Cultural Ideology PDF

Cultural Ideology Symbol: something that stands for or suggests something else by reason of relationship, association, convention, or accidental resemblance; especially : a visible sign of something invisible Magic: the use of means (as charms or spells) believed to have supernatural power over nat...

Cultural Ideology Symbol: something that stands for or suggests something else by reason of relationship, association, convention, or accidental resemblance; especially : a visible sign of something invisible Magic: the use of means (as charms or spells) believed to have supernatural power over natural forces Ideology: a : systematic body of concepts especially about human life or culture; b : a manner or the content of thinking characteristic of an individual, group, or culture; c : the integrated assertions, theories and aims that constitute a sociopolitical program Typical 21st c. exhibition space White walls, shiny floors Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, N.Y. (Note the classical façade) Throughout recent history, Art has been a reflection of the society of its time. Charles Sheeler Golden Gate Cy Twombly Naples Bernd and Hilla Becher Water Tank What about ritual? Native American Maori Zulu Western society makes distinctions between HIGH and low between OBJECT and ritual between ART and design between FINE and folk between FORM and craft, and between SACRED and profane Do we know where, why, or how Art began? Major Paleolithic sites in Western Europe Paleolithic = Old Stone Age (3.3million to 12,000 BCE) The Lascaux cave paintings were discovered in 1940 by Marcel Ravidat, Georges Agnel, Simon Coencas, Jacques Marsal and their dog Robot Cave viewers at Lascaux Hall of the Bulls at Lascaux. One of our assumptions about the birth of Art is that it served a ritualistic purpose, either referencing hunting, or seasonal changes, but this is only a guess. Lascaux has been closed to the public since 1963 due to the adverse temperature effect of too many visitors. Upon visiting in the 1940s Picasso is reported to have said, “They’ve invented everything.” Pablo Picasso Bull Portable fertility fetishes, like the Venus of Willendorf, celebrated the importance of sex to early people. Two Questions: So, if visual symbolism preceded writing, or symbolic speech, what does this say about us? And, if visual symbolism is a quid pro quo, or “this for that,” is it a substitute for reality? René Magritte The Treachery of Images 1929 “In language, number, art, and the rest, a substitution essence has been the symbol’s bad bargain. This compensation fails to compensate for what is surrendered. Symbolic transactions deliver an arid, anti-spiritual dimension, emptier and colder with each re-enactment.” (symbolism) “…mediates” our “direct intimate experience of the natural world.” —John Zerzan How’s your direct intimate experience of the natural world? Cheryl Strayed on the PCT 1995 Lucien Stairs in the Three Sisters Wilderness on the PCT August 12, 2020 Lucien and Christian Stairs with me Obsidian Cliffs on the PCT Sunset Mts Washington and Jefferson in background July 25, 2022 Frankie, Coco, and Micah Kassell North and Middle Sisters in the background. July 26, 2022 Frankie and Coco Mori-Kassell and Juno in the Three Sisters Wilderness on the PCT August 3, 2023 Christopher McCandless 1992 Fairbanks City Bus #142 relocated by Alaska Air National Guard June 19, 2020 Back to our original premise, that Art is a reflection of its society….. And despite what your pastor wants you to believe, contemporary society is more absorbed by acquisition than ritual…. A Provocation: Is Art still ritualistic or enchanted, or has modern symbolic society killed it? The Reenchantment of Art Suzi Gablik 1995 In the ’90s Gablik proposed that things like performance and installation had the potential to reinvigorate the spiritual in art. Andy Goldsworthy (1956— ) Artist Andy Goldsworthy works entirely in nature, utilizing only found natural materials. Andy Goldsworthy Hard sand carved with a stick South Australia 1991 Andy Goldsworthy Holes dug in soft wet earth Runnymede, California 1992 Andy Goldsworthy Maple leaves pinned with thorns Plano, Illinois 1992 Andy Goldsworthy Sticks joined by freezing one end to another Anchorage, Alaska 1995 Andy Goldsworthy Filled in under branch with snow Capenoch, Dumfriesshire, Scotland 1996 Andy Goldsworthy Snow line freezing at night Capenoch, Dumfriesshire, Scotland 1996 He often reuses the same sites. Andy Goldsworthy Beech leaves stitched with stalks pinned with thorns Capenoch, Dumfriesshire, Scotland 1996 Andy Goldsworthy Rosebay willowherb stalks, thorns Capenoch, Dumfriesshire, Scotland 1996 Andy Goldsworthy Barrier made of horse chestnut leaf stalks, thorns Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts, Japan 1993