the trees on the left-hand side of the picture plane? Note also that the picturesque aesthetic does not restrict landscapes to structured garden-like or ideal ‘landscaped’ scenes; it emphasises the ‘naturalness’ of na- ture – its wildness – to give the impression of authenticity. Furthermore, this work is set up in a way that shows a calm and tranquil interpretation of nature, which is reinforced by the figures of the two men walking along the path, who seem at ease with their surroundings. A sense of belonging within the English landscape is thus created, which gives the work an ideological function. Considering the disdain with which the British government viewed French poli- tics at the time, it seems obvious that they would also reject the overly dramatic, stylised and opulent garden designs of the French baroque, labelled ‘vulgar’ by British gardeners of the time (Bermingham 2002:78). Instead, picturesque British landscapes (and gardens) followed a more ‘natural’ aesthetic, reflective of the English countryside. The aim of this discussion is to show that picturesque aesthetics are ideological and also political. 34 LEARNING UNIT 2: The landscape in art and visual culture 2.2.4 The ‘wilderness’ and the sublime The ‘wilderness’ as a concept in art has two distinct and somewhat oppositional meanings. The first one, which Coetzee (1988:49) describes as having its origins in pre-Israelite mythology, is the notion of wilderness as a place from which God is absent. In Medieval imagery and literature, the garden of Eden, before being named by man, is considered ‘wilderness’. Nature can therefore be considered ‘wilderness’ before it is given meaning by culture. The second notion of wilderness emerges as part of Judeo-Christian theology as a “place
